Ireland

For the last two weeks, I was back in Ireland for work. Instead of going home over the weekend, David decided to island hop over to Ireland for a couple of days of site-seeing. Even though it’s hard being away from David and Kirby when I travel, I am enjoying the perks like free plane tickets and hotel rooms for trips like this!

Limerick is only an hour from London by flight, so David caught the last flight out Friday after work. Unfortunately his plane was delayed for almost 2 hours because of thunderstorms in England, but he eventually got there!

On Saturday morning, I arranged for a driver to pick us up from the hotel and take us on a tour of the area. Our first stop was Dromoland Castle, a beautiful castle in the countryside. These days it functions as a hotel on a golf course. David was in heaven, imagining playing a round of golf there. He really had to stretch his imagination at that time, though, because it was raining pretty hard so the course was deserted.

After driving around the grounds and splashing around in puddles inside the ‘secret garden’ we got back inside the warm, dry car and drove through the Burren.

The secret garden at Dromoland Castle. 

The Burren is a rugged region of the country covered with limestone rocks and more than 90 portal tombs.

We were starting to get pretty hungry after hours of driving and site-seeing, so we stopped at a local jam producer and stocked up on wild blueberry, strawberries with champagne, and apricot spreads. We also picked up a jar of mango chutney.

We had one last stop before our pub lunch – the Cliffs of Moher.

The cliffs were great and I couldn't imagine how beautiful they are in the spring or summer when it doesn’t feel like a hurricane outside. We were able to see through the rain and got some good pictures, but we weren’t willing to hike around the cliffs for very long in that weather. I literally almost blew over 8 times…. It was so windy, the Atlantic Ocean waters were blowing up OVER the cliffs. 

We ran through the spray of water and walked around O’Brien’s tower, then heading to the pub.

This sign cracked us up.  "In case you're an idiot and decide to

go over the wall, be prepared to fall to your death!"

It was a perfect lunch. We sat in a comfy booth next to the wood fire and enjoyed seafood chowder, fish n chips, and hearty shepherd’s pie. Our driver even convinced me to try a Guinness. David had a regular pint and I had a half pint with some blackcurrant juice to sweeten it up. It was actually really delicious! To finish off his meal, David had a glass of Jameson’s Irish Whisky.

After lunch we drove back towards Limerick and stopped at our final destination, Bunratty Castle. The castle is about 1,000 years old – built by the Thomond Lords.

We were the only ones inside the castle, so David couldn’t help walking around proclaiming himself “King of the Castle – King of the Castle!” 

Bunratty is not just a castle, there’s also a town around the castle inside Bunratty Park. The houses are all models, demonstrating what life was like 100 years ago in Ireland. We saw everything from the poor fisherman’s shack to the grand Georgian mansion.

There was also a little town decorated for Christmas. Some of the employees were making scones using old-fashioned baking utensils in the farmer’s home. They were delicious! There were also lots of animals on the grounds. We saw some deer and donkeys and Shetland ponies. One of the donkeys looked so miserable, and when we got closer, we saw why. She was preggers! She was literally about to burst – you could see the baby donkey moving around inside of her. David started chanting, “Have it now! Have it now!” But alas, the baby was not coaxed out of the womb by David’s terrifying chant.

We ended our tour at Durty Nelly’s, one of the oldest pubs in the area. It was built in 1620 and is famous for teaching patrons how to pour their own pints of Guinness. And trust me, this is an art form. They take their Guinness very seriously in Ireland. Later that week, I was able to go back to Bunratty with the Dell team and have dinner at Durty Nelly’s restaurant.

On Saturday, I made dinner reservations at my favorite restaurant in downtown Limerick, Freddie’s Bistro. This restaurant was recently named one of the 100 Best in Ireland. I ended up going back later that week with a coworker and happened to have the same waitress who sat us at the same exact table. I hope she doesn’t think I’m a floozy who brings all my dates there!

On Sunday, the weather was much, much better so we walked along the Shannon River to King John’s Castle. Interesting fact, King John ordered the castle to be built, and then he never even visited Limerick, which means he never set foot in his castle. It was later used to protect the town (unsuccessfully) against sieges.

We were the only ones inside this castle also! I guess it really was the off-season… We had fun wandering around and watching the informational videos. Since the castle never housed royalty, it’s pretty plain. There is an archaeological dig under the castle showcasing some 12th century houses and an old mine used during a siege. But other than that, it’s mostly empty rooms and a courtyard with the gallows, a catapult, and a couple of stocks.

While walking back towards the city centre for lunch, we stopped at St. Mary’s Cathedral, the oldest building in Limerick still used for its original purpose. St. Mary’s was built in 1168 and has a beautiful, historic cemetery. We walked through the graveyard, but didn’t go inside since it was Sunday morning and we didn’t want to interrupt Mass.

We had lunch at another favorite, Chocolat, and then headed across the street to Moody Cow Milkshakes. One of my coworkers is leaving Dell in a few weeks to pursue his passion of milkshakes. He opened up this milkshake bar a couple of months ago and business is booming! David had an Oreo milkshake and I had a Riesen hot chocolate, complete with whipped cream and a Cadbury flake. Yummy!

After our dessert, David had to head out to the airport to get back to London. It was a really short, but fun weekend. It’s embarrassing to think that I’ve spent a month in Ireland since I started traveling with Dell back in August…. And the most I had seen before this weekend was the inside of the Dell office and the restaurants of the city centre. But now I can say I’ve seen a lot! And I’m very thankful for my great husband who flew to Ireland to see his long-distance wife!

Sharm el Sheikh

We had one more flight to catch before the end of our Egyptian adventure. We left Luxor on Friday morning and arrived in Sharm el Sheikh later that evening. Sharm el Sheikh can best be described as the Cancun of the Sinai Peninsula. It’s a resort town full of all-inclusive hotels on the beaches of the beautiful Red Sea.

We stayed at the Hilton Shark’s Bay. The hotel was a huge complex with multiple pools, swim-up bars, restaurants, a hookah bar, and beach access. But like the hotel’s name implies, sharks are prevalent in that area of the Red Sea. And due to recent attacks, warning signs were posted everywhere reminding tourists the hotel was not liable for any injuries and the beaches were closed. :(

We had booked a snorkeling tour a couple of months ago for all day Saturday, but we were unsure if 1) the weather and water would be warm enough to swim in and 2) the waters would be safe enough to swim in. The tour company assured us the weather would be great and wetsuits were unnecessary, but they could not guarantee our safety, especially when the shark attacks started to increase in early December at the Ras Mohammed natural marine park. Coincidentally, this is where our snorkeling tour was scheduled to take place. At the last minute, we decided not to cancel the tour, because really, what are the chances of being eaten by a shark?

Against the wishes of some of our friends and family members, we boarded a boat on Saturday morning from Naama Bay and headed out to sea. We were pretty tired from the night before because our hotel had hosted a New Year’s Eve Gala Dinner complete with Egyptian fare, belly dancing, a whirling dervish, and a dance floor and DJ to ring in 2011. But we managed to take naps on the boat on the way out to the first dive site.

David's ready to celebrate!

The boat was completely full, but not everyone decided to go swimming. Some ended up playing it safe (and warm) by staying on the ship at the different sites. This sounds terrible, but David and I did feel better once we learned we were with a group of first-timers. If a shark is going to get anyone, we were sure we could out-swim the newbies.

Instead of going to Ras Mohammed, which was on the itinerary, our guide took us to Tiran Island, a safer area. There were three different coral reef sites around the island where we snorkeled. Even though we didn’t see anything big, unlike in Jamaica where we saw sting rays and even a nurse shark, it was still some of the best snorkeling we’ve done so far. The waters were crystal clear and there were a ton of fish. When we snorkeled last November in Cancun, our guide had to feed the fish to get them to come out. But here they were everywhere – and there were so many different, colorful kinds.

