Rameses the second was quite a man…..

He lived to be 101, had 41 wives and 191 children. He married the daughter of his enemy (his 41st wife) to bring peace to his kingdom. The peace lasted 25 years, until his death.

Most impressive about the Temples in Abu Sembel Temples……. They were moved , 200 meters back from the river and 65 meters higher. It only took 4 years and was completed in 1968. The move was necessary because of the high dam constructed on the Nile was going to flood these Temples. The amazing thing is that you you can hardly see a seam or any signs that these Temples were cut apart, moved and reassembled. An amazing engineering feat!

Seeing them in person was fabulous! The great pyramid of Khufu is the largest building built by man. It’s approx 140 meters high and has 2.3 million stones weighing between 2 tons and 15 tons. The great mystery …. How did they physically move these stones and carve them to fit with such precision!! This was built about 4600 years ago !!

We arrived in Cairo two days early for our tour so we hired a guide for a day. Our trip leader arranged for a driver and guide to take us to Saqqara “city of the dead”. It’s considered the oldest pyramid and it’s called a step pyramid. It was built two steps at a time.

26 hours after our daughter, Meg picked us up and drove us to the airport we were in our hotel room. We arrived 2 days prior to our tour to help us old folks get acclimated.

Our trip leader arranged for a half day tour of some pyramids tomorrow. These will be pyramids that we won’t see on the main tour.

And Rod left his polar fleece jacket in the boarding area. He didn’t realize until he sat down in row 30 then had to go upstream and back to the gate area…. and found his jacket

Check in and security went fine. We were asked how old we are at Security. If we were over 75 we could leave our shoes on😊.

We are about to take our first international trip in two years. We’ve enjoyed our travels with OAT in years past. With the new travel restrictions we can’t think of a better company to use to get us back on the road. We have packed, got our COVID vaccines and booster. We got our COVID test yesterday and got the printed report with required QR code that we tested negative.

We depart at 6:30 tomorrow night for a flight to Paris and then on to Cairo, Egypt. We’ll be gone 17 days and look forward to seeing the pyramids , riding a camel, a hot air balloon ride at sunrise over the pyramids, and a 5 night Nile river cruise. Check our blog for some interesting photos.

Interesting trip to the high country of Peru. Cusco, the sacred valley, and Machu Picchu. Fascinating scenery and history of the Incan Empire. However the altitude got to Patty and I both. Cusco is 11,000 feet and Machu Picchu is 7,700 feet. 4 nights of restless sleeping , headaches and out of breath!

We spent a day here. We had from 9am until 4:30 pm in port and it was a short walk to town. I went to town early to find an ATM and took a short walk around town. The bank guard was helpful and even took the large bills to the teller and got change for me. Punta Arenas is the southern most city except for Antarctica. It is located on the Strait of Magellan. It was a major port prior to the opening of the Panama Canal. It was founded as a penal colony in the 1840s and used as such until 1949.

Our day in port…. I went kayaking, Patty did laundry. Thanks Patty😊!

54 degrees and 59 minutes south !! Farthest south land mass without going to Antarctica. We’ve been lucky so far. Last two Viking cruises couldn’t make it due to weather. Today is 45degrees, only 40 mph wind and 9 foot seas! A nice summer day! Patty is doing ok with Dramamine and a patch.