By Bob Van Leer

  (CAIRO, EGYPT, Jan. 31, 2006) - We are staying at the Ramses Hilton Hotel on the Nile River in Cairo, Egypt, after a long flight that began in Crescent City, CA.

  My wife, Betty, and I are taking a tour of Egypt, the highlight of which is a week-long cruise on a riverboat on the Nile. We departed in the rain from Crescent City Jan. 28 on a one-hour flight to San Francisco. There we spent the night.

   Sunday, Jan. 29, we caught a 7:15 a.m. Delta flight to New York, JFK airport. Most airplanes now have a computer screen with a map of the route you are flying and how far you have come and statistics about distance, elevation and speed.

By Bob Van Leer

  (CAIRO, EGYPT, Feb. 1, 2006) - Our main stop today was to visit the pyramids of Giza, the most famous ancient monuments in the world. The three pyramids are located on the plateau of Giza on the west-side of the Nile overlooking Cairo.

  Although smooth-looking, the pyramids are actually constructed of large irregular limestone blocks weighing 1.5-3 tons each. Originally the pyramids had a smooth face, but this was removed along with about 40 feet of Khufu (Cheops), the largest pyramid. It was built starting in 2589 B.C. Cheops was 480 feet tall when completed and contained nearly 6.8 million tons of limestone.

By Bob Van Leer

  (CAIRO, EGYPT, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2006) - Today Betty and I rented a cab for five hours and drove around Cairo.

  The cab ride itself is a real learning experience. I believe downtown Cairo traffic is the worst in the world, or at least what I have seen of it.

  The horn is an essential instrument of driving and all drivers use it frequently. Clearances are measured in single-digit inches. If there is room, you go. Thus, a two-lane road can become a three-lane road. If you get an opening of at least three car lengths in front of you, you floorboard the accelerator.

By Bob Van Leer

  (CAIRO, EGYPT, Friday, Feb. 3, 2006) - Today we visited the Mohammed Ali mosque and The Citadel, two landmarks of what you might call "modern Cairo". Mohammed Ali is regarded as the founder of modern Egypt.

  He was a soldier in troops sent to Egypt by the Turkish Ottoman Empire to free the country from Napoleon's occupation. Mohammed Ali could see the empire was crumbling and he decided to take over Egypt. He and his descendants ruled Egypt until 1952 when King Farouk was deposed in a coup. Mohammed Ali came to power in 1805. He was an Albanian. The mosque is on a hill and visible from much of Cairo. It is quite large with a minaret 240 feet high and the main dome 150 feet high. It is built of limestone with white marble facing. Construction began in 1830 but was not complete until 1857.

   We were welcomed inside the mosque as long as no services are underway. The mosque is carpeted and shoes have to be removed. The only country we have found where mosques are not open to all is Morocco.

By Bob Van Leer

  (ASWAN, EGYPT, Sunday, Feb. 5, 2006) - Today we made a short flight south to Abu Simbel to see one of Egypt's most notable antiquities, the temples at Abu Simbel. The flight is only about 108 miles and takes less than a half-hour. This is extreme southern Egypt. It is only 20-25 miles further south to the Sudanese border.

  Literature we are given said Abu Simbel is possibly the most astounding piece of Pharonic Egyptian architecture. And it is impressive. The massive facade of the main temple is dominated by four colossal statues of Ramses II each seated on a throne and wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.

By Bob Van Leer

  (ASWAN, EGYPT, Monday, Feb. 6, 2006) - This morning we went to see the two dams that define Aswan, the British-built Low Dam and the Soviet Union and Egyptian built High Dam.

  The High Dam changed Egypt. Prior to its completion in 1971, after 10 years of construction, the Nile flooded from August to October. The Low Dam was not able to hold back the flood waters. Our guide said stopping the floods enables farmers to grow three crops per year instead of one. He said the floods used to destroy whole towns and killed people. Irrigated acres have been increased by 20% since building the dam.

By Bob Van Leer

  (ON THE NILE, EGYPT, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2006) - We are cruising down the Nile to transit the lock at Esna. The tour of the day was the Temple of Horus at the town of Edfu.

  Horus, the sky god, is the Egyptian god with the head of a falcon. The temple is considered the best preserved in Egypt. This came about because of a circumstance where the huge temple was completely covered with Nile River silt. It was not excavated until 1899 and took three years to dig it out. It is a Roman temple started in 200 B.C. and was not finished for 185 years.

  It is just incredible what the Egyptians were able to do with no power and primitive tools. In Edfu there rows of columns 5-6 feet in diameter about 40 feet high with almost every square inch decorated with something carved. All the walls are covered with relief sculpture. This temple has most of the roof intact, uncommon in ruins. It is slabs of limestone with square holes for lights.

  The time under silt took away most of the color, but there are few spots to show that originally the temple was brightly painted.

By Bob Van Leer

  (QEDA, EGYPT, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006) - The main activity today was a visit to the Temple of Hathor at Dendera. She is the goddess of love.

  This is a remarkably well-preserved temple on which construction began before the reign of Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II and was completed during Roman times. The entrance courtyard has rows of columns that I estimate at 6-7 feet in diameter and 30-40 feet tall. As in other temples, columns, walls and ceilings are all decorated.

   The roof of the temple is intact. A stairway leads to the roof and the building is solid enough to walk to the roof and use it as an observation tower to look over the valley.

By Bob Van Leer

(LUXOR, EGYPT, Friday, Feb. 10, 2006) - We started the day with an early morning balloon flight over the Nile River valley.

  Betty decided to pass on this flight, but I got up at 4:00 a.m. to go. Just getting to the balloons was a production. We left our riverboat, the Stephanie, in vans and drove a few miles. Then we boarded small boats and crossed the Nile. Breakfast was served, and then another van drive to the actual takeoff site.

   The balloon envelope is of some very thin material. This was spread out on ground cover sheets and the open end held open. Large gasoline-powered fans were started up and filled the envelope with air. This only took 10-15 minutes. Then the gas burner was fired up and aimed inside the partially-inflated balloon. The balloon filled up and raised up. We climbed into the basket gondola. It was divided into five compartments, one for the pilot and four for passengers. There were 11 passengers in our party. After we were all in the balloon lifted off and started to soar. Soaring is quiet, but the gas burners have to be lit every few minutes and this is noisy. The balloon is huge, but I couldn't get a size.

By Bob Van Leer

  (Gold Beach, Oregon, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2006) - Saturday, Feb. 11, we flew from Luxor on a short 50 minute flight to Cairo. From the air there is a ribbon of green along the Nile. Away from the Nile is a brown desert - no settlements, nothing. There is an occasional unpaved road over the brown hills and dry washes.

  Over Cairo hangs a brown cloud of pollution. In 1952 the last of the Mohammed Ali line, King Farouk, was overthrown in a coup led by then-Colonel Gamal Abdul Nasser who ruled from 1954 to 1970, the first two years behind a front-man General Naguib.

  Nasser died and his successor was Anwar Sadat who was asassinated in 1981 for making peace with Israel.

   Our guide, Hussein, said most Egyptians lived in apartments, rather than houses. An apartment in a good area costs 1000-1500 Egyptian pounds per square meter (about a square yard). A pound is about 5.7 to the dollar or worth about 17 cents. Payments are half down with the rest over 3-4 years.