Category: Travel

Crossing the Danube and entering Romania from Bulgaria brought us into the town of Giurgiu. From there, we headed to Bucharest. Romania became a country in 1859, when the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia were united by Alexandru Ioan Cuza. Transylvania, which had been part of Hungary, didn’t become part of Romania until after World War I. The original inhabitants of Romania were the Dacians.

Giurgiu and Bucharest are part of Wallachia. Three different times in the 15^th century, the Prince of Wallachia was a fella named Vlad Dracula (aka Vlad the Impaler or Vlad Tepes). Vlad’s dad was Vlad Dracul (Dracul meaning “the dragon”), so Vlad junior became Vlad Dracula, (Dracula meaning “son of the dragon”). Part of the premise of The Historian is that the fictional character of Dracula and the historical person Vlad Dracula are one and the same.

The historical Vlad was killed in battle back in 1476/1477. He had supposedly been buried in a tomb he had built in the Monastery of Snagov. However, excavations in 1933 discovered that the tomb was empty (which would go well with the idea of Vlad being the famous vampire). Then a theory was put forward that he was instead buried at the Comana Monastery (which he had also established) and is closer to where he was killed. In the 1970s, a headless body was discovered there that could possibly be Vlad. He had been beheaded at the time of his death. That would keep him from roaming around after death as beheading works as well for a vampire as a stake through the heart.

Comana Monastery is not mentioned in the novel, but is located in Giurgiu, the first town we encountered upon entering Romania. When we got to Bucharest we came in via the old town, including the Old Fortress, Curtea Veche. This was the palace of the Princes of Wallachia in Bucharest. Vlad Dracula ruled from there before he moved his capitol to Targoviste. He also had a massive castle at Poenari, just north of Curtea de Arges (which was also a capitol of Wallachia at one time). He spent a lot of time there between 1459 and 1462. In 1462, it was besieged by the Turks. Vlad escaped through a secret passage, but his wife leapt to her death instead of allowing the Turks to capture her. Both Curtea Veche and Poenari are in ruins. There is talk about restoring Curtea Veche.

It must have been confusing for Wallachians to have their capitol constantly moving from Curtea de Arges to Bucharest to Targoviste. Our tour zeroed in on Bucharest, which became the capitol of the entire country of Romania.

By the time we got to Bucharest, Sue from Wales, Dot & Barbara from Australia, and I had bonded. So we ventured around in Bucharest together when we had free time. Bucharest modeled itself on Paris and even has its own Arc de Triomphe (though much smaller than the original). We had a rather whirlwind tour of the city prior to our lunch break. Where we were dropped off was near some of the landmarks we had zipped past earlier plus we had a pretty decent amount of time. So we ate fairly quickly at an outdoor café and set off with our cameras to cover as much ground as possible and be back to our meeting place on time.

At the café, we encountered both stray dogs and Roma children. The very large number of stray dogs (which are feral and dangerous) are descendants of dogs that lost their homes when their families were forcibly moved from their villages into urban apartment blocks, to work in factories, during the Communist era.

There is a fairly large Roma (formerly referred to as Gypsies) population throughout Romania. Some of the Roma are quite wealthy and have mansions in villages that are mainly Roma. But a large number are very poor and the children openly beg, especially in Bucharest.

Romania also has very large communities of Saxons (Germans) and Hungarians. These communities, despite having Romanian citizenship, keep themselves separate from one another and the overall Romanian population. Our Tour Director, Zsuzsa, told us that her family (who live in Transylvania) still considers themselves Hungarian, not Romanian. The Hungarians go to Hungarian schools and the Saxons go to German schools.

The Romanian Athenaeum, a 19^th century concert hall was the closest to the café. We then set off for the Central Committee Building in Revolution Square, which had been the Headquarters of the Communist Party. On the 21^st of December in 1989, Nicolae Ceauşescu, the communist dictator of Romania, had the military fire upon the people who were protesting in the square. Over 1033 were killed. The next day, he and his wife fled by helicopter from the roof of the Central Committee Building. They were captured at Targoviste and were executed by firing squad on December 25^th.