Naama Bay

Shipwreck on the coral reef

While packing for the trip, I faced a swimsuit dilemma. I wasn’t sure what kind of swimming attire was appropriate. They do actually make burka bathing suits, and some of the girls on the boat were wearing them (sans headpiece) but I ended up sticking with my standard bikini. Only one other girl wore a bikini, but whatevs.

I have to mention this because I thought it was so interesting. Have you seen Sex and the City 2? Well if you haven’t, there’s a scene in the movie where the women of Abu Dhabi take off their burkas to show Carrie and the ladies of NYC their designer clothes underneath. I saw that and thought it was a load of crap, but it turns out a lot of Muslim women do dress like Western women underneath their coverings. In the Sharm airport, David and I noticed a group of women in full burkas carrying designer handbags and wearing Gucci sunglasses. When one of them sat down across from us, she crossed her legs and I was able to catch a glimpse of her skinny jeans and suede knee-high boots. So cute! It’s too bad no one ever gets to see her cute clothes except her oppressive husband.

Anyway! Just thought I’d mention that in case you did see Sex and the City 2 and were skeptical like me…

After we got back to our hotel on Saturday afternoon, David and I had dinner at the Italian restaurant and called it a night. We woke up early the next morning to soak up the last of the Vitamin D before heading on a plane back to London late Sunday.

We had such an amazing time in Egypt and we realize we are so blessed to be able to travel so freely right now. We will continue to take advantage of this before we move back to the states and have kiddos. To see all of the pictures from our trip, click here.

Luxor

The minute our flight landed in Luxor early Wednesday morning, we were glad we had made the decision to change our itinerary and visit this city. We were originally going to stay in Cairo a couple of extra days, but decided about a month ago that a true Egyptian experience would not be complete without a visit to Luxor.

Luxor was so different than Cairo. The Nile has created a beautiful, fertile valley on the East bank of Luxor. Downtown Luxor is fairly small and centers around Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple. Across the Nile, the landscape is dominated by sandy desert and tall mountains, creating a stunning contrast between the East and West banks.  Also, the drivers in Luxor are not nearly as crazy as the Cairo drivers. It was a much quieter, more serene area of Egypt.

We landed at 7 AM on Wednesday morning and headed to the hotel for check-in. Our hotel, the Sonesta St. George, upgraded us to a suite on one of their top floors when we arrived – which was very generous and surprising!

At 9 AM, we met our tour guide, Safara. First on the agenda was a visit to Karnak Temple. Our hotel was closer to Luxor Temple, so we drove along the ancient Sphinx route to Karnak. This route stretches for a little over a mile, running through the center of town from one temple to the other. A government-sponsored archaeological dig is currently ongoing to uncover all of the Sphinx lining the road. The problem is that a modern city has been built over the ruins, so the new road is completely dug up in places and buildings have been relocated. Once the project is complete, though, it will be pretty amazing that people will be able to walk from one temple to the other between the rows of hundreds of Sphinx just like they did thousands of years ago.

Much like in Cairo, the Nile used to flow right up to the banks of Karnak Temple. With time changing the course of the river, the Nile now runs further back but the entrance to the Temple is still pretty lush.

Karnak was originally built during the 11th dynasty back in 2,000 BC. The site covers 100 acres and was the most important temple complex of ancient Egypt. As most things in Egypt go, the site was eventually neglected, forgotten, and buried under layers and layers of sand. It was just re-discovered about 150 years ago so there is still a lot of restoration ongoing. There are a lot of workers on the site daily, but what was discovered back in the 1800s is amazingly intact. There are still colors on the walls from the paints the ancient Egyptians used. One of our favorite parts was Great Hypostyle Hall, an enormous hall supported by 134 columns, many of which are still standing today and in great condition. We also toured the old botanic gardens, which housed one of the first-ever zoos of the world. Then we walked along the temple to the sacred lake where the priests used to bathe themselves before performing their daily rituals.

