Day 2 and We are off to Luxor

Well we were off to another early morning departure. Today we had to load the bus and prepare to travel to Luxor in the afternoon, before we left Cairo though we did a whole bunch of stuff!
First we went to the Papyrus institute (don't be fooled there are hundreds all over egypt) basically a store with a demo set up so you can see how they make and treat the papyrus. So we had a demo, then we got to shop ( surprise! ) I actually did by something, so did mom!

We hopped back in the bus and carried on to the oldest Fort in Cairo which had the oldest Mosque within its grounds, it was huge. We went inside, of course I was wearing inappropriate attire so they covered me with a sheet like covering that covered my legs and arms ( yes. I was the only one in our group)


Outside view of the mosque






inside view of the mosque

From the mosque we headed to the oldest coptic church in Cairo called "the hanging church" - We drove by a Movie set on the way - you can never really get away can you?
It was truly beautiful the wood inlay and paintings were thousands of years old.For some reason I couldnt turn this picture around


Coptic Church outside



Church inside also on its side - ahh the joys of computing - but you get the idea

From there some real excitement! SHOPPING! We went to the market. It was packed with TOURISTS and very aggressive sales people. I did however, manage to buy some items ( YES Jake I got you something), We spent about an hour there and if anyone had any problems our tour guide Sameh offered to come help us bargin. Ohhhhh I loved the bargening it was fun!

From there we went to the Sadat Memorial. Just a quick stop before we hit the airport.


Here we are after our arrival in Luxor. The beauty of this trip was we didnt have to carry our luggage we only had to identify it! From the airport we took a bus to a beautiful resort hotel which we could not see because it was so dark and on the way Sameh sprung upon us the wonderful idea that we should depart the next day at 530a ( he wanted to leave earlier he told us later, but didnt have the heart to suggest it because so many of us looked beat) he wanted to get us to the Vally of the Kings and Queens before everyone else. We all reluctantly accepted which begs the question "why did I stay out dancing to Abba and the Weather girls until 12 midnight?" Needless to say my wake up day 3 was a struggle!