Hi,
I missed the email yesterday as we arrived at the Movenpick Pyramids hotel in
Cairo after 10:00 pm local time. It is very close to Giza. In the morning we left Petra for a drive North to the Dead Sea with beautiful views of the valley than goes from the Dead Sea to Aquaba on the Red Sea. We were at 5,000 feet and descended to -1,500 feet at the Dead Sea down a very steep curvy road. I could smell the hot breaks on the bus. At the Dead Sea we stopped for lunch and a swim in the sea at a beautiful hotel. The salt level is so high and buoyancy so great that you can just stand up straight without touching the bottom.
We then drove to Amman and flew to Cairo going through a large number of passport checks. I should mention that in both Jordan and Egypt we have an armed guard on the bus. On the 23rd we visited the pyramids at Giza, the artifacts at Memphis and the first or Stepped Pyramid at Saqqara. The pyramids are really big and even though there were thousands of people visiting them there was plenty of room. One of my favorite things was the royal barge that had been excavated and was on display. There isn't much at Memphis but the Saqqara site is very impressive and contains a number of large pyramids including the first one. While the ruins were impressive, They were not presented very well except at Saqqara which had a good museum and explanatory video. We have two professional archeologists supporting the tour that make up for the poor explanatory facilities at the sites. Also, each of us has a radio receiver to listen to the archeologists at the sites which can be noisy. The system works rather well.
Tomorrow we get up at 2:00 am to catch a plane to Aswan in the South. They say that this is to ensure that we are first at the sites. Also, this is the high season and it is difficult to get plane seats to Aswan.
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