First Week in Egypt

Alexandria

Well we made it safely to Cairo on Monday night and got picked up from the airport and taken to our hotel. Getting our visa at the airport was interesting but not difficult – at least not for us!!! There were plenty of people getting a bit of a hard time and sent to the back of the queue. The hotel was pretty good and in a quiet area called Zamalek – an island in the middle of the Nile in Cairo. Met Callan at the hotel, he had arrived earlier that day from Dubai.

Caught the train up to Alexandria on the Mediterranean Coast Tuesday morning. We got 1^st class tickets and I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the train was. Got a room that overlooked the bay area. Wandered around the bay for quite a while, checking out a Fort and the library which has a giant ball thing out the front that apparently looks like a death star from Star Wars. Popped in to a cafe for some apple sheesha and then had dinner near the Fort overlooking the bay.

The fort, the library and the "Death Star"

Have had quite a few weird looks so far with my clothes - at least that's what I think it is... Had a t-shirt on today in Alexandria and got a lot of stares and dirty looks from the women and then some little boys decided to run over and touch my arms. Will be making sure to wear longer sleeves from now on, cannot see how arms are that exciting.

Wednesday morning we decided to take a private taxi out to El Alamein and check out the WWII cemetery and memorial to the Commonwealth troops who fought in Egypt. Nearby was a small war museum which had a bunch of tanks and army vehicles and quite a bit of information about the Germans and Italians in WWII but not much about the others. The taxi was a good idea - except when it came to paying! We had agreed a rate before we left but what do you know that changed once we were back in town and trying to pay, not a huge difference and Callan did try to work out why but in the end it was easier to pay and keep moving as the driver had almost non existent English. Headed back down to Cairo staying at the same place again.

Photos at the Commonwealth War Memorial

Bahariya Oasis

Decided to take ourselves out to Bahariya Oasis on Thursday. Took the bus out to the Oasis from Cairo which was supposed to take us 3-4 hours. Or so we thought, 5 ½ hours later we had arrived. The drive was so boring, there was just nothing to see, the scene outside the window didn't change the whole time, a long straight road and sand. To make it worse, I was not feeling the best so wasn't a pretty drive, particularly for Daniel sitting beside me. Upside was we did get to see the tops of the pyramids as we drove out of Cairo.

Took an afternoon 4WD trip around the Oasis, walking up a few mountains, saw the lake nearby and went for a swim in one of the hot springs. Nothing like what I had been expecting!!! I had assumed it would be a spring in a nice green NATURAL setting, with some palms trees, etc around it. Not exactly...it was actually a concrete square pool away from the trees with a pipe just pumping the water into it. Not exotic at all and the water was really hot. The few locals near it at the time disappeared and so we all hopped in briefly, hopefully I didn't offend anyone.

The hot springs and me at the top of English Mountain

Friday morning saw us rising early to watch the sunrise, only to notice when we started driving that the guy had got the times wrong and the sun was already up. Another 4WD tour, this one taking us to the black and white deserts. The black desert is really just a normal desert with black rocks on top of the sand but the white desert was cool to see. Had some spots with different sand formations and shapes which we were taken to as well as a lone tree... We weren't exactly sure why we were taken to see a tree but oh well. That afternoon we did the painful return bus journey and then met up with Kel and Jo in Cairo.

In the Black and White Deserts

Cairo

The 5 of us caught a taxi out to Giza to see the pyramids and the sphinx on Saturday morning. After haggling with the driver we were taken to his mates shop near the pyramids not the front entrance and ended up doing a camel/horse ride through the area with the pyramids. It was pretty cool riding a camel and reaching the pyramids from the sand dunes at the back. The weather wasn't quite so kind though, Callan jinxed us the day before by saying if it couldn't be blue sky the next best thing would be to see them in rain. It rained while we were there, not too bad but we did have to hop under one of the camel blankets to keep dry. Spent a few hours riding around the area, climbed a few steps up on one of the smaller pyramids, got close to the second one (which Callan and Daniel went into) and then visited the sphinx.

Around the pyramids!!!

Although it was great to see them in real life and pretty amazing to see how big they were and stuff, the people we did the camel trip with were dodgy and so it kind of spoilt it a little (we didn't get to go close to the Great Pyramid and had to fight with the guide to get down close to the Sphinx to take photos).

Also went down to the markets and tried our hand at haggling for a few things, enjoyed some Egyptian pancakes (much like a pizza) and sheesha. On the way back to the hotel, we decided to spoil ourselves and so went into the Marriott for a quick cocktail and to use the schmancy facilities.

The markets, some sheesha and enjoying drinks at the Marriott

Sunday we said goodbye to Kel and went to the Egyptian Museum. There were lots of things in there though not really set out the best or labelled. Saw the Tutankhamen area, a bunch of statues and figures, mummy cases, manuscripts and just a heap of stuff out of the tombs. Also had a look at the mummies which was a bit weird, particularly the area with animal mummies – there were mummies of pet baboons, birds, cats, dogs, crocodiles, sheep and other parts of animals. Ventured down to the Downtown area for a snack and then a drink on the river before we caught the sleeper train to Aswan.

Little tip - never catch a taxi if the driver is from Sudan!!! We got a crazy driver when going to the train station - he didn't know where it was, drove all over the place, yelled at everyone and then broke down on the way, even some locals gave us hand signals not to get back in the car.

