Hi everyone. Well the Travel Group was at it again this last May with a trip to Egypt. Anyway, we really enjoyed our trip and hope you enjoy the Blog. We booked the trip in January and flew out on the 11th of May. Our trip was really in three sections, two days in Cairo, a five day Nile cruise starting at Luxor and then a week in El Gouna on the Red Sea where we just laid around the pool all day, eating and drinking. I know what a surprise. It was a great trip and I hope you enjoy it too.
Egypt is a really interesting country and what you see there is like no other. The Pyramids are as fantastic as you want them to be and all the temples and tombs along the Nile are incredible to see. The Cairo Museum is one of a kind and the building itself is fantastic. I must add though that Egypt is probably one of the dirtiest places I have ever seen. It is just covered in trash, cans, bottles, plastic, plastic, and more plastic is everywhere and the Smog is horrible. Ella thought that there was a fire somewhere when we we landing because it is so thick, kind of like LA in the late 60's but everyday is a stage one smog alert. Hep "C" is a huge problem in Egypt and it is easy to understand why when you see kids swimming in polluted rivers or drinking water directly out of the Nile. I hope the Gov't. gets it together before Egypt is too toxic to visit.
We flew out of Frankfurt nonstop to Cairo. In German Cairo is spelled with a "K" so you will probably see it referenced so throughout the pictures. We were on a German Tour. Our tour itself was fine but Ella arrived injured. During her flight to Frankfurt from LA, some guy stepped on her foot while she was sleeping and we do believe that she broke her baby toe. No tennis shoes for her during her entire time with us. Luckily we were visiting a hot place so her fabulous flip flops and painted toes looked great and did not freeze.
Just waiting to get on the plane.
Let the "all inclusive" (everything's included, drinks and food) begin!
So here it is, the little broken toe but you have to say, it looks fabulous! More people checked out these feet during our trip than you can believe, but isn't it so Ella.
Looking good from head to toe.
OK, Islamic Country but they still had beer and wine.
Hmmm, is that what they are loading and will that be enough for the 4 hour flight?
Our arrival in Cairo.
Like all good artists, our version of a self-portrait.
No those aren't rabbit ears on her head but two people behind her!
OK, so we were limited to one piece of luggage, one carry-on and one purse.
No one said what size they were limited to so we thought big.
We were limited to 20 kilos per suitcase which is the equivalent to about 35 lbs. Gee where are those good old days when we could have 32 kilos per bag, 70 lbs. AND two bags per person? Ella and I are learning to adapt but it isn't easy. Wolfgang is thrilled needless to say.
No, not a costume party but we knew we were in Egypt.
Our Hotel in Cairo, The Mövenpick.
Great location, really clean and we stayed in these adorable Bungalows with individual patios.
We couldn't see the Pyramids from our hotel but they were just down the road.
The first of our many pools but a really nice one. We spent every afternoon, including our day of arrival at this pool. The way it works in Egypt is that you usually do things in the morning and then hang out around the pool in the afternoon because it is just too hot to do anything else.
We were naturals at adapting to this system.
You can tell that this is the beginning of our trip by how white Wolfgang's skin still is.
As the Blog progresses so does his tan.
Ella and I lived under Sun Umbrella's wearing SPF 30 and 55 throughout our adventure.
We did get brown but definitely a lighter shade than Wolfgang when all was said and done.
It was just too much for her. She just had to water and there was the hose! Oh, and better yet, no water restrictions. She just went wild. Her only complaint, the hose was too heavy.
Yes we know, real Egyptian looking food but we wanted to sit outside and the pizza was very good. We all agreed that this was a nice location but the food was kind of sucky. The buffet just wasn't like it was in Turkey. We were spoiled in Turkey so Egypt had a lot to do to match it.
Our actual first tourist day and of course the first thing we visited were the Pyramids at Giza. They are really breathtaking. We loved it.
Not only did we visited the Pyramids from outside, but we went into the middle pyramid. I had done this 17 years ago but Ella and Wolfgang had not so off we went. OK, I will tell you that I am the whiner. If anyone is going to whine about something it is usually me but going into the Pyramid was a whole other thing.
You see, you have to literally bend in half and walk down a plank like ladder to the bottom. There is only one way in and one way out and it is this little passage way. So off we go, Ella in front, me in the middle and Wolfgang in back. No camera's are allowed inside and I am not quite sure why because there is really nothing there but I do wish I had the video camera to record my travel mates. It was incredible, nonstop whining about how hard it was and hot it was and get this, Ella the littlest of the three, was bitching about how low the ceiling was.