We ended our tour with Safara at the giant scarab beetle statue. If you walk around the beetle 3 times, you’re supposed to have good luck. We were planning on going into King Tut’s tomb the next day when we visited the Valley of the Kings (which is very, very bad luck) so we were hoping to offset the bad with the good luck of the scarab beetle.

After Karnak Temple, we headed back towards Luxor Temple. The façade of Luxor Temple is dominated by statues of Ramses II and an obelisk. The obelisk is missing its twin, though, which throws off the symmetry of the temple face. As we mentioned in the video from the courtyard of the Mohammed Ali mosque in Cairo, France was gifted the obelisk from Luxor Temple in exchange for a clock (that doesn’t work) from the French King. Definitely not the best trade, Egypt.

We explored inside the temple for about an hour and then headed back to the hotel for some lunch and a much-needed nap. For dinner, we decided to take a break from Middle Eastern cuisine and ate at the first and only Japanese restaurant in Luxor. The sushi was great and tempura ice cream for dessert hit the spot.

Safara picked us up early the next morning at 7:30 AM. We had to meet earlier than usual to avoid the heat of the West bank. But actually, it was really windy on Thursday so that ended up being the coolest day of our trip so far. The wind also meant a lot of dust and sand in the air, which reminded me a lot of El Paso.

There are no cameras allowed in the Valley of the Kings or Queens, which is unfortunate because the tombs there are absolutely amazing. Some have only recently been unearthed, so the inside is still much as it was when first decorated thousands of years ago.

After driving across the river and into the mountains, we took a tram into the Valley of the Kings to the tombs. The pyramids are wonderful, but they also screamed ‘Hey – there’s a pharaoh buried here with lots of treasure!’ So they were basically a treasure map for grave-robbers. So the pharaohs started building their tombs in the mountains instead to avoid thieves. Once we got off the tram, we had to hike even further to reach the tombs that are open to the public. The first tomb we visited was that of King Tuthmosis III. Trying even better to avoid thieves, he built his tomb 30 meters above ground, so we had to climb a metal staircase to enter his chambers. The inside was beautifully decorated and his red granite sarcophagus still remained. The second tomb we visited was Ramses IV, which is probably the most well-preserved. The sarcophagus is massive and fit inside a room at the bottom of three white corridors. We also visited the tomb of Seti I, which is the longest tomb in the valley. Finally, we saved the best for last – King Tut’s tomb. This tomb is not decorated as much as the others, but King Tut’s gilded coffin and his mummy are still inside. His body is mostly covered by a sheet, but his feet and head are visible to the public. You don’t really think of the pharaohs and their stories as actually real until you see their mummified faces.

After the Valley of the Kings, we visited the Valley of the Queens where the queens and princes and princesses are buried. Obviously there are many more tombs here, about 80 total, but these ones are even more fragile so very few are open to the public. To see Queen Nefertari’s tomb, the most famous of all, the cost is 20,000 Egyptian pounds (about 2,000 GBP) and you must have special permission from the Ministry of Tourism. But we did get to see the tomb of Queen Titi, a woman married to one of the Ramses pharaohs. Her tomb had some nice paintings on the walls, but nothing elaborate like we saw in the Valley of the Kings. The only other tomb we saw here was the Tomb of Amunherkhepshep, son of Ramses III. The paintings here depicted father and son paying homage to the gods of the underworld. The boy’s coffin is still inside, without the body. But there is a body of a 5-month old mummified fetus inside the tomb in a separate area, which was disturbing.

After quickly leaving that place, we drove down the road to Hatshepsut Temple, a terraced temple complex built directly into the side of the mountain. Queen Hatshepsut built the temple in an attempt to prove herself fit to rule, since she was a woman. Many of her statues inside the temple depict her in male form as an added sign of her strength as a ruler. Unfortunately, her successor destroyed many of the images as revenge for stealing the throne.