On our way to the People’s Palace (which was built by Ceauşescu) for a tour of the interior, we went by the Military Academy. The People’s Palace (the Romanian Parliament) is the second largest building in the world (after the US Pentagon). It has 3,100 rooms and covers 12 stories over 365,000 square metres (3,930,000 square feet). Some of those 3,100 rooms are mighty large. There was one that I figured could hold my entire neighborhood. The balcony (which, all by itself, is bigger than my house) was where Michael Jackson famously greeted the crowd with “Hello Budapest!”

After the tour, we drove along the Romanian version of the Champs Elysees, with its lovely fountains, and past a statue of Romania’s founder, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, to reach the complex containing the Patriarchal Church, the Church of Bucur the Shepherd, and the Prince Radu Monastery. All three buildings resemble each other enough that I had a difficult time telling them apart when trying to identify the photos later.

The Patriarchal Church was built between 1655 and 1659 and is quite beautiful inside. There was a service going on, but we could take photos as long as we didn’t use flash. No problem. The Church of Bucur the Shepherd was named for the founder of Bucharest. Some people believe the church was built by Bucur himself (date unknown), while others feel it was built in the 15^th century, and still others that it was built in the 17^th century (not too long before the Patriarchal Church). It was rebuilt in the 18^th century, which further complicates matters.

The Prince Radu Monastery was founded in the 16^th century on land that has been in use by humans for thousands of years. Supposedly, it was founded in the name of Vlad Dracula’s younger brother. But, since that particular Prince Radu (Radu Cel Frumos) converted to Islam while he and Vlad were being held in Turkey when they were children, that doesn’t seem to make much sense. A later Prince Radu (a direct descendent of Vlad’s named Radu Voda Mihnea) is the more likely candidate. He lived in the 17^th century, which was after the monastery was founded, but had the monastery reconstructed on its original foundations (after it had been blown up by the Turks) while he was Prince of Wallachia. This might have caused it to be renamed for him with the original name lost in time.

Back in the 1930s several Romanian peasant houses, barns, churches and other buildings were moved from all over the country to the National Village Museum on the shores of Herăstră Lake. This was our last visit in Bucharest. We were given maps of the open air museum and a time to be back at the entrance. Then we all went exploring. It was a fascinating place. Each building had information regarding where it was from, the time period and the purpose.

Once we got back to the hotel, which was connected to a small shopping mall, we still had time to exchange some money. There are some countries (and Romania was one at that time) that don’t use credit cards much or where it can be risky to use one (Egypt was in that category). So Sue and I exchanged some of our own currencies me USD, her GBP) for Romanian Lei as we both wanted to buy some souvenirs when we got to Transylvania.

We ran into Manny and Jane (also from the UK) having ice cream and joined them. We were soon joined in turn by Hillary. For just 12 Romanian Lei (4 USD), we could get three scoops of ice cream in a chocolate-lined cone bowl. We were on our own for dinner that night, so we had our ice cream and then stopped in at a sandwich shop to get sandwiches and drinks to take back to our rooms.

The next morning, we left Wallachia and entered Transylvania.

When growing up, about all I knew of Bulgaria was that it was part of the Soviet Union and had huge, muscle-bound men and women who competed in the Olympics. The country itself is quite beautiful and mountainous. It is also the oldest European state, having been founded in 681 as an independent country by the Bulgars. A good bit of Thrace (3000BC) was where Bulgaria is now. Several Thracian burial mounds can be found out in the countryside. Back in 855, two Bulgarian brothers named Cyril and Methodius invented the Cyrillic alphabet, which is used in several languages.

In 1018, Bulgaria fell to the Byzantines. Then, in 1398, it was invaded by the Ottoman Turks, who held the country until 1877 when the Russians helped the Bulgarians to win their freedom. After World War II, however, the Soviets took over Bulgaria until 1989, when they quietly left.

Bulgaria is the largest producer of lavender and rose oil in the world. We saw field after field of lavender plants and rose bushes. We also saw quite a few vast fields of poppies.

The drive from Belgrade to Sofia was a long one. We didn’t reach Sofia until the evening, around dinner time. Sofia is both the capitol and the largest city in Bulgaria. The area has been inhabited since at least 7,000 BC. By the time it became a city, it was inhabited by the Thracians. Alexander the Great and his dad, Philip II of Macedonia, both held the city at one time. Then it was conquered by the Romans, destroyed by the Huns, rebuilt by the Byzantines, and became part of the Bulgarian Empire. The name Sofia comes from the Greek word “Sophia” meaning “wisdom”.

