Today has been a lazy day, Pat relaxing in the shade, me relaxing in the sun, lying by the side of the Nile, or by the side of the pool, depending on whichever way you look at it :)
We started off with a sumptuous breakfast here at the Steigenberger Nile Palace, on the terrace, where the sun was already warm on the face, great way to start the day. The food was delicious and the choices were plentiful, from fruit to cooked breakfasts to pastries and a variety of breads, juices, cereals. After breakfast we sauntered through the bazaars trying on various styles of Egyptian clothes, buying a few but just loving the experience of leisurely shopping among the array of air conditioned, and marble floored stores, where even 'The Sun', 'Daily Mirror', 'Daily Express' and a plethora of other British and American newspapers could have been yours for a song!! The idea of coming to Egypt to read 'The Sun' is bizarre, I guess some people need their fix :)
To those who know Pat, you will know that she is a very talented artist, to those who don't, she is a very talented artist, and one of her specialties is caricature drawings, so today she spent a part of her relaxation drawing a few pictures, and did one of me based on my photo of 'Indiana Davidson and the Temple of Karnak' complete with the strange insect bites I have managed to acquire. Don't laugh too hard, please, if only for the sake of my dignity :P Pat, THANK YOU SO MUCH for this, I love it :)
While Pat was busy drawing I 'lounged' on a sun lounger, engrossed in a book, one of my favourite things to do. Catching up on reading is one thing that is high on my agenda for my new life here in Egypt :) I also took photos of the hotel intermittently, so I thought I would share a few.
Yesterday we learned that when we join our Nile Cruise tomorrow, it will be aboard the M/S Zeina - which, coincidentally, is currently moored right outside our hotel, so our journey to get there tomorrow will be a very short walk, presumably, or at least hopefully, with porters handling the luggage :) More on the boat when we are on board ........................
This being Egypt, situations change frequently, and having booked the trip in April to take in Dahab, St Catherine's Monastery in South Sinai and a trip over the border into Israel to visit some of Jerusalem's holy sites, none of that is now possible. The British Foreign Office is currently advising only essential travel to South Sinai, ruling out St Catherine's and the road from Sharm el Sheikh to Cairo, which I was very much looking forward to as the bus would have travelled along the shores of the Suez Canal, they are also advising no travel at all along the road to Jerusalem, and therefore I have been searching for other options in the region, and we settled on staying in Sharm el Sheikh for the week and booked into a resort there, though that left the challenge of getting from Sharm el Sheikh to Cairo as transport options are not great. Today, Egyptair cancelled the flight we had booked to take us to Sharm from Hurghada, the flight was booked back in May, so yet another change of plan ......................... I guess we were never meant to go there this time round, so now we have changed plans, and after our time in Hurghada we will come back to Luxor and again relax here in the hot sunshine and take the train back to Cairo. We are not too disappointed, Luxor is a great place to be holed up in, with so many sites to visit, hotels to relax in and restaurants to eat in, it's 1000 times easier to navigate than Cairo, far less crowded, easy going and a great place to come for a holiday, and in any event, we have already started planning to do the trip again for Pat's next big birthday, which is just a couple of years away.
And so to dinner, hey, it's a lazy day, remember? So we settled for room service, great food, cheap prices, leisurely eating, and now, time to pack again ahead of making that journey down the road tomorrow to board the boat - til then ............. toodle pip.
We started off with a sumptuous breakfast here at the Steigenberger Nile Palace, on the terrace, where the sun was already warm on the face, great way to start the day. The food was delicious and the choices were plentiful, from fruit to cooked breakfasts to pastries and a variety of breads, juices, cereals. After breakfast we sauntered through the bazaars trying on various styles of Egyptian clothes, buying a few but just loving the experience of leisurely shopping among the array of air conditioned, and marble floored stores, where even 'The Sun', 'Daily Mirror', 'Daily Express' and a plethora of other British and American newspapers could have been yours for a song!! The idea of coming to Egypt to read 'The Sun' is bizarre, I guess some people need their fix :)
To those who know Pat, you will know that she is a very talented artist, to those who don't, she is a very talented artist, and one of her specialties is caricature drawings, so today she spent a part of her relaxation drawing a few pictures, and did one of me based on my photo of 'Indiana Davidson and the Temple of Karnak' complete with the strange insect bites I have managed to acquire. Don't laugh too hard, please, if only for the sake of my dignity :P Pat, THANK YOU SO MUCH for this, I love it :)
While Pat was busy drawing I 'lounged' on a sun lounger, engrossed in a book, one of my favourite things to do. Catching up on reading is one thing that is high on my agenda for my new life here in Egypt :) I also took photos of the hotel intermittently, so I thought I would share a few.
Hotel - Nile View
Hibiscus Flower
Fountain of Youth
Yesterday we learned that when we join our Nile Cruise tomorrow, it will be aboard the M/S Zeina - which, coincidentally, is currently moored right outside our hotel, so our journey to get there tomorrow will be a very short walk, presumably, or at least hopefully, with porters handling the luggage :) More on the boat when we are on board ........................
This being Egypt, situations change frequently, and having booked the trip in April to take in Dahab, St Catherine's Monastery in South Sinai and a trip over the border into Israel to visit some of Jerusalem's holy sites, none of that is now possible. The British Foreign Office is currently advising only essential travel to South Sinai, ruling out St Catherine's and the road from Sharm el Sheikh to Cairo, which I was very much looking forward to as the bus would have travelled along the shores of the Suez Canal, they are also advising no travel at all along the road to Jerusalem, and therefore I have been searching for other options in the region, and we settled on staying in Sharm el Sheikh for the week and booked into a resort there, though that left the challenge of getting from Sharm el Sheikh to Cairo as transport options are not great. Today, Egyptair cancelled the flight we had booked to take us to Sharm from Hurghada, the flight was booked back in May, so yet another change of plan ......................... I guess we were never meant to go there this time round, so now we have changed plans, and after our time in Hurghada we will come back to Luxor and again relax here in the hot sunshine and take the train back to Cairo. We are not too disappointed, Luxor is a great place to be holed up in, with so many sites to visit, hotels to relax in and restaurants to eat in, it's 1000 times easier to navigate than Cairo, far less crowded, easy going and a great place to come for a holiday, and in any event, we have already started planning to do the trip again for Pat's next big birthday, which is just a couple of years away.
And so to dinner, hey, it's a lazy day, remember? So we settled for room service, great food, cheap prices, leisurely eating, and now, time to pack again ahead of making that journey down the road tomorrow to board the boat - til then ............. toodle pip.
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