I must admit, I laughed all the way down and back!
The entrance to the inside.
In Egypt everyone wants to help you or take their picture with you. Cops want you to take their pictures sitting on camels, or sitting in guardhouses, I mean just incredibly helpful. Now once they have helped you, out comes the hand for a tip and I mean everyone is rubbing their fingers together for money, including those helpful cops. It is really out of control. Oh and everything costs 1 Euro no matter what. As you are walking around a tourist location or down a street all the Merchants (at best) are trying to get you into their shops or sell you whatever they are holding and everything costs "1 Euro".
I tell you this because it will explain the picture above. We were walking around the Pyramids saying "no thank you" to everyone and we came upon this guy dressed in some kind of police outfit. He just insisted that we take our picture in this location. Why are we standing like we are because he told us to do so. The idea is that Wolfgang and I have our hands on top of the Pyramid but we really don't have an explanation as to why he had Ella stand so. We can only say that he kept telling "mama" to stand that way so she did. It is a great but weird picture. Oh, and it only cost us an Euro!
This picture cost us nothing because we asked another tourist to take it.
You will see this hat throughout the trip. It didn't make it home. It started out with a lovely upturned brim but by trips end, it was time for retirement.
Wolfgang took a great shot don't you think?
Always the hiker. We were at the Step Pyramid, predecessor to the Pyramids at Giza. It was just too much for him. He had to climb something. I think if climbing up the Pyramids themselves was allowed, Wolfgang would do it.
This is the Step Pyramid. Can't go in it now but really interesting to look see.
She is so cute!
This is me and my equipment. It consisted of a video camera, hand held fan,
sun visor and an umbrella.
Ta-Da!
A really big statue of Rames II. There are like 20 Rames over the course of Egyptian History. This guy was the second one so I guess everyone was still into making big stuff. It is gigantic.
On the left of Ella is the unfinished Obelisk at Aswan. If it hadn't cracked, it would have been the biggest obelisk ever made. You can see other obelisks that have been taken, stolen is really the world, in London and I believe in Paris. There is also an obelisk in Istanbul. They are what I consider to be the the Egyptian equivalent to Totem Poles.
Our first shopping event. We bought Sphinxes made of Alabaster. We bought from this guy because he was nice. Some other guy really wanted to swindle us but when we started walking away, the price just plummeted. Ella was so angry she stated he could pay her to take it and she wouldn't give the B"§$"d a moment. Don't you screw with her and money!
This is our example of wanting money. Wolfgang and Ella were up in a building and Wolfgang took this guy's picture and then Wolfgang walked away. He is a something called a Tourist policeman. He looked up at Ella and rubbed his fingers together because he wanted to be paid for his picture. Ella just laughed and walked away. Gee, do you think that he could have arrested Wolfgang for failure to pay?
A random shot of Cairo and one of the biggest Mosques in the City. Oh, traffic is always like this and there seems to be no rules to driving. It's OK to drive at night without your lights on and the lines on the road are only for looks. We still can't figure if there are any rules or not.
It's OK to ride three on a motorcycle at night on the freeway without your lights on. It's OK to stop on the freeway and let someone out or you can stand on the side of the freeway and wait for a ride. You can sell stuff on the side of freeway and I believe that whoever owns the wire and duct tape markets in Egypt is the richest person on earth!
Not often but once in a while there are signs in English and Arabic. The answer to any driving problem in Egypt is NEVER DRIVE YOURSELF!
Part II of our trip, our Nile Cruise. We flew from Cairo to Luxor.
Actually, we think that Egypt Air was OK.
Our Ship. Lots of fun and a great crew. Once again, the food just didn't do it for us. In fact it did it to Ella and I. We lived on Immodium and Pepto for just about the balance of the trip but it didn't stop us. What we didn't eat, we made up for in beer and wine. In fact this was the first location where we really didn't have to order after a while, they just brought the stuff.
Our table group. We had every meal together. Everyone was really nice.
OK, so the two guys who cleaned up our cabins were kind of like Beavis and Butthead. Really sweet but you know, they cleaned our cabins, not college grades. What they did do really well was make stuff from our pool towels, etc. everyday. One day there was a crocodile in the hallway made of towels. Well, we went to our rooms one evening and found these guys waiting for us. B & B were so excited for us to see what they had made. We loved it.