The first night we spent in the hotel, there was a wedding going on. The guests were congregating outside of my room in the hallway around midnight, talking and laughing loudly, and not dispersing. So I got up, whipped the door open, placed a finger to my lips and said, “Shhhhh!” loudly. I then closed the door quickly to avoid any possible protests or arguments in a language I could not understand. Bless their hearts. They actually became quiet and went someplace else. I was able to get some sleep before needing to get up at 7am.

We spent the day in Sofia itself, starting at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (Alexander Nevsky was a Russian Prince). Built between 1882 and 1912, the cathedral can hold 10,000 people. Photography isn’t allowed inside, but I didn’t know that until after I had already snapped a couple of somewhat fuzzy photos. It was very impressive and beautiful.

Next was the Church of Saint Sofia, which is the second oldest church in Sofia, dating to the 4^th century. The 19^th century Russian Church’s official name is the Church of St Nicholas the Miracle-Maker. It is lovely, with several onion domes. It is also set in a park. A large part of the older areas of the city are covered in parks. Many buildings, such as the Russian Church and the National Theatre (Opera House) are set within their own parks.

Bulgaria has a President, a Prime Minister and both legislative and judicial branches. The cluster of government buildings is called the Presidency. They have a short Changing of the Guards ceremony every hour just outside of the main building. Inside the courtyard of the complex lies some Roman ruins of the town of Serdica, which was a forerunner of Sofia. A relatively intact Roman building was converted into a church in the 4^th century. This is the oldest building in Sofia and is dedicated to Saint George. Saint George (aka Sveti Georgi), along with the Patron Saint, Ivan (John) of Rila, is one of Bulgaria’s most important saints.

The next morning, we set off for the Rila Monastery. A very important and pivotal plot point in The Historian, during which a couple of the main characters discover where the person they are pursuing  can be found, takes place at Rila Monastery, so I felt it would be a great place to buy a new crucifix to wear around my neck. After all, we were heading to Transylvania eventually.

The monastery was founded by Saint Ivan (John) of Rila in 927 and currently houses roughly 60 monks. It has 300 chambers, a main church, a museum, four chapels, a kitchen, a library, and a bell tower. It is high up in the mountains and is absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous.

That evening, when we returned to Sofia, we attended a Bulgarian Folklore Dinner. The music and dancing had both Turkish and Greek influences. Fire is an important element of Bulgarian culture, so the last entertainment of the night was a fire dance. This involved a fella dancing barefoot among smoldering embers while holding an icon. Being a fire dancer is a hereditary and revered position.

The following day we left for Plovdiv, which was once known as Philippopolis because of Alexander the Great’s father, Philip II of Macedon. It was at one time a Thracian city and was raided by pretty much everyone throughout its history. It is one of the oldest cities in Europe, having been established during the 7^th century BC, although it has had many different names during its existence. It wasn’t until the 9^th century AD that it was named Plovdiv. Like Rome and Edinburgh, Plovdiv is arranged on seven hills.

We visited some sites of Roman ruins, including a partially excavated gladiator arena and an amphitheater. The theatre is in pretty good shape and is still used for performances. A market was next to the arena, containing carpets and rugs, antiques, paintings, icons, and some souvenirs. On the other side of the market was an intact medieval area of streets, walls, gates and houses. I tell you, medieval people had to be in really good shape. The streets were very steep and narrow as were the stairs in the houses that were open to the public. Most of the houses are still privately owned and are quite unique.

After having some lunch, we drove to the Stara Planina Mountains, which are part of the Balkan Mountains. This included the Shipka Pass, which was the site of several important battles between the Russians and the Ottoman Turks in the 19^th century. The plains between Plovdiv and the mountains contained the largest amount of Thracian burial mounds we had encountered. I actually managed to get a decent photo of one as we flew by on the tour coach.

That evening we arrived in Veliko Tarnovo – the capitol of Bulgaria from 1185 to 1396. It is located way up in the mountains on the Yantra River. Once again, very steep cobblestoned roads and lots of equally steep stairs. The next day we visited Tsarevets Fortress, from which the kings of Bulgaria ruled the country. It is the highest point of the city. Traces of human presence there date back as far as the 2^nd century BC. There is also an Execution Rock from which people were thrown to the Yantra River far below. No record of any survivors.

