Into Egypt

After spending a few weeks in and around London, I decided to take some excursions and book a few tours. The first stop is Egypt! I did not realize how hot it would be until after I had already booked. But since summer is the low season, at least the tourist crowds would be at a minimum.

Due to air flight availability and a pre-tour meeting, I wound up arriving in Cairo one day early. Getting through the airport was relatively easy, and I was able to purchase the required visa right there. I was a little surprised to find out how large Cairo is - the metropolitan area contains around 18 million people!

A few other people also arrived early - two of them, Amy and Fiona, on the same flight as me. They both work in London but are from New Zealand and Australia, respectively. As there were many Aussi's and Kiwi's in my tour group, I found out later it is pretty common for Aussi's and Kiwi's to come over and work a few years in London. It is really a blast to hang out with them on the tour!

Here Fiona (left) and Amy (right) take a peek from our hotel roof at the Great Pyramid, Pyramid of Khafre, and Pyramid of Menkaure in the distance.

At the hotel, we are able to enjoy the largest pool in Cairo - something we kept hearing over and over from the staff! ;-)

I made sure to apply lots of sunscreen.
And what would a five star hotel be without the can of Raid spray . . .
That evening we drove to a Nile River boat for dinner and entertainment. On the freeway we traveled, there were never very many cars. Also, one would see people just walking along. I couldn't imagine people just walking around on the 5 freeway in LA.

There was a belly dancer after dinner.And also a performance by a whirling dervish. The whirling dance that is proverbially associated with dervishes, is the practice of the Mevlevi Order in Turkey, and is just one of the physical methods used to try to reach religious ecstasy.