Luxor

Today was a long and wonderful 8 hour day of touring. Brianna is NOT feeling well. It was bound to happen but we came prepared with drugs. Unfortunately they aren't working very quickly.
Our first stop was the temple of Queen Hatshesput which is carved out of the mountains on the opposite side of the valley of the kings. Each temple we see is bigger and better than the last. Maybe the most interesting thing we learned here was not about the queen but about our guide. He was here in 1997 on Nov. 17 when the terrorists killed all those tourists. He was shot at. He managed to save himself and one of the two people he was guiding.
More on this to come when I am not writing on my little cell phone.
Next was the amazing valley of the kings. We visited 3 tombs; Ramses the 3rd, 4th and 9th. Because the tombs are not exposed to the elements we were able to see the colours painted on the hieroglyphics still as vibrant as they were 4000 years ago. When king Tut's tomb was found, it was in tact. The robbers hadn't got to it first. And his tomb is the smallest. They can only imagine what these much larger tombs might have held. It is believed that there are still two tombs that haven't been discovered yet and when they find them, the treasures will still be there. The last morning stop was the alabaster factory where we learned all about rocks and minerals and how they still hand make statues and candle holders and tourist souvenirs. We did some shopping here knowing that what we chose was made with real alabaster in Egypt and not an imitation made in China.
After lunch and leaving a still sick Brianna behind we headed out to see the last two temples on our program. First the biggest of all the temples, the Karnak temple with its massive and really impressive columns and lastly the Luxor temple. By the time we got to the Luxor temple the sun had set and it was really pretty to see all lit up. Before we got to the Luxor temple we visited the papyrus factory where we learned how they make paper. We did a little shopping here too.
Back on the boat we had a nice dinner and then watched a bellydancer!
Tomorrow we head to Hurghada.

The photo below is the view out our window when we woke up .... hot air balloons over the valley of the kings.