Egypt, Part 2

Hey, I decided my last entry was getting too long, so I'm breaking it up a bit...

MORE OF LUXOR
Here's one more from Valley of the Kings -- Lisa and I are standing outside the tomb of Tutankhamun, owner the most elaborately decorated coffin and death mask, etc. His "goods" are now in the Egyptian Museum, so we saw them later on. Very cool.

And here's one of Samantha (below), enjoying every bit of the trapsing around, as you can imagine. If you look closely at the sign beside her, you'll see her pacifier tied to the bottom of the sign. We didn't even know she'd lost it until we were on our way out and stopped to read this sign and saw someone had hung it there after Sam threw it on the ground. (Aside: the Egypt trip was Sammie's last with her "pluggie," as Brian and I call it. Starting last night, she's going without. Let's just say today's afternoon nap was a struggle settling her!! Wish us luck as Sam says bye to her soothing friend.)
This was a common sight most days, little sleepy girl. She did very good, catching naps in her stroller or in my arms in the taxis. She also slept really well every single night, waking very happy and ready to see some more!
Our hotel in Luxor was a really nice Sheraton, right on the Nile, with two very nice swimming pools. We made sure we had time to enjoy our place, even though we were rushing to see all the ruins. Blaine sweet talked them into letting us get a late check-out our last day there, so we didn't have to leave until 9 pm!
We were surprised to see how green and lush everything was, right along the Nile. Palm trees and flowers and green grass grew everywhere. All those pictures of the ruins are out in the desert, about 20-30 mins drive away from the Nile basin. The poor people who had to build them probably had a long commute! But it was interesting to learn that it's the dryness and the sand that actually preserved things so perfectly. We saw one pyramid that was built with rock from the Nile basin, and it was in very shabby condition, because that rock wasn't solid enough.
Here's our spot at the pool. Sam loved it. Blaine and Lisa brought her some water wing floaties, which she really liked. She insisted on wearing them even in our hotel rooms at night.
A view of the Nile, in back of our hotel.
We took the night train back to Cairo, then did a quick tour of a mosque and the market before flying to Sharm el Sheikh. Here's the mosque...
Do I look authentic? I was surprised they let us take pictures in the dress, but they seemed fine with it.
SHARM EL SHEIKH

Sharm is a resort town on the Red Sea, at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. We got a steal of a deal on our rooms... only $25 per night, through a UK travel Web site. We were actually a bit doubtful whether we were being scammed, but luckily it came through perfectly. Our place was a nice 4-star, breakfast included. We spent a lot of time hanging out in our rooms, swimming at the pool, and checking out the markets. The view from our balcony...

Family swim time...
Enjoying the room...
Walking near the beach, or, at least trying to find the beach??
We wanted to ride in a glass bottom boat to see the cool coral and fish on the reef -- a less wet way to snorkel. Well, the last boat went at 3pm and we got there too late. So we rented a paddle boat with a slide on it (hard to picture, and I didn't get any great shots of it), and we paddled ourselves around in the red sea for an hour.
We each took turns sliding down the slide into the Red Sea. Lisa's picture turned out the cutest, so here she is... Brian deleted his. ahem.
Sunset on the Red Sea, from our paddle boat. It was a lot of fun, except that we didn't get to shower for hours, and had to walk around with dried salt caked on while we toured the market.
MOUNT SINAI

I think this was probably the highlight of the trip for me, just because it was such a unique experience. We hired a guide to drive us to Mt Sinai, then we hiked to the top together. We rode camels part of the way, then walked the rest of the way... up a ravine and then 750 stone steps (Blaine counted). There was a little chapel built right on the top, where we got our picture taken. It was cold on top, and very hard to believe Brian slept overnight there, the first time he climbed it! Samantha HATED the camels. She cried whenever they came near, so Brian walked way ahead with her in the pack on his back. Blaine, Lisa and I rode behind on the camels... not a comfortable ride, for those who wonder. I think next time I would opt to walk. But it was an experience to say I rode a camel up Mt Sinai, for only about $13. Not bad, eh? Here are the picts...

Rest stop where we left the camels. Our guide, Mahmoud (or Moody, as he told us to call him) sits between me and Lisa. Sam is crying because she sees a camel.
Below, Blaine and the camel size each other up. Notice Blaine's hat... He got it for $5 and was very pleased with it. Everywhere we went, people kept calling him Cowboy, or making jokes like "where's your horse?" He adopted his own theme music from India Jones.
The chapel on top...
Pictures near the very tippy top...