I’m sitting at the Luxor airport waiting for our flight to Cairo in three hours (Toumazou is not taking any risks with our missing planes. We’re not even able to check in yet!). Yesterday we went to the Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Hatshepsut.I think there is a chance that the Valley of the Kings is one of the most touristy places in the entire world. It made for prime people watching. This morning we visited the Karnak Temple and Temple of Luxor.
We got to into three underground tombs of Pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings. They stopped making pyramids for their tombs in the Middle Kingdom to detour grave robbers. The paintings on the walls still have incredibly vivid colors. At the Temple of Hatshepsut we had our first encounter with creepy Egyptian men asking to take pictures. Our tour guide Hashem assured us they they were just interested in our culture but I’m pretty sure that’s not true. He also tried to tell us that the obelisks in the Karnak Temple were fingers pointing to the sky shooing forth "the water of life" and I’m pretty sure that’s not true either.
At Luxor Temple there were many Egyptian men hanging out there waiting to try to take their picture with American tourist girls. When we finally agreed to let them to take our picture they were very excited until they figured out that we meant only with the boys. They were pretty annoyed about that.
Monday, January 29, 2007
God Damnit, I'm Kalinikos, Friday 1-19-07
We drove past a Cypriot monastery today on tope of a mountain and learned a great story about a monk who lives there. His name is Kalinikos and he’s the most famous icon painter in Cyprus. Apparently he has had exhibits all over Europe and the Near East. When the monastery decided to hire Romanian painters to help paint icons, Kalinikos get very angry that they were quickly painting a head every day while he spent a week on one and he yelled to the whole monastery, “God damn it, I am Kalinikos. This is not good work!”
On our way to the Larnaca airport, we stopped at a mosque that is apparently very important in the Muslim world. It is the fourth most important mosque behind Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem and it is where Muhammad’s aunt is buried. The speaker of the house of Syria was coincidentally there at the same time. His men picked us out as Americans because they thought Toumazou’s hat was a cowboy hat (which was the second time that had happened). Toumazou is of course the only non- American in the group; he’s actually a Cypriot. Everyone except his bodyguard thought it was very funny that they were with a bunch of American students and they asked to take the speaker’s picture with all of us. He also asked us to give his regards to his American colleagues.
We just arrived in Egypt after quite the airport experience. We flew from Larnaca and connected through Cairo to Luxor. Cairo customs proved to be very interesting and quite the introduction to Arabic. When I went through the metal detector it beeped. I was ready to go back through when the three airport officials started yelling at each other and apparently forgot about me. I stood for a few minutes waiting and then tried to blend into the crowd of American tourists.
Our hotel is very nice. We’ve been told it’s the best in Luxor. To get in we went through a guard station, over a moat and then individually through metal detectors.
On our way to the Larnaca airport, we stopped at a mosque that is apparently very important in the Muslim world. It is the fourth most important mosque behind Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem and it is where Muhammad’s aunt is buried. The speaker of the house of Syria was coincidentally there at the same time. His men picked us out as Americans because they thought Toumazou’s hat was a cowboy hat (which was the second time that had happened). Toumazou is of course the only non- American in the group; he’s actually a Cypriot. Everyone except his bodyguard thought it was very funny that they were with a bunch of American students and they asked to take the speaker’s picture with all of us. He also asked us to give his regards to his American colleagues.
We just arrived in Egypt after quite the airport experience. We flew from Larnaca and connected through Cairo to Luxor. Cairo customs proved to be very interesting and quite the introduction to Arabic. When I went through the metal detector it beeped. I was ready to go back through when the three airport officials started yelling at each other and apparently forgot about me. I stood for a few minutes waiting and then tried to blend into the crowd of American tourists.
Our hotel is very nice. We’ve been told it’s the best in Luxor. To get in we went through a guard station, over a moat and then individually through metal detectors.
