More Egypt Pictures

When we arrived in Luxor, we were transported to our cruise ship (HMS Tulip), introduced to our tour guide (the indefatigable Mohammed), and given some time to settle in. I told you last post that this day held my favorite spot; we soon proceeded to the temple at Karnak. From the front it might not look like much- some big walls surrounded by dusty desert with a little of modern-day Luxor visible. But up closer there were rows of sphinxes, and beyond that...

The pictures don't do it justice, but there are rows and rows and rows of massive columns inside. Hundreds of them! The best mental image I can give is from the first Lord of the Rings movie, when they walk into the great hall of the underground dwarf city... I was amazed. The magnitude and strength and staying power were impressive. In some of the areas less affected by the sun, you could still see the original colors on the hieroglyphs- the reds and yellows and blues. We tend to assume they were always stone-colored, but they weren't.

Later, we headed by bus to the second half of the same massive complex. It still amazes me that we got to be this close to such ancient things (and that they're still holding up so well!)

In order to balance out the foreign and lasting, we ended the day with something familiar and temporary- another trip to McDonald's. I shake my head at myself.