Day 6 Abu Simbel , Boarding the Cruise.

2:30 A.M.  Pull everyone out of bed and get them downstairs to the Van.   Abu Simbel is a 3 hour drive through the desert in a convoy.  Convoy you ask, yes a convoy that starts at a military base and leaves with maybe 30 cars and buses at a time.  Our tour guide told us the convoy was to prevent someone from breaking down and being lost in the desert.  I liked that answer but was not totally sold on it. I will leave it up to you to speculate as to the reason.    I have read a great deal about Abu Simbel and how it was saved by cutting it into blocks and moving it to high ground before the waters of Lake Nasser claimed it forever.   In all  only 14 of the 40 national treasure were saved when the dam was build and much of the money came from International countries.

Kyle looking on at the Ramses Giants

Each one of the statues represents Ramses the Great from younger to older.  Below is a photo to show you just how big the statues are.  They strictly forbid photo inside the temple so I will need to download some from the Internet to post later.  The inside is wonderfully carved showing battle scenes.

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Ramese wife was queen Neferteri and he love here so much that he made a monument to her that show her at the same hight as he is. This was a big deal in Egypt at the time because a pharoh was always larger depected as much larger than anyone else.    

Ti is always looking for someplace to take a rest.  She figured this was a good a place as any.

The three hour trip back really revealed how much of a desert this area really is.   Sand, Sand and more sand. 

Once we picked up the Bags at the hotel is was off to the cruise ship for lunch.   This was a welcome site as the last few days were runners with a limited selection of food.  The lunch on board with silverware and standard plates somehow seemed like heaven sent.  It was Grace’s idea to do a cruise, I wanted to do a felucca ride but this is one time that I was happy that I conceded.

After lunch it was time for a nap. I slept until dinner after dinner it was time for a beer and another nap. Everyone slept the night and woke up the next morning with a much better outlook on life.