Hurghada Egypt

Hurghada was a very pleasant and refreshing stop. It is a beach town in Egypt on the Red Sea. Almost all of the tourists in Hurghada are Russian. We took a boat tour on the Red Sea and went snorkeling twice. The boat took us to an island where we made sand castles, splashed around ans swam a lot. At our hotel, there was a beach where we made a super giant sand castle. Some of the parents danced with the Russians on stage. I had a great trip to the beach.

Luxor Egypt

I have had the best time in Luxor! There are a lot of temples and tombs around Luxor.

We went on a hot air balloon over the Nile and saw all of Luxor. We went to the Temple of Karnak and saw the sound and light show. It showed what happened and who did what. Karknak temple is dedicated to the god Ra. It is one of the biggest temples in Egypt and has giant pillars everywhere.

We also went to the temple of Hatshepsut. We call her hot chicken soup. She was the only female Pharoah and she even wore a false beard. Her temple looks huge because of how it is built, but looks pretty small up close.

We also went to the valley of the kings and saw King Tut's tomb. All of the tombs were built in the new kingdom (about 1500 BC) and hidden in a valley. Some of them are huge. We don't really have good pictures of the valley of the Kings because they don't let you take pictures in the tombs. I also had a chance to ride a donkey. On the other side of the mountain, there was a village of the people who worked on the other tombs. We visited there ancient village and tombs.

We are now heading off to Hurghada to go swimming. It is an Egyptian beach town on the Red Sea.

Abu Simbel Egypt

We flew out of Aswan for a quick trip to Abu Simbel. Abu Simbel is where Ramses II had giant statues of himself carved into the mountains. We walked around and inside his temple. Ramses II lived to be 90 years old and had almost 200 children.

Aswan Egypt

Aswan is so much fun! We went on a fully bedded Felucca boat up and down the Nile. A Felucca is a traditional sail boat used on the Nile. Ours was covered in mattresses. We lounged around all day and I felt like a Pharoah. We also went to swim in the Nile and played with crocodiles. While we were there, we climbed up a huge sand dune. We also saw a Nubian house and museum.

Cairo Egypt

Sorry I haven't posted in a week. The internet access hasn't been to good in Egypt for us.
Cairo is awesome. It is very different. The city is full of dirt, and dust, and rubble -- but is still nice. There are 20 million people that live in Cairo. That is twice as many as in New York. People in America would probably not want to live here.

We have a great tour guide that we are using for this part of the trip. His name is Sam and he is from Egypt. We are also with two other families. Fin (10) is from Australia and Reese (7) and Radika (8) are from America, but living in Jordan.

We went to see the pyramids, the sphinx and rode through the desert on a camel. The Pyramids are huge and the sphinx is puny compared to the pyramids. Camel riding is very fun. They have very big take offs and landings, but other than that - they are really quite nice. I can't wait to see more.

Rome Part 2

I have had a fantastic time in Rome. We went to the Pantheon and saw the oculus. Then we went to the park and walked around. Once we found a open space we decided to play frisbee. It was so warm outside, I did not need a jacket. I have had a ton of fun in Rome and I can not wait to see and do more things in Egypt!

Rome Part 1

Rome Is fantastic! We went to Palatine Hill and played in some old roman ruins. We also went to the Vatican. It is its own country, but you happily do not need your passport. We went all the way to the top of St. Peter's Basillica. We also saw the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel which took Michelangelo four years to paint. After that we went inside the Colosseum and saw the underground passages. Near that is the Circus Maximus. We ran all the way around it. I have had a ton of fun in Rome and I can not wait to come back because we threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain.