20091216 – Aswan

This was a fairly relaxing day. We were able to sleep in slightly and then check out of our hotel by 9:00. Our first visit was to the Nubian Museum. This is a relatively new facility displaying artifacts saved before Lake Nassar flooded the area behind the Aswan High Dam erasing the traditional homelands of the Nubian people. We saw a small portion of the 3000 objects on display. The museum has an open concept which means that we could get very close to many of the relics and monuments. Some of them were over 4000 years old. The only criticism that we had was that many light bulbs were burned out and some exhibits were hard to see.

As a bonus, Samy arranged for us to visit the museum’s art director who was in charge of arranging all of the displays in the museum. He is an artist himself and he showed us many of his works that were in his office.

Next, we made a very short visit to a new Coptic church. It was a lot different than the ancient churches that we saw in Cairo. Still unfinished inside, it had a very modern style.

We then made quick stops at an ATM for cash, an Egypt Airlines ticket office for some people to get seat assignments for their flight home and to a pharmacy for miscellaneous drugs.

Our assignment for the day was to go to the local market to shop for ingredients for a cooking demonstration tomorrow. This gave us a feel for how the locals shop and bargain for their daily needs. We broke up into two groups to buy specific items. Afterwards, we had some time to do some personal shopping. Ann bought an embroidered cotton nightgown.

After the shopping, we checked into our river boat – The Royal Serenade. Our room is slightly smaller than some of the hotel rooms we have been in on this trip, but it is clean and comfortable. Our lunch on board was a buffet with too many choices.

We had some down time until 3:00 when we boarded a felucca and sailed to a 19th century  island botanical garden on Kitchner’s Island. There were several varities of palm and other trees. It was very lush and pleasant to walk through.

Finally, we sailed back to shore and rode the bus back to our ship. After a rest, we were introduced to the crew in a welcoming ceremony that included fruit drinks and finger snacks. Then we had dinner in the main dining room. It’s now around 9:00 and we are getting ready to read and sleep.