Notice the hat!
Our evening drink. Hey, it was "all inclusive" we were going to enjoy.
Our livers will never be the same.
The guys at the bar, the dining room, poolside, etc. A really super group.
Afternoon drink (beer) after lying around the pool and before dinner.
We got cleaned up and sat down. The next few pictures are of different things.
Either a place we visited or saw from the ship.
This is the Temple of Hatschepsut (German Spelling). Ella and I sat and had a coke.
Wolfgang climbed all the way up. What a man!
One of our dinner shows on the boat while we were docked in Aswan. Nubians put on the show and we really enjoyed it. Everything they wore or used in the show was hand made.
This was one guy in a costume showing two men wrestling. It was fantastic.
The two man horse outfit was incredible, including real horse hair for the mane and tail. This picture doesn't do it justice for how great a job they did at making it.
OK, that is a bottle of water on the table. We did hydrate.
The hottest day of our trip was the last day of our cruise. It was in the heat of the afternoon and we think that it was about 45 centigrade or about 114 degrees Fahrenheit.
It was friggin' hot man!
This is the Karnac Temple in Luxor. It has 135 columns just like these. It is breathtaking.
We always do a shadow picture. We thought that this was the most appropriate because this is what our shadows normally looked like throughout the trip.
In addition to the Nile cruise, we were able to take an optional bus tour to Abu Simbel. This location was going to be under Lake Nassar when they built the Aswan Dam but a global contingency helped save it and move it up above the dam. It was build onto a fake mountain, like something you would find at Disneyland. The temples are exactly how they were discovered except that they are about 100 feet higher than where they were originally located. It is a spectacular place and even though we had to get up at 3am and take a bus starting at 4am for a least 4 hours across the Sahara and then the same back to Aswan. It was well worth it.
Here is Wolfgang wearing his Kilimanjaro Hat at Abu Simbel.
It was that hot! Wolfgang actually wore a hat.
After our Nile cruise, we got off the boat once again at Luxor and climbed on a bus for El Gouna. El Gouna is a resort area on the Red Sea. To get there, we had to take a bus from Luxor to El Gouna once again across the Sahara. Now this part of the Sahara was not covered in huge sand dunes but huge rock covered mountains. I have a better understanding about what Afghanistan must look like. Anyway the trip took 6-7 hours with one stop along the way.
Here is what we saw at our little rest stop.
Man with Camel. Take his picture, 1 Euro.
Woman with child and goat on donkey. Take her picture 1 Euro.
After a long time and surviving our bus driver counting his tips while driving the bus during an horrendous windstorm, we made it to our final vacation destination, The Mövenpick Spa and Resort in El Gouna. We picked this spot because it said that it has sand beaches instead of coral but it was our lucky day. It is located in a guarded community like Beverly Hills and it was FANTASTIC! Our rooms were once again bungalow style that opened up right on the beach.
OK, I am going to tell this story because my husband said that I would tell everyone. It's about me so of course, I think it is interesting. When I was getting us checked in, I wanted to make sure that our rooms were by each other and that we had a view. We had paid for everything in advance so we had coupons to hand in for our reservation. Well the young man informed me that we had rooms next to each other with a lovely sea view. "What" I exclaimed, "we paid for a room with an ocean view." "I am sorry madam" he said "but in Egypt, we only have rooms with a sea view" and then stood there very quietly waiting for my reaction. I just about fell over laughing for my wonderful stupidity. In my family it is known as a Sarahism. Not the first nor, I am sure the last, in my lifetime. Anyway, here we go at El Gouna.
This was a huge resort with lots to do. We mostly just blobbed by the pool and ate, drank, slept and did Word Search puzzles all day. We did actually do two things while we were there. One day, Wolfgang and I went snorkeling and on another, Ella and Wolfgang rode camels. I rode a camel at the Indio Date Fair when I was about 9 and that was enough for me.
Here are few pics from these activities.
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At the main area of the resort they had the large buffet and the area where their evening shows were conducted. One corner of this piazza was set up to look like a Bedoquin tent complete with water pipes, etc. We sat there for an evening and enjoyed a young British woman sing show tunes and she was actually pretty good.
Wolfgang doing his impression of a sea otter.
Ella and I looking like the bathing beauties we are. Notice that the brim of the hat is starting to hang down a touch. Please just don't notice me.
