Saturday, 6/1.  Before breakfast we went back to the temple to avoid the crowds (which never actually materialized).  Very very impressive.  Inside the temples there are far more chambers than any of us expected.  All had inscriptions.  Even many of the ceilings.  I didn’t know who to admire more; the builders or the international organization that moved the entire site up and over.  The present hills are entirely manufactured and are apparently hollow.  To remove the temples they essentially carved them out from above and behind, not from the front.  Most of the work was with handsaws to leave the thinnest cuts.  The work was done while the lake was rising, requiring coffer dams to protect the temples before they could be moved.  Incredible.  Absolutely worth the long drive there and back.

After breakfast we drove back to the lower Nile, about 15 miles north of Aswan.  Our boat is only a year old and totally decadent.  AC throughout!  (It’s still crazy hot.)  The nominal sailboat has a tugboat for motive power and the ride is smooth as silk. The crew will hoist sail one of these days for the photo op, but mostly we’re being towed.  Stopped along the way to allow for a swim, which only three did.  Others sat in deck chairs placed in the water.  Decadent.  Large ugly cruise ships pass us, the losers. The only thing missing were cocktails from uniformed waiters.  Water was fine.  Current of only 3 MPH felt surprisingly strong.

Saw a video about the camel market that we’ll visit tomorrow.  Looks pretty grim.  Great dinner.  Sitting outside is impractical due to a massive number of bugs, even though they have an industrial strength bug zapper.  AC will be turned off at 10 to quiet the boat.  Fans will operate via stored solar energy.

Nile riverbanks look just as Nile riverbanks should look like.  Great day.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•