Breakfast was as we remembered - self service of every type of breakfast food you can think of. This morning we were joined at our table by a family of 3, Tina, Andy and their 16 year old daughter Natasha and a single South African woman, Karen. Andy kept us entertained with his explanation of arriving late at night to a "deserted" boat and how they had thought they were the only people aboard. Karen, we found out was a chef and she amazed us by sampling every sort of food available, it was quite unbelievable how much she actually tucked away during the week. After breakfast our group of about 17 were met by our guide Amin in the bar to be told our itinerary for the coming few days. We had the usual advice, to wear a hat at all times and to drink plenty of water.
Our
first trip was to the Luxor Museum.We
had seen it before and were looking forward to it.
We were disappointed to find that we could no longer take photographs inside, but we had got some good ones from our previous visit.
This time there was an additional room containing some statues that had recently been found in Luxor Temple during renovations. These were in excellent condition and quite impressive
Afterwards we were transported back to the boat in our air conditioned coach for lunch. (More delicious food) Lunch consists of a buffet with the choice of about 4- 5 hot menus plus salads plus vegetables plus bread and the choice of at least 5 desserts. We soon found that Natasha was useful to send to try the desserts and give us her opinion of them.
After lunch we had about an hour to digest then we were whisked away again on the coach, this time to see Karnak.
Karnak Temple is in fact a city consisting of several temples which have been
added throughout the dynasties by many Pharaohs, the most prolific being Rameses
II. It is a huge complex and is still being rebuilt, as stones from the
original are being rediscovered after being used by more recent civilizations
to build their houses and temples. In the second courtyard is a huge statue
of Rameses II with his wife Nefertari stood in front of him, reaching only to
the top of his legs. 
Amin explained that wives, being not as important as the Pharaoh were always portrayed smaller, he also explained that if the statue was portrayed as being alive, the left leg always points forward. In this statue his legs were together suggesting that it portrayed him in the afterlife.
Although the guides try to find shade to give their talks, on our previous visit, I had taken a turn for the worse and was overcome by the heat and we had had to find shade to let me rest and cool down. I was determined not to spoil Ray's visit again because he so desperately wanted to see the sacred lake. But guess what - we got as far as the hypostyle hall again and were standing around listening to Amin's explanations and I started to feel a bit wobbly again.
I
had done as I was told - drunk plenty of water, wore my hat but I was just too
hot to go on. Sorry Ray. I told him to leave me but he wouldn't so yet again
he missed his sacred lake. I felt really guilty. However I was later informed
that the temperature today had reached 50°C. I think it takes a couple of
days to aclimatise to the Egyptian heat.
To give us a break from the heat we were then taken to a Papyrus factory to be given a talk on how the papyrus was made and given an opportunity to buy some genuine hand-painted papyri. (These visits are really only done to help the local economy because we British like to buy souvenirs) We eventually found one that we liked at a reasonable price. I think they are very colourful but I'm sure the prices had gone up quite a bit since last time. While we were there a young Egyptian boy had taken quite a fancy to Natasha and was pursuing her even back to the coach and waving to her through the window. It unnerved her a bit but secretly I think she enjoyed the attention.
Our next visit was Luxor Temple. I had recovered by this time which we were both thankful for because I did not see it last time we came. Luxor Temple is below road level and from the coach does not seem that impressive but as you walk up to the front, with its huge pylons and obelisk and the statues of Rameses II my opinions certainly changed. We stood in front of the massive head of a fallen statue of Rameses, which was over twice as high as a man,whilst Amin gave his talk.
Across
the courtyard from the pylons is an avenue of ram headed sphinxes, which line
either side of a long straight road and in ancient times went all the way to
Karnak. This avenue was used during the festival of Opet to transport the sacred
barque on its return from Luxor to Karnak. At the present time the authorities
in Luxor are in the process of restoring this avenue and this involves many
buildings being destroyed and the people and businesses being relocated. Amin
told us that they expect the work to take about 5 years but in reality it will
probably take a lot longer. I would love to return here when the work is completed.
Inside the temple there is a lot of reconstruction work going on. Some of the columns have had to be rebuilt and new foundations put in because of water seepage beneath them, which if left to nature would eventually cause the temple to crumble and collapse. It was during this work that the previously undiscovered statues were found that are now in Luxor museum. It is thought that there are many more undiscovered antiquities under the streets of Luxor and they hope to recover some of them during the renovation work.
The
presence of scaffolding, however, doesn't in any way detract from the magnificence
of the temple.
The second courtyard is surrounded by statues of Rameses II and these all portray him with his left leg forward, meaning that they represented him in life. We were told that the left leg is forward because the ancient Egyptians believed the life force flows through the left side because the heart is on the left.
After this visit a small bunch of hot and weary tourists were transported back to the boat to prepare themselves for yet another glorious meal. This evening, the entertainment was a belly dancer, so after dinner most of the passengers piled into the bar to watch.
We were a bit late and only saw the end, but we did see the whirling dervish.
I've seen a few of them now but it still amazes me how they don't get dizzy.
After he had finished we sat on the deck with a couple of beers and sat chatting
and getting to know some of the other passengers in our group.
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