Luxor to Sharm El Sheikh

I had heard about Luxor from various friends and family who have visited in the past. What they didn't inform me of is that Karnak and Luxor temples are probably the most amazing sites we have ever visited.

If you haven't been to Egypt, go. If you go to Egypt, go to Luxor. I wish we had gone to Abu Simbel, but a quick day in Luxor satisfied our craving for more Ancient Egypt. Combine the East and West banks of the Nile around the city and you could safely classify the entire city as a museum.

After a 3am departure from the Cairo Marriott and arriving at 6am, we hit the ground running by heading to the West Bank on a 3 hour tour set up by the Sheraton, where we stayed for the single night (shortened from two nights due to the "snowstorm" in London). If serious power touring like we did, you can see most of the main sights in Luxor. We started at the Valley of the Kings, which contains an amazingly preserved collection of hieroglyphs. Its too bad all the tombs were looted, otherwise it would be the top tourist destination in the world. Regardless, it was a really cool trip into the mountains to see the tombs. We also saw the Tomb of the Nobles and Valley of the Queens on the West Bank.

After returning to our hotel and a quick bite for lunch, we headed to the East Bank for an afternoon of Karnak and Luxor Temples. I knew they'd be great, but the fact that the New Dynasty, when the temples flourished, is 3,500 dated and to have the structures so well preserved/restored is amazing.

In my opinion, it blows ancient Rome out of the water. I mean, look at this!!!

The first is Karnak temple. One thing we did, which many people don't like, it go along with the security guards who show you closed off parts of the site. Many people are turned off as they expect a little tip when they move the ropes for you, but as we learned at Al Azhar in Cairo, £1 for a different perspective is often worth it. In this case, we were led to the side of a closed off monument under refurbishment, where a hidden staircase offered us an amazing view over the entire temple from up high. It was a great sight!

Following the temple, we followed Joelskie's lead and walked from Karnak to Luxor along the Nile right around a magnificent sunset.

One interesting note that would make a frequent visitor to Luxor want to come back is that in the next 18 months the city will open up a reconstructed avenue of the sphinxes that originally contained over 1300 Sphinx statutes on a 3km path. They have opened one section recently which is remarkable in itself, but once the entire ancient trail is reconstructed, it will be incredible.

We ultimately entered Luxor temple right at Sunset. Both Karnak and Luxor are open late and can be seen under the stars, but Karnak has a light show whereas you can leisurely walk around Luxor temple and admire the shadows in a romantic setting. Below is the completed portion of the Avenue of the Sphinxes, the pic doesn't do it justice.

Following a great stroll around Luxor temple and nice meal at Sofra, which is a highly recommended restaurant while in Luxor, we had a lazy night and it was off to Sharm El Sheikh to finally meet Joel, who was supposed to be our trip buddy the entire trip but was a couple days ahead of us given our set back.

We arrived to the Sharm Renaissance Marriott to an amazingly rude welcome, charging us $70 for one extra person. We had disagreements with the GM to the extent where we almost left the hotel. I am still steaming. It really gives a bad impression to Marriott, especially given the Petra and Cairo Marriott hotels were the complete opposite of the Renaissance Sharm. DO NOT STAY THERE.

Regardless it was great to meet Joelskie and catch up on the craziness over the last few days. We also decided to do a Christmas morning hike up Mount Sinai, why not, right?!?!

Its a good idea in theory and a cool experience to climb the mountain to catch the sunrise on Christmas morning, however, you must be fully committed as the overnight hike consists of a 10pm pick-up and starting the ascent at 2:30am to catch sunrise. Regardless of the lack of sleep, it was a great experience and so much fun!

We got a great seat and caught an clear sunrise over the mountains. It was really worth the effort. Our group was good and our guide was a cool guy too. It was chilly despite being in Egypt, but the Bedouins of course had blankets for rental!

We then hiked down, catching a couple cool pics and then checking out St. Catherine's monastery to see some relics of St. Catherine and the Burning Bush, where Moses allegedly spoke to God.

We made it back to Sharm at about 2pm the following afternoon (i.e. it was a 16 hour tour) and caught a few waves in the Red Sea (but due to all the shark attacks had to stay close to shore). At least we can check another major body of water off the list:-)

Onto Jordan, and yet another unique body of water...

Cairo....but first...Amsterdam???

Everyone has their own tale of the terrible Christmas storm of 2010 that took the western world by storm. Most are tales of remorse, some are tales of near misses. Not many are tales of both. Erin and I most definitely experienced both, combined with what I would proudly say is a tale of veteran traveller savvyiness. Also a tale that turned our African Christmas trip into a trip that included an impromptu night in a white Amsterdam.

Our flight was schedule for immediately following the measly six inches that fell on the 18th. In MSP, it probably would've been 30 minutes delayed to remove the snow and the abominable snowmen in the runway. Not to be so, this was Heathrow, whose snow removal plan is to throw a couple old pensioners onto the runway with a shovel to get the runways clear.

As you would guess...flight cancelled. Not a big deal, there was a flight the next night. So we had a chill day in London and a good night sleep. Those watching the news would guess that Heathrow was closed the next day, flight two cancelled. When we contacted the airlines they said they couldn't confirm our trip till the 25th....THE 25TH?!?!?!

Most would despair; we strapped into serious booking mode. In 20 minutes using two computers, a phone and an iTouch with wireless activated, we had rebooked our flights from London City to Amsterdam, with a mandatory night in Amsterdam (which we of course didn't mind - better than missing the trip) before making it to Cairo, only 2.5 days late. I think we got the first flight out of London possible and were probably the first ones to Cairo from London after the storm!

Yes we made it to Cairo, but not before also having to rebook our hotels for the first three nights of our trip, cutting out a day in Luxor, Cairo and Sharm, but still doing almost everything we intended. We arrived at 8pm and immediately experienced our first dodgy Egypt experience, a cross between a rickshaw and a pinto as our first taxi driver. We stayed at the Marriott in central Cairo which is a beautiful hotel built around the turn of the century for a visit from the French Empress Eugiene. We ate at Abou El Sid that night, which is a popular Egyptian restaurant frequented by tourists.

The next morning we got picked up by a great tour guide, Nadia, who Strauss recommended. She first took us outside the city to Saqqara, or the step pyramid, which dates back something like 4,500 hundred years, the oldest large structure I have ever seen. Amazing to put it in perspective as to how ridiculously old this place is. Puts ancient Rome to shame (however stay tuned for Luxor, for the coolest thing I have EVER seen will be revealed).

Following the step pyramid and a quick lunch, we made it to the grand daddy of them all, the Great Pyramids at the Giza plateau, home to the last remaining wonder of the ancient world. It is literally massive, look it the size of the stones. There is also a common misconception that slaves made the pyramids, when in fact they were professional stone workers.

We cruised around the complex, taking lots of pictures and even hopping on a camel (although that isn't me or Erin on the camel). We of course saw the Great Sphinx. All these structures are also at least 3500 years old and have been engrained in our minds in many different ways throughout our lives. To see them in person was remarkable.

Following the pyramids, we got dropped of in Islamic Cairo by our driver and started walking around perhaps the most intriguing part of the historical city. We went to the mosque that is also the world's oldest university, Al-Azhar. It is a beautiful structure with polished marble floors that you can literally see your reflection in. The mosque dates to 961. After walking around we thought about going into a minaret in a nearby mosque, but thankfully they offered us a tour of the university and a trip up the famous minaret in Al Azhar, which was much more of a treat than we could've expected.

We next checked out the local souks of Islamic Cairo and had a mint tea at the famous cafe in the market, Fishawi's. It was a great way to end a long day of touring and a great conclusion to a whirlwind trip to Cairo.

Christmas Markets 2010: Stuttgart, Esslingen, Germany

Its getting to be that time of year. During our 3 years in Europe the Christmas season has meant trying to make the hard decision as to whether to go home or to venture elsewhere for Christmas. It also has presented a not-as-hard annual decision as to which Christmas markets we want to visit during the year. 

This year we choose an area that not only has one famous market, but several; Stuttgart (and Esslingen and Ludwigsburg).

We flew in on a Saturday morning and despite a nasty 30 minute passport control line, made it to Esslingen by about noon, ready to tuck into the first glass of Black Forest gluwein (mulled wine - often times with some type of liquor added for extra yummy effect)!

Esslingen, unlike Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg, was completely unharmed by the world wars, so it maintains a Hansel and Gredel fairy-tale effect on all the visitors entering either of the three squares with Rick Steves eatable character.

This is behind the Esslingen Rathaus, a key figure in the town that is at its best during the Christmas market time.

This is the other square, likewise filled with what you would visualize as the proto-typical german village. They even have a cool Christmas pyramid that is on top of a gluwein stand; we obviously got a glass.

