September 26, 2007 Valley of the Kings, Luxor

Kathryn Vargo
September 26, 2007
Our day started with a wake up call from our conductor in the sleeper train from Cairo to Luxor. Our breakfast consisted of four different kinds of bread, and hot chocolate minus the rich chocolate flavor. It was a fun adventure. We exited the train, and began our busy first day in Luxor. We drove to our hotel the Murcure, it was right on the Nile River. It was still early enough in the morning that we were able to see hot air balloons that were floating above the Nile river. That was beautiful. We briefly stopped for a break, and then went on to the valley of the kings. This was an amazing sight. We walked into four different tombs including King Tut’s tomb. Inside all of the tombs there were elaborate drawings and carvings. It was fascinating to me to see how they did all of this work just for on man. The people of Egypt of this time were really concerned about the afterlife. It was amazing to see the colors that were still intact in the carvings. The tombs were hidden in this valley, it reminded me of Moab or Southern Utah. The hills around the tombs were very hilly. I had no idea there were so many tombs, and that King Tut’s was the only one that was not looted by robbers. After the Valley of the Kings we went to an alabaster factory. We saw the men making them, and some of the students bought a vase or statues. Little did we know that we were being taken for our money, students later found the same real alabaster vases for half the price. It was neat to see the men make them though. We went to the Habu Temple of Ramses the II. That was amazing to view. It was huge with carvings all over it. It was extremely hot by this time in the day, and we were all very tired and hungry. After spending some time in that temple, we went back to the hotel. We got to eat lunch which tasted amazing after only having the four types of read from the morning train :). After lunch some people went shopping, and some went swimming in the hotels beautiful pool. I went shopping in the mall next to the hotel, that was fun but things were more expensive in this part, and the shop keepers were not as willing to barter. It was still fun. We ate a wonderful dinner, full of the usual egypt diet of carbs, and more carbs, but I was grateful to have a full stomach again. My favorite part was at night a group of 8 of us went on a carriage ride. It was amazing to see the city at night. Our driver took us up this street to where the locals were all out buying food. It was really cool to see the different side of the city, not so touristy. Brother Draper gave an explanation of the facsimiles in the Pearl of Great Price. It was good to hear more about what they symbolize. After a long day, we were all definitely grateful for our large and comfortable beds.