Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Egypt Trip

This past winter break, Jared and I spent almost 2 weeks in Egypt. We traveled to different parts of Egypt like, Cairo, Luxor, Edfu, Aswan, and Sharm El Sheak. We had so much fun and left with a better knowledge of the Egyptian history.

Jared & I in front of the Cairo Museum
We spent our first day in Cairo, and went to the Cairo Museum. There we were able to see many different things. We saw all of the treasures that were burried in King Tut's tomb with him, we were even able to see some mummy's. It was interesting to see that some of the mummy's still had thier finger and toe nails, their teeth, and even their hair. Unfortunately we werent able to take any pictures inside the museum.

Jared and I on the large damn overlooking the Nile River.
The next morning was really tough. We had to get on a plane at 5:00am to fly to Aswan. There, we got to see a damn that was built on the Nile River and visit a temple that was dedicated to the Goddess Isis. It was amazing to learn that the temple was moved from its origional location, brick by brick, to preserve it from the Nile River. After visiting the temple we checked into our room on our cruise ship. We spent 3 nights on this small cruise ship floating down the Nile. During this time we visited more temples and eventually ended up in Luxor. I Luxor we took a carriage ride to see the different area's of the city. We saw where the rich, middle class, and poor live. While in Luxor we visited the Karnak temple, which was huge!!! It took about 2,000 years to build. At night we visited the Luxor temple, which was aboslutely beautiful!

Jared and I by a column in the Temple for the Goddess Isis.
This is a view of the Nile from our room on our cruise ship.
This is the Kom Ombo Temple.
Jared and I on New Year's Eve on our cruise.
The temple in Edfu dedicated to the God Horus.
We took a night carriage ride through Luxor.
Jared climbing a wall in one of the temples.
This was the Karnak Temple, the largest we saw.
We took a boat ride at sunset in Luxor.
This is what our boat looked like. There were so many on the river.
On our cruise they made us a cake that said "Happy Honeymoon". We had to dance also.
Jared and I in front of King Tut's tomb. His body was still inside.
The Valley of the Kings.
We came back to Cairo and had a romantic dinner on the Nile on a floating restaurant. During dinner we had a belly dancer come and perform, and a Egyptian folk dancer. The next day was the Pyramids!! They were amazing. We were able to go inside one of the pyramids. It was so hot and there was no ventilation inside. There was only one way in and one way out. However, it was so amazing to see the inside. After, we rode on a camel. I was a little nervous but it was a lot of fun. Jared got to stand up on the back of the camel, but I was too scared to do it myself. After the amazing pyramids, we saw the Mosque of Muhammed Ali. It was so beautiful, and very sacred, we had to take our shoes off while we were inside.
Romantic dinner on a floating restaurant.
A monument dedicated to a governer in Egypt.
The Pyramids!!!!
We went inside this pyramid!
Inside the pyramid. It was sooo hot!!!
This boat was found burried under one of the pyramids.
I kissed the Sphinx!!!
Jared wanted to stand on the camel... I was too scared to.
Us on the camel... maybe our Christmas picture for this year.
The mosque for Mohammed Ali.
All of Cairo!
The last place we went was Sharm El Sheikh. We loved it there! It was so beautiful. It is a resort town and every hotel is right by the Red Sea. Our resort was huge! There was a small water park, and many pools for us to relax in. The second day we were there, we had a tour to a national park where we were able to go snorkeling along the coral. It was so beautiful. There were so many different kinds of fish there. More fish than we saw in the Caribbean. We were very sad to leave that place.
Our view from our room in Sharm El Sheikh.
Sharm El Sheikh desert
Sharm El Sheikh beach.
We went snorkeling
This is where we went snorkeling.
About 4 football fields out from shore in the Red Sea.
About 4 football fields out from shore in the Red Sea.
We had so much fun in Egypt, there are so many stories to tell, but not enough room to write them all. We had amazing guides that made our stay in Egypt a very memorable one.