Luxor (We’re Not in Vegas Anymore!)

Luxor has been a wonderful little town. It is very different from Cairo, which is fine because Cairo is such a big city that you don’t really feel like you are in Egypt sometimes. But Luxor is a beautiful desert oasis, where you can see Egypt and how it can actually be beautiful. The Nile River actually looks like a healthy, running river here and is a beautiful color. Luxor is actually split in two by the Nile. We are staying on the larger side, which is the East Bank. Most of the sights, like the Valley of the Kings, are in the West Bank. Today we had the chance to visit the West Bank and see the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut’s Temple, the Valley of the Queens, and the Colossi of Memnon. We were not allowed to take cameras into the valley of the Kings or Queens. This is because they want to protect the tombs. All we can say is that the tombs are amazing and have very vividly decorated tombs. The colors were more vibrant than we expected. The pyramids and tombs have been neat to see up in Cairo, but the tombs in Valley of the Kings and Queens are in such good condition, that you feel almost as if you are the first to discover the tomb and are on a quest to find the other chambers. Below are a few pictures of us at Hatshepsut’s temple.

Alexandria

Alexandria is quite a drive from Cairo, but it was neat to walk by the Mediterranean. We had a wonderful time feeling the cool Mediterranean breeze that blew through the city. Here are some pictures from our time there.

This is a shot from inside the Library of Alexandria. The original was destroyed thousands of years ago, but this is the new one built in the 2000's. It is the 2nd largest library in the world.

Egypt: Cairo/Giza

We arrived in Cairo late our first night and didn’t really have a chance to do anything but crash at our hotel. The next day we awoke too excited and were still in amazement that we had made it to Egypt. Instead of heading to the closest pyramids in Giza, we decided to make a circle around the area and end up at the largest pyramids that are closest to our hotel.

We started the day in a town called Memphis, which is the ancient capital of unified Egypt. We saw our first pyramid there: The Step Pyramid. It is incredible to learn about how they excavate all of the tombs in the pyramid and around the area. There is still so much in Egypt to be discovered that we will need to come back in a few years to see what is different.

Then we traveled just a short distance to a museum where they had collected many Egyptian artifacts. Probably the most famous was a 16 foot statue of Ramses II called “The Colossus.” I am still in shock because when you travel in Europe and go to see famous artifacts, you are not allowed to touch anything. Here you can touch just about anything that isn’t behind glass. I love to feel the carvings of the hieroglyphs done in the different stones and just imagine the time when they were being done back thousands of years ago.

Our final stop was the Giza pyramids, also known as The Great Pyramids. There are a total of 9 pyramids in that area, and once again, I was amazed because we were able to go up and climb on them. Due to safety reasons, we could only go so far, but still to go see up close the Great Pyramid, one of the 7 Wonders of the World! As if that weren’t enough, we both hopped (literally) on a camel to get a wide view of the pyramids. All I can say is that I love camels. Sure you feel like you are a little too high off the ground, but I felt completely safe. I love the way they move and how the bottom lip sticks out when they walk. By the end of the trip, I was feeling comfortable enough to let go of the stirrups and cross my legs. Even when they run it is still fun to ride on them. My camel liked to bite other camels, so I named him Tyson, and Jason’s camel was a bit slow and lazy, so he named him Jabba. I think we are going to look into buying one when we get home.

We spent a lot of time around the pyramids, just looking at different tombs and others sites around the area. We ended the day watching the sun set over these amazing feats of mankind. We bought tickets to go sit in front of the famous Sphinx and watched what is called “The Sound and Lights” show, where they light up the pyramids while giving a brief history of Egypt. It was incredible and of course amazing to be sitting in front of the Sphinx.
Throughout the day we found little shops and have been gathering objects such as Egyptian perfume, rugs, papyrus paintings, and other souvenirs. I am afraid we are coming back with a lot more than what we brought.
That was just the first day!!!!!



The next day we woke up ready again for more Egypt. When Jason and I travel we tend to go to a lot of museums, and Egypt is no exception. If anything, we have been looking forward to the Egyptian museum. I have always wanted to go there because any artifact that has been found in Egypt within the last hundred years has been taken to the museum. Of course, the most famous would be the items found in King Tut’s, including his headmask. We were not allowed to take any pictures in the museum, but so many of the items were out to be examined up close, and even touched.
After the museum we were going to go visit other landmarks in Cairo, but decided we wanted to see the city in a more relaxing way, so we took a felucca (Egyptian boat) along the Nile River.

Now we are back in the hotel after doing some more shopping and wandering of Cairo, and have finally found time to update the blog. Sorry about the delay if any of you have been wondering about our safety, but we are having the time of our lives and are enjoying it so much.