We ended our tour of the West Bank at the Colossi of Memnon. These are two giant statues of Amenhotep III that once adorned his temple, which has been completely destroyed. The statues were also heavily damaged in earthquakes.

After finishing our tour and thanking Safara, we said our goodbyes and had lunch outside our hotel on the banks of the Nile.

We had a great time in Luxor, but were looking forward to our flight the next day to Sharm el Sheikh. After days and days of early morning wake-up calls and constant site-seeing, we couldn’t wait to relax at our all-inclusive resort on the shores of the Red Sea.

Cairo

After Christmas, David and I decided to escape the cold and spend some time soaking up the sun in Egypt.  I have always wanted to visit Egypt.  I was obsessed with Egyptology, and Cleopatra especially, when I was younger.  I used to dress up like her for Halloween and my favorite book was, and still is, The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George.  One of the advantages of living in London is that a trip of a lifetime like this was easily achievable.   

We spent Christmas and Boxing Day in London, and then headed out to Heathrow on Sunday night.  The airport was still really crowded due to the chaos the snow caused earlier that week, but our flight left on time.  5 hours later, we landed at Cairo airport.  It was 1:00 AM when we landed, but it was still about 70 degrees outside.  It was glorious!  We quickly found a taxi who swore he was a “safe driver” and headed downtown to our hotel, the Intercontinental Semiramis.  

It turns out being a “safe” driver meant being a slow driver.  We expected the driving in Egypt to be crazy, but we thought Rome-crazy.  No.  We were totally unprepared for the Cairo traffic experience.  There are very few lanes in Cairo, and the ones that do exist are simply for decoration.  Cars are constantly weaving between each other.  Instead of signaling or braking, the Egyptians use their horns to warn other drivers they are coming.  Apparently the government tried to install traffic signals a few years ago, but they were causing even more accidents because some people obeyed them and some didn’t.  So now the ones that are left just blink yellow and mean nothing.  If a pedestrian tries to cross the street, they are putting their life in danger.  People on motorbikes use hard hats instead of helmets.  There is no such thing as car seats, so babies ride in the front seat on their mama’s laps.  On top of it all, drivers share the roads with donkey carts.  It was unreal.  Before our trip, we arranged private tours in Cairo and Luxor with Memphis Tour Company.  As part of our package, we were transported between sites in a car by a professional driver.  It was still dangerous, but at least the car was a modern, air-conditioned vehicle with seatbelts.  Egypt is consistently ranked toward the top of the list for highest vehicle-related fatalities every year.  Unfortunately, without some kind of funding and driver’s education programs, the problem will continue.

One of the other surprising things about Egypt was the security.  We expected some kind of security due to recent terrorist attacks in the country, but it was still unnerving to be searched and scanned upon entering any tourist site or hotel.  For example, before a car can enter the premises of the Intercontinental, its trunk must be searched by armed guards.  A bomb-sniffing dog also circles the vehicle before it’s given the okay to pass through the barrier.  When we arrived, our suitcases were sent through a scanner (just like at the airport).  My bag did not pass the x-ray inspection because apparently my hair curlers too closely resemble pipe bombs.  I tried to explain to the security officer that I just use them in my hair, but he looked even more confused and less convinced.  So I had to take them out of my bag to be better examined.  David and I also had to walk through a metal detector every time we entered the hotel.  And my purse was searched every single time as well.  

Once we got the all clear on Sunday night and finished our check-in, we went straight to bed because our tour started at 9 AM the next morning.

After just a few hours of sleep, we met up with our guide in Cairo, Ahmed.  We managed our way through the morning traffic and arrived at the Giza plateau, home to the pyramids and the Sphinx.  David had a lot of fun with his new Flip on this trip, so we’ll let the videos do the explaining.

