We left home early and went to our local airport for the connecting flight to London Heathrow. It was with some trepidation that we made our way from Terminal 5 to Terminal 2. I had heard so many nightmare stories about the difficulty, the distance and the time it takes and I really wasn't looking forward to it at all.
I needn't have worried. The only thing that took a long time was collecting the bags from the internal flight! Once that was done, it only took us about twenty minutes to get between terminals.
We went to the Egyptair desk to drop our bags. We were far too early but, by striking up a conversation with a pleasant man on the desk, we found that we were able to change our seats to exit row ones. That was a very nice surprise!
We boarded the plane and appeared to be on schedule, but we had to wait for ages on the stand and then again at the edge of the runway. We were at right angles, so it was very unnerving watching the other planes land. They were approaching us side on, as thought they were coming straight at us! It must have been an amazing view from the cockpit of our plane!
Eventually we took off, some thirty minutes late.
So, we had no problems at all with the Heathrow terminal transfers, T5 to T2, which was a great relief. The Egyptair flight was fine and I had the best food I've ever had on ANY flight.
Despite a family medical emergency and the real possibility of me cancelling my trip, I finally arrived in Luxor late last night.
I had arranged an airport pick up with Jolleys and so we arrived at the Winter Palace Pavillon by 11pm. This is the first time I've stayed here and I picked it after visiting Mr & Mrs eLaReF (from Trip Advisor-Luxor forum) last year.
I'm travelling with two friends and funnily enough are staying next door to where they've been for the past month! I'm just along the corridor and have lovely views from my room.
Today we went to the Luxor museum. We walked along the Corniche and saw some very nice new cruise boats. One, called the Mayfair, was beautiful and we were told it was only about six months old.
We saw some amusing sights, the Cleopatra Wedding Hall was just one of them!
We eventually arrived at the museum, with me using my student card for the first time. We walked around the first gallery with all the statues then wandered upstairs. It was then the commotion began.
We were extremely lucky to be there when our friend Hourig Sourouzian came in to oversee the placement of a stone head of Amenhotep lll. What a job that was! Watching the workers physically manhandling such a heavy object in place was a sight to behold. It was really difficult, and at one point we thought one of the men was trapped between it and the wall. I spent over an hour just watching them get it on to a plinth and then add a spotlight to the ceiling so that it was properly lit. It was amazing, as the last time I had seen the head was on the ground at the Colossi site, Kom el Hetan.
After this we went to buy tickets for Moalla. We're stopping there on the way down to Aswan tomorrow. Then we went to the new Aboudi coffee shop, opposite Luxor temple. It's really a great place to sit and admire the view. They had the sense to put large plate glass sheets as windows so there's no obstruction for photos. I had a problem with my order but management were very apologetic. It wouldn't stop me going there again, as it's such a pleasant place to sit for a while.
On leaving here we bought some large bottles of water for just 5LE each and then went off to Jolleys to confirm our travel arrangements for tomorrow. Once this was done it was back to the hotel to relax, as it was gone 2.30pm and we were tired.
The sun was really hot, a shock to the system when we'd had to scrape ice from the car windows yesterday!
I decided to sit in the sun for half and hour then go and sort out my phone. For years I have had problems getting a local SIM card from Vodaphone. The shop is always SO busy, the staff aren't very helpful and without fail they always mess it up so I'm left with no phone. THEN I discovered the Mobilnil shop further down the road. What a difference! The shop is never that busy, the staff are friendly and efficient AND I end up with a phone that works! This is my second year using them and it is such a change to not have all the bother.
I returned to the hotel and phoned my EES man (Egypt Exploration Society). We made arrangements to meet up tomorrow with another archaeologist, a dig Director, and watch the sunset on the terrace of the Old Cataract Hotel. Whenever I'm in Aswan I always do this, but this year I'm actually STAYING there! It's a special birthday for me this year so I though I'd treat myself and also do something else off my bucket list. Another one is to stay in the three historic hotels, the Winter Palace, the Old Cataract and the Mena House Hotel in Cairo and I'm doing that on this trip too!
We had intended to visit the Sunshine Orphanage today but we're just too tired, so we went for a rest before dinner, as we have a big day tomorrow. We're leaving the Winter Palace at 8am, so it's a case of up early, have breakfast and check out. I've already arranged our rooms for the return visit at the end of next week, so that's one less thing to think about.
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