 Once we let the gluwein numb our senses, we headed to Stuttgart at 4 o-clock or so, dropping our stuff at the hotel and hitting up the Stuttgart market for the night, checking ourt nearly all 200+ stalls. They also have a choir in this beautiful church courtyard at 5pm. There is an electric atmosphere to the area around the city center.

It got extremely cold when walking around....in fact, this is surprisingly the first white christmas market experience we have had in our visits to about 15 different Christmas markets. Good ambiance, cold feet. We ate at a nice microbrewery that serves up some mean german cuisine.

The next morning we hit the town of Ludwigsburg, who have a nice market in front of the church. It was our least favorite of the three markets, which isn't a knock on this market, but more of a testament of how great the other two are.

After seeing the final market, we had most of the day to kill and decided to go back to Esslingen to take in yet more of the festive vibe. You can see by the pic below that Germans don't discriminate, they like wine too!!

This tower behind us below dates to the 1200's and the surrounding street is equally as impressive. One of the shops even sells the building as part of the Esslingen Christmas village set. They literally had over 10 buildings that were shrunk and cloned so one can take the charm of Esslingen home with them.

I think of all the markets we've been to, the top five after 2010 are as follows; Strasbourg, Esslingen, Prague, Regensburg and Munich (Erin may or may not disagree)!

Columbia Road Sunday Flower Market and Bistroteque

With the recent cold spell in London (and blizzards in the Minny), I thought it'd be a good idea to reflect on brighter, sunnier times. Erin, Cam, Emily and I recently (but not so recently to be before the recent cold snap) went to the Columbia Road flower market to experience the most colorful market in London and to see if the much-hyped market is as flowery as people make it out to be, including a good article in the New York Times that has some good ideas to help your East London exploration. 

Cam and Emily are regulars at the market and unlike many people in many markets, they actually buy stuff! The market itself (off of Old Street tube station and a 10 minute walk).  The link above has specific directions. 

The market itself is not just a flower market, as there are countless gift and gardening shops, cafe's and antique stores, but the main attraction is obviously the flowers, not, for instance, the Colchester Oysters.

Emily and Cam bought a mini bush to spice up indoor spaces, I bought a coffee and bagel...their purchase was definitely more posh, but not quite as posh as this lavender. And for all those in the US who use the word posh, here is a good factoid on the origin of the word.

All in all, the market definitely is a great day out and even better if you are in the market for some flowers or plants! I am definitely going to bring my mom there if she ever visits me!!!

You can also finish off your east London experience at a restaurant called Bistrotheque, a trendy restaurant complex that combines a cool old-world bar (below), a warehous(ie) restaurant and surprisingly, a burlesque/cabaret venue. Definitely a good night out, make sure you write directions down as there isn't a name on the inconspicuous building down a random side road near Bethnel Green tube stop (central line)!

Brewery Tour: The Kernel

While awhile outdated, a late October brewery tour is a must-report. Especially a tasting at the little engine that could, The Kernel, tucked away in Southeast London underneath the railroad tracks just east of London Bridge station. Please visit the website, especially if you are in London. They pull open the garage door every Saturday morning and the gentlemen that share the space with him, a cheese maker and a parmesean and cured meats specialist, also have their goods available for tasting and buying. 

 This place is the perfect, low-key alternative to the Borough Market, especially with other nearby speciality stores, you can get away from tourists snapping photos and into some relaxed Saturday morning/afternoon marketeering!

 The Kernel offers about 6 different beers, most of which change regularly. When we were there the range included two different IPAs, two Pale Ales, an Amber Ale, and two Porters.

 While I do enjoy the traditional english ales and love the history surrounding them, its exciting to see a new culture of British brewing that are challenging the norm in the UK and venturing to new territories. Another example of this is BrewDog, a Scottish brewery that has great marketing and more importantly, great beer that is aiming to redefine the British beer scene....I think both them and the Kernel are onto something! Try for yourself!

Der Wisen

There are sometimes when you just let the pics speak for themselves....Prost!!!! Happy 250th anniversary Ockoberfest!

The next one does require a bit of explanation for those new to the Ockoberfest scene. When you get a fresh stein (litre), it is normally about 3/4 full, making you feel slightly less German than having a full stein. Fear not, as you simply need to find the fill station and ask the tender to "top it up". They will reluctantly fill your mug to the top. DO NOT TAKE A SIP FIRST HOWEVER, as they'll call you out in no time! Let's just say that every fifth litre is basically a free one with the top it up trick!

Ockoberfest is a crazy crazy time, go with good friends, lots of euros, a good tolerance, and proper attire and it will be the best party you've ever been apart of!!!