Jordan & Petra: Thurs-Sat

Once we were done in NYC, we headed to the airport to travel to our second destination: Jordan. Our original plans were to head straight to Egypt, but we found plane tickets that were cheaper if we stopped in Jordan. We began thinking that maybe we could stay a couple of days in Jordan and see a few sites. We have now left the country of Jordan and we loved it. I was just planning on seeing the site of Petra and then leaving the country not wanting to see any more, but Jason and I didn’t want to leave. It wasn’t just Petra that was amazing, but the people were kind, the hotels were incredible, the Dead Sea was unreal, and overall we found Jordan to be a travel gem. Here are some pictures from Jordan:
Our first day we only had time to see the city of Amman before the sun set. Here are some views of the city.

Our first night was spent in a very nice hotel… but with a surprise. I am hesitant to tell this, because I just know that the parents will want us to come home when they read this, because our first night in Jordan our hotel had an electrical fire. I awoke to Jason looking out the window because he was trying to figure out why he was smelling smoke. We opened up our hotel door and could smell smoke even more through the darkness. The power was act but we always travel with a flashlight. Acting fast, within 3 minutes, we were dressed and completely repacked and ready to go… even though it was 3 am. As we were going to head down to see exactly what was going on, the hotel manager came up to wake us up and take us outside. He was surprised to see us dressed and ready. They lead us outside to wait in a really nice courtyard, where they gave us plenty to eat and blankets to keep warm. The fire was put out by the time the sunrise came, and we had to leave anyways to head to Petra. To be honest, we were just fine and at no point did we feel like we were in real danger. Don’t worry about us, because we just laughed it off and moved on.


PETRA

Petra is just as amazing as you can imagine. You are walking through this narrow slot canyon that seems entirely ordinary and then you come across this gigantic stone building. You feel like you have just stepped in the Indiana Jones movie as you begin to explore this ancient, abandoned valley. Petra isn’t just a building, but an entire city that used to hold over 20,000 people, so there are many monuments and buildings that are still being discovered. The most popular building is the first picture below, which was the treasury of the ancient city. To get to Petra, we had to hike down a long slot canyon for several miles. That also meant that after a day of hiking around the city we had to pull ourselves up that long hill. Here are some pictures from that adventure.

The Dead Sea
We were just exhausted from Petra and were so grateful to go to our hotel by the Dead Sea. You can smell the sea before you can see it, but the water there was a beautiful blue-green. The hotel was amazing, complete with a stunning view, at least 7 swimming pools, complimentary beverages, and the most incredible continental breakfast! Swimming in the Dead Sea is quite the experience, because you are so buoyant and you come out feeling all smooth. Just don’t get the water in your eyes, because boy can it sting!

LEAVING JORDAN

We had a later flight to Egypt so we decided to see a few sites while heading to the airport. We stopped at Mt. Nebo and climbed to the top of it to see a whole view of Jordan and Israel. We also saw some mosaics in a small town called Madaba, where we had lunch. Off to the airport we went after that and the flight was perfect, making our way to Cairo.

New York City!

We got to spend the day in New York as we were waiting for our flight to Amman Jordan. There was so much to see, and only one day to try to fit in as much as we possibly could. Here are a couple of pictures from what we saw.

We first saw Cleopatra's Needle in Central Park. It is a twin to the one that we have seen in London.

Here is one of the billboards from Time Square. You have never seen so much neon and lcd.

Here is a picture of us at the entrance to the Empire State Building. It really has the best views in town!

There are so many more pictures that we took, but as time is short, we will update the blog with more pictures as the opportunity presents itself.

Favorite Picture Friday: July 16th, 2010

For Favorite Picture Friday we decided to show some pictures that we took a while ago back for our Anniversary in June. We thought it would be a fun idea to take pictures annually for our anniversary, and to throw in the flowers Jason sent me. Here are just a few that I liked.

Our Next Trip: Egypt!!

If you were to look to the right, you would notice the destination of our next great vacation: Egypt! We will be leaving on the 20th of July, and we won't get back until August. We will actually have a couple of detours along the way, including New York and Petra, Jordan. After that we will be in the Land of the Pharaohs for over a week. We are so thrilled to be going, so check our blog during that time and we will try to post pictures and videos while out there.
Assalaamu'alaykun (See you soon)

Favorite Picture Friday: July 9th, 2010

These firework pictures are from the show we saw last weekend up in Logan at the USU stadium. Jason drove up the day I was done with school and we spend the weekend in Logan and SLC trying to stay out of the heat.

Here are some pictures from the room we stayed up in Logan at the Anniversary Inn. It was a new room that was themed around an African Safari. It was gorgeous, decorated as if you were on a safari and sleeping inside the tent. We alway love staying at the Anniversary Inn. This room definetly made us want to go to Africa.

Outreach Slideshow

As then end of Outreach grew nearer I was asked by the group to put together this slideshow. I asked everyone to upload pictures and then I quickly threw one together, since I had to do homework and take a test that night. Here is the finished product, so if you want to see the amazing people I have been working and studying with the last 2 years, take a look.