A Boat Trip at Farncombe

Over the first long weekend in May (5-7) Daniel and I ventured to Farncombe to go on a canal boat trip with a bunch of Peta and Mick’s friends to celebrate Mick’s 30th. There were 2 boats hired, one holding 8 and one 10, we were on the 8 berth one. Headed down Friday afternoon after work and jumped on the boat to navigate along the River Wey. We accidentally ended up in Guildford that night – completely missed the pub we intended to stop at! Parked the boats right alongside a pub and then made our way in for a big night in town, ending with a big, gross kebab.

Here are our canal boats, in one of the locks and Daniel driving.

The next morning our boat was woken by the other boat who were all up bright and early. After traipsing through the remnants of the kebabs from the night before, we started the boats up and headed further along the river, cooking breakfast along the way. Manoeuvred ourselves through a number of locks, some tight turns and a bit of a race and then stopped off for a pub lunch. Saturday afternoon went along somewhat similarly, with us getting a little further than planned and so having to stop randomly along the canal. Saturday night was spent with some staying at the boats (a few people were a little under the weather…) and the rest walking into a nearby town for food and drinks.

Some random shots along the canal and Peta and Mick enjoying the scenery at the bottom of a lock.

Sunday went along pretty similarly as we made our way back to the boathouse. There were a few pub stops, races along the canal, a beaching here and there, some crazy stunts of jumping between boats, card games and what seemed like an endless number of locks. We moored beside a field for the night ready for the early morning to follow (had to return the boats by 9am).

Peta as captain and passing the afternoon with a few beverages and game of cards.

A lot of food and drink later and the weekend ended on a high, both boats were returned intact, no-one had drowned, only a couple of phones were lost in the water and we’d had a great time. Our boats seemed to make both friends and enemies along the way, I am not sure everyone appreciated our “dodgem car” attitude – we did have a few big hits but the boats bounced so nothing to worry about…

Our only friends on the canal.

An easter trip to Portugal

Over the Easter weekend Luke and I flew to Lisbon to spend a hopeful 4 days in a warmer climate and some sun. We left on the Friday morning, had to be at the airport around 5am, so made for a very early morning and straight after my birthday drinks, I was slightly under the weather and very tired. Our hotel was in Estoril, along the Coast west of Lisbon.

We spent the Friday wandering around Estoril and Cascais, had a wonderful lunch of fish and this seafood rice stuff and some very yummy wine. Friday night we made our way into Lisbon to have a look around Alfama the old town area. Spoilt ourselves with a really nice dinner, hadn't quite got the deal with the nibbles at the beginning so ended up gorging on those and then were slightly full for the rest.

Saturday we had nice weather and headed into Lisbon to look at all the sites. Visited some cathedrals, castles and lots of monuments. We ended the day with dinner and a Fado show, a traditional Portuguese opera sort of show which is performed throughtout dinner.

Sunday was our rest and relaxation day and was to be spent lying on the beach in the sun. Unluckily for us the weather switched a little, it cooled down, got very windy and the clouds were coming and going. Still was nicer than what we had in London so all good. Tried out the casino near our hotel and was very disappointed, was smaller than the Brisbane casino!

Monday was our last day and we headed off to spend it in Sintra. Caught a bus there, so got to see some nice scenery and then went to the National Palace. Was very nice though not as spectacular as some others. We then headed up to Moors Castle a ruined castle on the top of a hill overlooking the town. Climbed to the top and the view was beautiful could see out in every direction.

After the climb headed back to Estoril for the painful trip back to London. Our flight was delayed and so we didn't end up getting home until about 4 in the morning. Although the next day at work was extremely painful the weekend was great and a nice change from the usual in London.

A weekend in Paris

I was lucky enough to get whisked away to Paris on the 24/25 March. Daniel and I got up very early on the Saturday morning and caught the Eurostar into the city centre of Paris. Thought we’d try a different mode of transport to flying.

Our first destination as you can probably guess was the Eiffel Tower, though the weather was terrible so we didn’t climb it, the top was covered in clouds and mist so figured we’d be back and would do it then. Had an interesting lunch nearby where Daniel ordered a tomato salad for entree and got just that – 3 sliced tomatoes on a plate!!! After that we caught the metro over to Notre Dame and had a look at the outside (line up to get in was huge and it was raining) and then went underneath and had a look at the display of ruins of the old streets.

We headed up to look along the Champs Elysees that evening which was buzzing with people. Had a chocolate éclair (very tasty) and then wandered along the street up towards the Arc de Triomphe – the traffic at the top was insane, one very crazy roundabout. We ended up climbing to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and had a spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower and down the Champs Elysees. As we were on the top they lit the Eiffel Tower up with a whole heap of lights which was really pretty (some may say tacky but I am easily pleased).

The Louvre Museum was our first destination on Sunday morning and after we had a look at the “Mona Lisa” portrait and the Aphrodite statue, we almost got around one level before heading back down to the Champs Elysees. The Louvre was huge and you could easily spend hours and hours there and still not see it all!!!

Had our fill of crepes (chocolate and choco-banana) and then headed back to the Louvre to have a bit more of a wander around. Caught the train back Sunday night and got home around 11pm, which compared to other weekends, was a very early night.

I am heading back to Paris on the 10th May with Claire after a few days in Rome, so should be able to see a few more things then. I quite liked Paris though and will definitely be back more than once I am sure!