Our life as we knew it for a week. This was our view. Once we found this lovely location about 200 feet from our rooms, we never left again. It came with a great restaurant and a great staff of waiters. It was buffet only for breakfast and then the rest was sit down and be served. Again, this week was all inclusive so we enjoyed trying everything on the menu.
My only lasting talent from childhood swimming in our pool, a handstand.
Here is the view from the top.......
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.........and the view from under.
Wow, isn't Wolfgang a lucky man to have found a woman with such talent!
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And then again, maybe we are just well matched in general.
All the women were trying to drowned when this lifeguard came on duty. Of course, if you wanted to be saved, it would cost you 1 Euro!
The daily life of the travel group, Breakfast- 8:30, before eating, put towels on lounges to save them, go back to room and change then walk along beach to pool. It was too windy to hang out at the beach so we lived by the pool. Do puzzles and sleep until 12pm and then head over to the restaurant for lunch. Have a couple of beers, head back to the lounges, sleep some more and do more puzzles. Optional afternoon snack, fresh crepes with strawberries or apple fillings
or just a beer!
Pool bar, need we say more.
Our restaurant. Never had to order anything to drink because the guys knew what was the day drink and what was the evening drink. They loved us. Ella and I were the first Americans that they had met in 6 years. Most of the visitors are German, Belgium, French and British.
A super resort.
Dinner. Please notice the skin color change from our first pool photos.
OK, our wow item. This is the prince of Saudi Arabia. His brother is the King. He has a vested interest of about 14% in Mövenpick and I guess he flew across the Red Sea with his family for a couple of days. The waiters told us he was coming (that's how much of a "regular" we were with these guys) but we were really disappointed he didn't show up in his Arab clothing. The real shocker was his daughters. They laid around the pool in bikinis and flip flop shoes. The wife too was in a bathing suit and he was dressed in shorts and a baseball cap.
Here he is up close.
OK, somehow the animal kingdom found out that Wolfgang was visiting.
This Falcon hung out by our rooms and by the pool.
Our room.
The view from our terrace. Everyday after our exhausting pool excursion we would sit on the patio and have a beer together before getting ready for dinner.
It was something else to look at every day.
Now we were in Egypt. We found that once something is broken in Egypt, it stays that way forever. Our patio door did not stay shut unless you locked it. Well, this was not possible when we sat outside so we adapted. Wolfgang found the rock.
This was our last day and our last beer. We had a great vacation, as always.
So Prost and thanks for reading our Blog.
24 cakes this year. Sold every piece.
Ladies with the same name. Most of you know the one on the right. This is Roswitha and Rosi.
This is the food area before the party really got started. We are always lucky that Rosi and Günther's son is our cook. He is an professional chef. The butcher that provided the steaks told Wolfgang that he never knew his steaks could taste that good. We are very lucky to have Markus and his fabulous assistant cooks Maria, Tom and Rosi.
No matter where it is, everyone always hangs out in the kitchen.
The following are just some random shots during the day.
Notice the Stork nest in the background. They always seem to enjoy the festival too.
The man in the sunglasses on the right is Wolfgang's nephew, his wife and son.
We also had pony riding.
And the real celebrities of the day, our storks. 
The aftermath. All of us sitting around relaxing. In addition to apple wine, the club now makes their own apple schnapps or Calvados. It's actually very good. Here is the toast for a great fest.
The Guys. These are the men of the Vogelclub. I think that they should make a calendar!
24 cakes this year. Sold every piece.
Ladies with the same name. Most of you know the one on the right. This is Roswitha and Rosi.
This is the food area before the party really got started. We are always lucky that Rosi and Günther's son is our cook. He is an professional chef. The butcher that provided the steaks told Wolfgang that he never knew his steaks could taste that good. We are very lucky to have Markus and his fabulous assistant cooks Maria, Tom and Rosi.
No matter where it is, everyone always hangs out in the kitchen.
The following are just some random shots during the day.
Notice the Stork nest in the background. They always seem to enjoy the festival too.
The man in the sunglasses on the right is Wolfgang's nephew, his wife and son.
We also had pony riding.
And the real celebrities of the day, our storks. 
The aftermath. All of us sitting around relaxing. In addition to apple wine, the club now makes their own apple schnapps or Calvados. It's actually very good. Here is the toast for a great fest.
The Guys. These are the men of the Vogelclub. I think that they should make a calendar!
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