good talk

This past March and April I was in the Middle East for a 47 day trip with a stopover in Brussels and I flew back from Greece. I flew into Cairo, my 4th time in Egypt as it's the most interesting to a tourist of any country in the world. From the airport I took a taxi to a hotel that I had stayed at before----I never make reservations, they can expect me once they see me walk through the door. In the morning I went to the Pyramids via city transportation, Giza is on the outskirts of Cairo. I rented a camel, "Miken," who was "9" (camels live to be about 25) and rode Mike around the Pyramids and the Sphinx and the other archeological sites, that Mike was a real good boy. Cheops, the largest, is about 4000 years old and is still the heaviest man-made object. I've gone inside Cheops before to Pharoah's Burial Chamber but did this for Chephren, the 2nd biggest, this time. I saw "the Boat" and walked around and saw the little pyramids, etc. You used to be able to get real close to the Sphinx in the old days but no longer can. Lotsa fun. Mikerinis is the 3rd biggest, and they're all so nice. My previous visit I rode an Arabian horse around, change of pace. The next day I went to the Egyptian Museum, by far the best museum in the world, not air-conditioned, I've always been there in the spring. The place is packed with pieces any one of which would be the best at most museums. The ticket doesn't cost much, for a little extra you can pay to see the Pharoahs' mummies, I think there were 15, they show more each time, by the time I left Egypt I had seen 22. You can see Rameses II, the Pharoah in Exodus and his dad, Seti I. What Egypt had this time that they didn't have before were Russians, the Russians are now oil-rich and the place is full of them on package deals. I talked to some, seemed like nice people, but I think that you probably have to be say, like an engineer to be able to do this. Under the Czars the serfs only fun was potato vodka and it's the same for the lower class today. Tutankhamun's Treasure is always very good, they show different pieces each time and because I've been there 4 times over the past 23 years I've probably seen it all. I was in the Egyptian for 7 hours, if I'm in a great museum I'll stay there until they're ready to throw me out, it's just the way I am. Took the train to Luxor and stayed at a real good 3-star, the Hotel Emilio, just $30 a night, Egypt is still cheap although Israel next door has gone way up. Good breakfast buffet included and nice restaurant on the roof. The maid for my room took the very large bath towels and shaped one like a swan and the other like a flower in blossom, I've never seen anything like that before, true artistry, they looked so good I didn't use them. I started to cough in Cairo, I think the terrible air brought this on, I'd cough every few seconds and I couldn't sleep at night for this reason, just layed there coughing but I never slacked off on my trip, I put as much effort into seeing the sights as I would otherwise. Went to the Temple of Karnak, the Temple of Luxor, the Luxor Museum, the 4 temples on the other side of the river and the Valley of the Kings. I think there were 12 tombs open and I went into all of them except for Tut's, easily the smallest but most famous, even though I had gone into Tut's 4 years before but now there was a long line of Russians. A lot of times things aren't as good when you return to them.