Ahmed let us have about 30 minutes to explore the area ourselves, but we didn’t like being left alone because that’s when the vultures descended on us.  I felt like we were back at Chichen Itza in Mexico because there were so many vendors trying to sell us crap around the pyramids.  It took away from the overall experience of being able to just stand there and marvel at something amazing.  One tip when going to Egypt, never give your camera to an Egyptian.  If you give your camera to an Egyptian to take a picture, he won’t give it back to you until you’ve given him a lot of money.  Ahmed warned us of this and we saw plenty of tourists getting scammed.  You can’t even trust the children on fieldtrips.  The boys will try to earn a buck by taking your picture when the teachers aren’t paying attention.  We got sick of this fast, but tried not to let it ruin any of our experiences. We tried to focus on the fact that we were in Egypt.
  
After we found Ahmed and begged him not to leave us alone ever again, we bought tickets to enter the third pyramid.  All three pyramids are still open, but very few visitors are allowed inside the first two.  All of the pyramids were plundered, so nothing remains inside them, but it was still neat to actually go inside and see the pharoah’s ancient burial chambers.  It was not for the faint of heart, though.  The passageway is pretty steep and enclosed.  They also allow a lot of people inside at once, so it can get claustrophobic and hot!  Unfortunately cameras are not allowed inside.   

After seeing the inside of the pyramid of Menkaure, we headed further out into the Sahara desert to take a camel ride.  We were expecting the camels to be smelly and gross and spit, but they weren’t that smelly and I didn’t see any of them spit.  They were kind of mangy though, and very temperamental.  Casanova and Charlie Brown kept fighting when we were trying to take a picture.  

After our camel ride, we drove back around the pyramids to end our morning at the Sphinx.  The Nile used to flow right up to the temple in front of the Sphinx where the bodies were actually mummified.  It’s amazing how much the course of this river has changed over time.  The Nile flows nowhere near the Sphinx these days.

We were supposed to have lunch at the Hard Rock Café because the food there is safe to eat and I was trying my hardest not to get Tutankhamen’s Revenge (also known as Montezuma’s Revenge in Mexico).  However, Ahmed knew of a good local seafood place overlooking the pyramids so we ate there instead.  Usually I like to try new things and eat at great local restaurants when travelling, but we were boring on this trip for a number of different reasons:  Middle Eastern food is not my favorite, we didn’t feel comfortable walking around Cairo playing Frogger with the cars, English wasn’t as common as we thought it’d be so we may not have known what we were eating, and getting either food poisoning or worse because of unclean water was a real concern.  David did order lots of falafel at the hotel though.  He had it almost every morning for breakfast.

After lunch we drove back into Cairo to the Egyptian Museum.  We were also very lucky to have Ahmed with us here.  There are no audio guides in the museum and very little descriptions around the artifacts, so most tourists had guides leading them through each area.  There are about 120,000 different pieces of history inside the museum.  The crazy part is that in the basement, there are supposedly another 150,000 artifacts that are either too valuable to put on display or have yet to be identified.  Some of these items are lying around the courtyard and parking area.  These are priceless relics that any other museum would kill for, but here they are ignored and discarded because Egypt is full of so many treasures.  One of the most popular areas of the museum is the King Tut exhibit.  King Tutankhamen was not a famous or great ruler, but he’s famous today because his tomb was uncovered completely intact with thousands of treasures still inside.  We saw his death mask, thrones, canes, beds, and many other things inside this section of the museum.  The other section we liked a lot was the animal mummy area.  The Egyptians mummified everything from cats and dogs to monkeys and crocodiles, even baby crocodiles.  No cameras were allowed here either. :(

After a full day of site-seeing, we headed back to Giza for a sound and light show.  This was super-cheesy, but it was worth it to see the Sphinx and pyramids at night. 

Ahmed knew we would be exhausted from our flight, lack of sleep, and lots of site-seeing, so he scheduled our pickup on Tuesday morning at 10:30.  So we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast on our balcony.

