Egypt

Well, Egypt was an eye opener, to say the least. We ported in the city of Alexandria and then we were whisked off for a 3 hour drive to Cairo by 3 Muslim men to guide us and guard us for 2 days. So much to say about this adventure, but suffice to say it was enlightening, shocking, incredible and depressing (not to mention at times quite frightening). The first hour of the drive was a bit scary in that we knew we wanted to trust out travel agency and did but that didn’t stop all of us from one time or another conjuring up creepy endings to our Egypt experience. We were somewhat disappointed to have no one else on our excursion, thinking we were to have a family of 3, and then we were surprised to have a driver, a tour guide and a “manager” from AMX, to watch over just our own family experience. They were all locals of Cairo and spent plenty of time chatting in Arabic. It was a little intimidating to say the least. Come to realize after the drive, we all relaxed a little and had a great time.

We saw EVERYTHING in 2 days. The pictures tell the story a little bit. Spending the night (in the city of Giza) in a bottom floor mediocre (they called superior) hotel room was not great that night so we all squeezed in 3 twin beds. We used the extra room for the bathroom only. Girls were a little freaked, and OK, I was too.

We had 2 authentic pre set lunches and one crappy buffet breakfast. Food was a lot like in Greece. We went to Cairo for the laser pyramid show, saw the pyramids, King Tut’s collection, Mohammad Ali Museum,, camels (rode them to see pyramids), went to a Papyrus Factory/shop and saw how they do the art. Went to a Perfume/oil factory/ store and watched it all happen there. Spent $ in the Egyption Cotton factory/store and got some amazing 1000 thread bedding, went to the local bazaar and did that basically holding hands in single file, looked at the ground and never made a sound or looked in anyone’s eyes, and then saw many more exhibits! Wow. We were overly thrilled to get back to the ship the next night. Still amazed we made it because our driver was either amazing or just flat out crazy. Tell you later.

My favorite parts were seeing the cars and donkeys ant the same time on the same road. Riding the camels: getting ON the camels and getting OFF the camels. Watching the children play in the alleys. Looking at the fresh produce that they sold EVERYWHERE even on the main high ways. I loved watching chaos in the streets that we would have if we too had no stop signs or cross walks. I love that rapists are executed within 1 year of getting caught. No drunk driving because it is against their religion to drink. However we just might drive better than they do, drunk. Not sure.

Tonight is New Years Eve! It is formal on the ship. It is also incredible because it is a full moon in a clear sky AND we are having a lunar eclipse. In addition to that, we will be cruising by land soon, and it will be LIBYA Scary! There is a storm warning for tomorrow afternoon so we may miss our next port of call in Italy, the Captain is keeping a watch on it. Great. I bought some wristbands just in case the waves (predicted 20 footers) get too much. I hope we just pass that port and keep the beautiful weather we have now.

Happy New Years to everyone! CHEERS to 2010!