Our hotel was on the edge of one of the mountains with a spectacular view of the Tsarevets Fortress, across the valley, from the restaurant of the hotel. My room was on the other side of the hotel overlooking a street. I remember it being quite warm that night and needing to keep the windows wide open since there was no air conditioning. I was hoping nothing would decide to fly in.

Near Veliko Tarnovo is a village called Arbanassi. The current population is about 500 people though, in its heyday, it had roughly 1,000 houses. This was the summer residence of the kings of Bulgaria. The houses were built as “fortress houses” where the ground floor was built in stone with thick walls and no windows while the floor above was often wood with plenty of windows.

Our last stop in Bulgaria was in the city of Rousse, just before crossing the Danube to Romania. It was mid-afternoon – ice cream time. They had a wide variety of delicious ice cream at a sidewalk cafe. After fortifying ourselves, we made our way into Romania, heading to its capitol Bucharest.

When planning for the Spring trip in 2009, Mom revealed that she wasn’t up to traveling anymore. There comes a point when the reward is no longer worth the effort and she had reached that point. When we had gone on the Central Europe tour the year before, our tour director, Wence, had told us about his friend, Zsuzsa, who led the Balkans & Transylvania tour. So I ended up going on that tour on my own.

Arriving in Budapest, the hotel room was not yet ready for the three of us that came in on Malev Airlines from Amsterdam. We needed to check our bags in at the desk to go and get something to eat while we waited. The hotel was on the river on the Pest side. The three of us walked along the river to find a café. Since I had been to Budapest before, I knew which direction was the most likely and we set off that way. Both of my companions were American. The female, Hilary, had the book The Historian (by Elizabeth Kostova) with her. She had read it before and wanted to read it again while on the tour as we would be visiting several of the locations in the book. I was doing the same thing.

The next day, we began our tour at Heroes’ Square. I not only had purchased a new video camera to replace the one that died in Egypt, but I bought a new camera as well. I had borrowed a digital camera to try out in Egypt and found that the photos were much better than from my film camera, so I took the plunge and got a digital camera that could also take photos in very low-light situations. This allowed me to take photos inside of places with very low light without needing a flash. This was helpful because some venues allow interior photography without a flash, but not with one. Beginning with this trip, I got into the habit of taking loads and loads of photos.

It was great seeing Arpad and the boys again. I took several photos from different angles of the Magyar Chieftain and his friends who founded Hungary in about 895. The first King of Hungary was his great-great-grandson, Istvan (Stephen), whose crown is on display in the Parliament building.

Up on Castle Hill, the Matthias Coronation Church was still partially in scaffolding. But we could go inside this time, so I did. This is the church where several of the kings were crowned. It was destroyed by the Mongols and the Turks and badly damaged during World War II. Each time it has been restored. The interior was still a little dark, but quite beautiful. Part of it was being worked on, but the altar was ready for its close-up.

While still in Buda, we went by the memorial to Raoul Wallenberg, who saved thousands of Jews from concentration camps during World War II. Back down in Pest, we went to the Doheny Street Synagogue with a beautiful sculpture representing a willow tree. The names of the Hungarian Jews who had perished in the Holocaust are on the leaves. Actor Tony Curtis, whose father was a Hungarian Jew, provided the funds for this memorial. Over 2,000 of the Jews who died in the Ghetto in Budapest were buried in the garden of the Synagogue. Then we were released for lunch. Since the John Bull Pub where Mom and I had dined the year before was nearby, I led a small group there.

On the way to Szentendre, we passed some of the ruins of the Roman town of Aquincum. If I return to Budapest again sometime, I’d like to explore them more. Our first stop in Szentendre was a diamond factory where I purchased some very lovely, old-fashioned dangle earrings made of Hungarian opals. Then we visited the same Serbian Orthodox Church as the prior year. This time, however, I got a couple photos of the inside. On the way back down the road to get to the tour coach, I bought a jacket for Mom for her birthday (which was taking place on the day I returned from the trip). She had looked at some the jackets the previous year, so I knew she was interested in them. She loved it and wore it for special occasions.

Back in Budapest, we stopped near the Parliament building to take photos of a memorial located near the building at the edge of the Danube. During World War II a Hungarian fascist group ordered thousands of Jews over time to stand at the edge of the river and remove their shows. Once they had done so, they were shot and fell into the river. The memorial consists of 60 pairs of shoes (in iron) of both adults and children. It is one of the most moving memorials I have seen.