We headed to the Citadel then, built in the 1100s by Egyptian ruler Saladin to protect the Muslim capital from Crusaders (but Cairo was never targeted during the Crusades so this was kind of unnecessary).  Mohammed Ali, considered the founder of modern Egypt, built a mosque inside the Citadel modeled on the Blue Mosque in Istanbul just a couple of hundred years ago.  Almost all of its decoration is Turkish, not Egyptian.

 

Ahmed is Muslim (along with over 85% of the people in Egypt) so while inside the mosque, we sat and listened to him explain some of the foundations of Islam to us.  It was really interesting and we learned a lot.  For example, Muslims have some of the same prophets as Christians and much of the Koran contains stories from the Bible.  After our short lesson on Islam, we walked around the Citadel and enjoyed the views of the city.  Then we headed to Coptic Cairo, the Christian area of the city.

After Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph fled with the baby to Egypt to escape King Herod’s wrath.  The area where they sought shelter in Cairo is now the oldest part of Cairo, known as Coptic Cairo.  The exact place where they lived is known as the crypt because it’s now buried underground beneath the Roman fortress of Babylon.  Because of recent tensions in Egypt between the Christians and Muslims, the area is completely sealed off with very strict security.  After getting through the barricade, we had to walk down a flight of stairs to the Coptic streets.  The crypt is buried underneath a church called Church of St. Sergius and St. Bacchus.  To get to the church, we had to descend even further, and then there is another flight of stairs down into the cave where the holy family stayed.  Just like in Vienna, we were amazed at how far down we had to go to get to this room because buildings become neglected and forgotten and cities are built over them.

Roman Babylon wall above Coptic crypt

Mosaic of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus walking along

the Nile with the pyramids in the background

The second church we visited was the Greek Orthodox church of St. George, where Ahmed explained that Coptics have their own pope separate from the pope at the Vatican.  The Coptic pope is Shenouda III, who lives in the Egyptian desert near Alexandria.  Here, David and I explained to Ahmed that we’re technically Protestant, so we don’t have a holy leader of our church like a pope.  Ahmed had never met any Protestants before, as far as he knew, so he asked us a lot of questions.  He was amazed that we didn’t pray to saints or use rosary beads or go to confession.  He assumed all Christians did these things.  I was happy to teach Ahmed something new after everything he’d taught us over the past couple of days!

The last church we visited was the Hanging Church, aptly named because it was literally built on top of the Roman fortress, so it has no foundation.  It was beautiful, and my favorite church in Coptic Cairo.  It was so clean and quiet inside the courtyard and church, which made it really peaceful.

Courtyard of the Hanging Church

Before we left Coptic Cairo, we stopped at the Ben Ezra synagogue.  There are very few Jews left in Egypt as most of them moved to Israel 60 years ago, so this synagogue is no longer in use.  We did rest inside for about half an hour, though, and talk about the stories of Moses and Joseph, the Old Testament prophets whose stories focus around Egypt.

After we left Coptic Cairo we had lunch at another local restaurant and then headed to the Khan al-Khalili bazaar to go shopping.  David and I aren’t the biggest fans of bargaining, though, so we told Ahmed we wanted to see the market, but we only wanted to spend about half an hour there.  It actually wasn’t that bad and we weren’t hassled as much as we thought we’d be, though Ahmed did tell me I needed to cover my shoulders before I entered the bazaar to avoid being chastised by the men.  We only made one purchase and that was at a spice shop.  We bought some dried hibiscus leaves to make hibiscus tea.  We also bought some saffron threads and vanilla beans, which are really, really expensive in both the states and the UK.  But of course they were really cheap in Egypt!  And they smelled delicious!

We ended our time in Cairo on a Nile dinner cruise.  There was a buffet of Egyptian food, and then entertainment.  We were expecting a belly dancer, so when navel-bearing male dancers showed up, David wondered just what kind of cruise I’d signed us up for.  

It felt like we were at Chippendales for a second there.  But the guys were just the backup dancers for the belly dancer.  David was a little uncomfortable because he wasn’t sure where he was supposed to look during the belly dancing, but then came the Whirling Dervish.

