Malta to Egypt

Sunday - November 15th Malta
I’ll have to add a blog about this site later.  We all enjoyed this day so much it deserves more than I’m able to remember without a review with the others and of the photos.

Monday - November 16th at Sea
What a gloriously restful day at sea.  We awoke and went to the Queens Grill for breakfast.  Greg and Marianne met us there.  The others slept in.  All of us had a day where we caught up on our rest.  Our activities included lots of naps, a little on-board shopping, cards, reading and watching movies.  We met at a pre-arranged time of 1:30 pm for lunch at the Queens Grill.  Andrew, the Head Waiter in the Queens Grill, made us all his special Caesar Salad.

This evening we met at the Veuve Cliquot bar for drinks and to crowd watch at 7 pm.  As soon as we could, we each had our photographs taken by the ship's photographer for the whole group and for each of the couples.  I can't wait to see if they are good.  For dinner, Andrew had the restaurant prepare a special Russian dish that I cannot pronounce or spell.  It was primarily salmon, spinach, egg, and rice wrapped in a beautiful phyllo pastry that was topped with a beurre blanc and caviar sauce.  It was a good experience; some liking it more than others.  The dessert special made for our table was strawberry flambe.  It looked and smelled heavenly.

I retired after dinner but David and most of the others are still out either at the casino or watching the Black and White ball.

Tuesday - November 17th at Sea
David and I made it to Breakfast just before closing.  I had the most wonderful French Toast with honey.  David had a pedicure at 11 and afterward we had a quick lunch in the Queens Grill.  At 1 pm six of our group got together to play Shanghai Rummy.  We taught Marianne the rules of the game and what do you know, she won the first mini-game.  We all attended the formal dinner in the Queens Grill.  David had his famous Crepe Suzette, hold the crepes and double the ice-cream dessert.

Wednesday - November 18th - Port Said, Egypt
What a day to remember.  Our pre-arranged tour for today was to start at 8 am and run the full time we were at sea.  The ship changed the time in port from 7:30 am - 9 pm to 6:30 am to 8 pm.   David spent quite a lot of time trying to reach the onsite representative for Abercrombie and Kent on Tuesday, but was unsuccessful.  He was able to contact Jennie however, and she really came through for us.  She was able to arrange to have the tour changed to start one hour earlier.  We also had a change made to skip the 1-1/2 hour of lunch time to just eating on the bus so we would be able to see all we could and still make the departure time of the ship.  Just in case, David and I made sure to bring our medicines, passports, and money with us off the ship so we would have the ability to reroute to Limassol, Cyprus should the group not make the ship on time.

We left at 7 am from Port Said to Cairo.  On the way, our bus drove the route that paralleled the Suez Canal.  We could see ships traveling the canal even though the territory from the highway to the Canal was a protected zone.  By protected, I mean it was covered with many fully armed security men.  Armed security was everywhere; in the street intersections, only the side of the street, at numerous check points, in towers everywhere at the corners of developments, or just walking the streets.  Most of the trip to the National Museum in Cairo, the buildings we saw looked like ghettos, half-finished or empty, without order, and in the midst of litter everywhere.  In Cairo, the housing was better but most was still considered slums.  To be sure the residents are in multi-family dwellings; mostly in high-rise apartments or condos.  We did see areas of Cairo with nice looking residential high-rises and a few expensive single-family homes, but they were in the minority.  The National Museum, our first stop, was full of crowds of people.  We made it through the crowds with our Egyptologist who told us to call him Mael and were amazed at the relics from the tombs of many pharoahs, including Ramses and Tutenkamen.  There were two separate rooms with the actual mummies of Pharaohs and Queens displayed in enclosed cases.  It was hard to belief these mummies have been preserved for 3,000 years or more.  The mask of Tutenkamen was glorious.  I've seen it on TV but it is much more fantastic when you see it up close.  I was amazed at the intricately tiny jewelry and engravings that were created thousands of years ago.  One particularly fascinating piece I saw was a filigree rope necklace of 2' long or more.  I can't imagine how it was made with the crude tools and instruments of that day.

From the museum, we traveled to Giza.  On our drive, our guide told us to look up and there we started to see the tops of the pyramids from above the buildings in the city.  They loomed larger and larger as we made our way to the site.  The busses parked nearby the foot of the Cheops or Great Pyramid where we were able to walk right up to the pyramid itself; even able to climb up several levels of the blocks.  When I walked up to the bottom level, I discovered the block came up to the middle of my forehead in height.  I stepped off the length of the stone and found it took 6-1/2 foot steps long and appeared to be almost as thick.  Even with the outer limestone cover of the Pyramid missing, it is massive in size and much larger than I ever thought possible.  I learned that the workers on the Pyramids were not slaves, but paid volunteer workers.  A huge ramp was built from the quarry site some 2 miles away that was slanted up at 15 degrees.  The stones were split using cedar splints that swelled when doused continuously with water until the split occurred.  The stones were pulled up the ramp by animals and men.  From there, I don't know how they were lifted into place.  It is too awesome to understand how that many huge stones were put in that exact configuration in 20 years with the tools and means available. 

We were driven to see the site where all three pyramids were viewable at once.  Once we took pictures there, we were driven to another site to see the Sphinx at the foot of the second pyramid.  Our jaws were dropping.

The Egyptian celebration of Abraham coincided with our visit that included a holiday for them from Thursday through Saturday.  The locals were out to the site of the pyramids in droves.  They climbed the pyramids, rode horses and donkeys and camels nearby and took loads of pictures.  They piled in vehicles at 2-3 times the numbers any Americans would attempt with no regard for child safety seats.  Buses were overloaded, too with passengers standing in the aisles the length of the vehicle.  Drivers seemed to have no regard for lanes, making their own lanes when they wanted and change between them without signals.  The only notice given was when the driver of the vehicle cut-off from another would honk.  No wonder the tourist advice is to never try to rent a vehicle in Cairo.

We survived this visit to Egypt greatly impressed with the ancient sites but very distressed to the modern conditions of the area's traffic, poor living conditions, and filthy bathrooms where visits are asked to pay for a few sheets of toilet paper after already paying to get into the bathroom at a public site.
Debra and Martone enjoyed a dinner in their suite.  The rest of us hurried showered and made our way to the Queens Grill where we had another great meal. 

Tonight I decided to go back to the Casino and try my luck again.  Within a short time on my first slot machine, I had won $400.  I cashed out with another hand pay.  David was so tired since my iPhone alarm woke him at 4:45 am so we went back to our suite shortly afterward.

Thursday, November 18th Cyprus
I'll blog more later on this day as we were able to view many great things and our lunch was very interesting.  Suffice it to say we are all becoming weary from our daily travels to so many great places that I'm not able to give it justice at this point. 

More later with pictures.