...Is falling down, Thursday 1-18-07
We’re sitting in Heathrow airport right now waiting on our delayed flight to Larnaca, Cyprus. Yesterday was our second and final day in London and we spent it in the British Museum. It was incredible to see the ever- controversial Elgin marbles (Parthenon sculptures) in person. I was shocked by how huge the British Museum’s collection is. We spent all day and didn’t even see everything Greek and Roman there.
Last night on the way to the Tower of London with a few friends, I pulled the ultimate American tourist move. Walking through a London business district, I noticed the seals of the Hogwarts houses hanging in an office building. I guess I pointed it out a little too enthusiastically because I realized that an entire bus stop full of people was staring at us. It was later pointed out to me that that was the Warner Brothers building.
Last night on the way to the Tower of London with a few friends, I pulled the ultimate American tourist move. Walking through a London business district, I noticed the seals of the Hogwarts houses hanging in an office building. I guess I pointed it out a little too enthusiastically because I realized that an entire bus stop full of people was staring at us. It was later pointed out to me that that was the Warner Brothers building.
Please Mind the Gap, Tuesday 1-16-07
We arrived in London’s Gatwick airport early this morning. I’m going on my 30th hour without sleep at this point so my hotel bed it looking wonderful.
We took a train from the airport to a tube station (the Underground), where we had to get on two different subways. It was pretty hilarious watching the 22 American tourists try to maneuver through packed tube stations. Almost everyone’s bag is too heavy to carry long distances so we ran up and down staircases with our suitcases banging loudly behind us. Toumazou was running around so frantically trying to get head counts that he almost knocked a young girl down in front of an oncoming train (the lack of sleep made it seem really funny).
Our field trip today was to the National Gallery. I didn’t have high expectations because I was so tired but I got to see some amazing art. The Gallery over looks Trafalgar Square and we could see Big Ben in the distance. Inside I got to see amazing pieces by Van Eyck, Botticelli, da Vinci, Rembrandt, Monet, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Seurat. On the way out of the museum, I was wandering few a few rooms I hadn’t seen and found two full of Raphael and Michelangelo works.
The best part of the day though was definitely our dining experiences. With our hectic schedule there was not time for breakfast, so by the time lunch and dinner came we would have been happy with ANYTHING! I don’t think there are 20 people in the rest of the world who think as highly of British food as the members of CSA07.
Nicole and I almost had some difficulty tonight trying to find an internet café and then somewhere to buy phone cards. Looking left-right-left in London before crossing the street does not work as well in London; it actually gets to killed because the drive on the wrong side of the road! It took us a few tries to figure that one out.
We took a train from the airport to a tube station (the Underground), where we had to get on two different subways. It was pretty hilarious watching the 22 American tourists try to maneuver through packed tube stations. Almost everyone’s bag is too heavy to carry long distances so we ran up and down staircases with our suitcases banging loudly behind us. Toumazou was running around so frantically trying to get head counts that he almost knocked a young girl down in front of an oncoming train (the lack of sleep made it seem really funny).
Our field trip today was to the National Gallery. I didn’t have high expectations because I was so tired but I got to see some amazing art. The Gallery over looks Trafalgar Square and we could see Big Ben in the distance. Inside I got to see amazing pieces by Van Eyck, Botticelli, da Vinci, Rembrandt, Monet, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Seurat. On the way out of the museum, I was wandering few a few rooms I hadn’t seen and found two full of Raphael and Michelangelo works.
The best part of the day though was definitely our dining experiences. With our hectic schedule there was not time for breakfast, so by the time lunch and dinner came we would have been happy with ANYTHING! I don’t think there are 20 people in the rest of the world who think as highly of British food as the members of CSA07.
Nicole and I almost had some difficulty tonight trying to find an internet café and then somewhere to buy phone cards. Looking left-right-left in London before crossing the street does not work as well in London; it actually gets to killed because the drive on the wrong side of the road! It took us a few tries to figure that one out.
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