He spun and spun and spun.

And spun some more.

We got dizzy just watching him.    

It was a fun cruise with good food and great entertainment.  The party animals we are, we headed back to the hotel after the cruise and turned in early because the next day, we headed down the Nile to Luxor, the ancient capital city of Thebes. 

Merry Christmas Markets

We have had so much fun celebrating the holiday season across the world this year. In early December, David and I were both back in Austin for work. While there, we were able to attend the Volusion holiday party at the UT stadium. Every year David’s company hosts a casino night for their party. At the end of the night, guests turn in their chips for prize tickets. We have won a prize every year… except this year. The company has continued to grow so much, along with the chances of winning anything. Plus it doesn’t help when David loses all of his money during the first ten minutes of blackjack. Oh well! We still had a great time hanging out with Texas friends and schmoozing with the Volusioneers. And I have to give a shout-out to my hubby for earning the Trailblazer award for blazing the trail across the pond for the company. Yay David!

Molly and David with their well-deserved awards

After Austin, I had to head back to Bratislava for work. While there, I went to the Bratislava Christmas market in the town square in the evenings. I sampled mulled wine, traditional Brat food like fried cheese sandwiches, and ENORMOUS German potato pancakes. I also picked up a hand-painted Christmas ornament. David and I started a tradition about a year ago collecting Christmas ornaments from all of the places we travel to. Bratislava, check!

Bratislava town centre

Giant Christmas tree in front of the Bratislava opera house

Snowing on our walk back to the hotel

Back in London, David and I also spent our weekends at the local Christmas markets. We visited the Southbank market on Queens Walk next to the London Eye, across the river from Big Ben and Parliament. There were tons of booths set up selling everything from funny hats to fake snow to wooden ties. Wooden ties are really popular in the London markets – we don’t get it. It’d be perfect for a white elephant gift, I guess…

Southbank Christmas Market - Big Ben and the London Eye are barely

visible in the background of this picture

David enjoying a bratwurst and mulled wine

About a week before Christmas, it snowed like crazy! It was beautiful but very hazardous. London is not equipped to deal with a lot of snow and ice, so Heathrow shut down for days, along with many other public transportation systems. This is the second year in a row that London has had a lot of snow, so the city should get its act together now and be better prepared for any future snowstorms.

Our street at the beginning of the snowstorm

Kirby posing with the snow-family the Fujitas made in our front yard

Unfortunately, one of David’s coworkers from the states who was here for business was stranded until Christmas Day. But to lift his spirits, we decided to show him a true London Christmas and take him to the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland one evening.

Hyde Park is transformed during Christmas into not only a market full of food and craft stalls, but also a carnival. There are a ton of rides, haunted houses, restaurants, and bars. This year we even saw a giant inflatable bar. Inside was way too fancy schmancy for us, though. There were reserved tables with bottle service and oysters – kind of strange in the middle of a winter wonderland carnival… Hyde Park is also home to London’s largest ice rink during this time of year. We stayed at the park for most of the night, hopping from stall to stall to try the different warm drinks and yummy German food.

David and me with Santa in front of one of the wooden tie stalls

After leaving Hyde Park, we walked down the street to check out the window displays at Harrods. This year’s Christmas theme was Peter Pan. The windows were beautifully and elaborately decorated. We didn’t go inside, though, because we would’ve been trampled by last-minute holiday shoppers! Luckily we had already done all of our shopping, so we were able to just enjoy the week before Christmas at home relaxing with the House family (and celebrating Amy's recent engagement - congrats)!

On Christmas Eve, instead of doing the regular midnight church service, we decided to change it up this year and go to the Carols by Candlelight concert at Royal Albert Hall. It was a beautiful concert, and such an amazing experience singing Christmas carols with 5,000 other Londoners on Christmas Eve. The musicians and choir were dressed up in Victorian costumes and Santa even made an appearance! We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year!