We’ve been home about a week. That means the bags are unpacked, the laundry is done, and we are still fighting the after effects of jet lag. I have no idea how folks like the Secretary of State can take numerous trips and still function at the end of the day.
The trip was wonderful. We saw places we’ve heard about and read about. They really do exist. Along the way I took about 5000 pictures and now I’m trying to figure out what to do with them. I’ve developed a winnowing process. I look at the photos for each location and select the best 40 to 50. I “play” with those pictures using Photoshop Elements and/or Picasa then I choose the 20 best of the best for my album and my online websites. Right now I have some of the pictures online at my Mac Gallery at http://gallery.me.com/l530#gallery. Soon I’ll put some pictures at my Picasa gallery at http://picasaweb.google.com/ihsnowphd/.
Take a look at some of the great places we saw while we were in Egypt.
This statue along with several others as well as their temples were moved piece by piece in order to make room for the Aswan High Dam.
People have been sailing feluccas and fishing on the Nile for thousands of years. It works. There's no reason to change.
This is one of only 2 known renditions of Cleopatra. Cleo, on the left, is part of a huge bas relief mural on the "back wall" of the temple at Dendera in Qena, which is about 45 minutes from Luxor.
This beautiful duck is only 4 inches tall. I love the feathery details that have been chiseled into the stone. It is a hieroglyphic character that stands for "bird." Every temple was highly decorated with thousands of glyphs and bas reliefs and paintings because empty space was considered unlucky.
I don't think there are any "modern" farmers in Egypt. Folks who do not live in the cities are farmers, and most farmers have 5 acre plots which seem to grow a sugar cane, dates, tomatoes as well as other fruits and vegetables. This is a typical farmer's home, on an irrigation canal. Oftentimes the homes do not have roofs as it seldom rains.
One of the prettiest Temples was at Philae near the Aswan High Dam. It was built during Egyptian/ Greco/Roman times, making it "newer" than some of the Temples. It was "easy" to get a handle on the Temple of Love at Philae because it was small. Karnak and Luxor and Dendera are HUGE, Philae is just the right size to "understand."
There's more to write about and a ton more pictures to look at and digest. I'll stop for now and get on with living in the present!
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