That night we attended a Hungarian dinner with folk dancing. Upon arrival, we were served some apricot brandy in a little ceramic jug shaped like a man, which we were able to keep. Then we had a dinner of goulash soup, stuffed chicken and strudel accompanied by wine, Hungarian music and folk dancing.

The next day we left for Serbia on our way to Bulgaria. Because Serbia was not part of the European Union, we waited at the border quite a while before we could proceed to the city of Novi Sad where we were to have lunch. Once there, we exchanged some money to be able to pay for lunch. I exchanged enough for lunch and a small souvenir. I then ate at the McDonalds in the town square, near the bank where I had exchanged the money, so I could eat quickly and then explore before we needed to leave.

Founded in 1694, Novi Sad is the second largest city in Serbia and sits on the opposite side of the Danube River from the Petrovaradin Fortress which was built in 1692. The town square was quite large, so there was a sizeable area for me to explore, plus some interesting side streets. When we left Novi Sad, we drove to Belgrade where we were to spend the night.

Also on the Danube, Belgrade had been the capitol of Yugoslavia and is now the capitol of Serbia. It has essentially been in existence (founded by the Vincas) since the 6^th century BC and has been conquered by Celts, Romans, Slavs, Byzantines, Franks, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ottomans, and the Hapsburgs. The oldest part of the present city is the Kalemegdan Citadel, which dates back to the 3^rd century BC (three centuries before Belgrade existed) and has been destroyed and rebuilt throughout the centuries.

We arrived in time for a tour of the city before checking into the hotel and having dinner. The next day we left for Bulgaria, which was very different from what I expected.

Our last full day of sightseeing in Egypt took us to the temples of Luxor and Karnak. Starting at Luxor after breakfast, we walked along an impressive avenue lined with sphinxes leading to the partner of the obelisk in Place du Concorde in Paris. Just beyond the obelisk, the entrance to the temple is flanked by two gigantic statues of Ramses II.

The temple was constructed mainly in 1400 BC and contains several statues of Ramses II moved from the Ramasseum. This is because the Ramasseum has been flooded several times and the statues were in danger. They have been set up between columns throughout the temple complex.

In the rear of the complex, a church was created in one of the shrines during the very early Christian era. Some of the paint can still be seen on the walls.

After Luxor and before Karnak, we visited a perfume factory owned by the Al Fayed family. Al Fayed owned both Harrod’s Department store in London and the Ritz Hotel in Paris at the time. His son, Dodi, was killed in the car crash that killed Princess Diana.

As impressive as Luxor Temple is, Karnak surpasses it. Karnak Temple was built over a span of roughly 1,100 years and is massive. At one point the avenue of sphinxes at Luxor joined up with the avenue of rams in front of Karnak. The oldest part of the temple is the Temple of Ptah, which is so tiny, it was difficult to try to take a photo inside, especially since I wasn’t exactly alone. The newest structure is the entrance pylon. The main precinct of the complex (and the only part open to the public) is dedicated to Amen-Re, the sun god.

Probably the most famous part is the Hypostyle Hall, mainly built by Ramses II. This is a huge hall with massive columns covered in hieroglyphics. Originally it had a roof over it. Here and there are still some remaining pieces of the roof.

Hatshepsut had been busy there too. She made some important contributions to the Hypostyle Hall and built a small, red temple. There is a large obelisk of hers still standing and another that has collapsed. The Unfinished Obelisk in Aswan was supposed to have gone here too. There originally were several statues of her. As elsewhere, her immediate successors tried to erase anything in reference to her. Some of the statues were destroyed. Some had walls built in front of them so nobody could see them. I have a photo of one of the statues that had been behind a wall. King Tut is also represented by a statue.

Karnak is one of the few temples that still has its sacred lake. This might be partially because it is huge. It is also lined in stone with steps leading down into it. The lake was used for ritual bathing by the priests and for the geese that lived in the complex.

In addition to an initial guided tour by our Egyptologist, we had a lot of free time at Karnak to explore the parts that are open to the public on our own. I tried to keep Hatshepsut’s obelisk in view so I wouldn’t get lost in the maze of walls, columns, statues, obelisks, and piles of rubble. I managed to find my way back out when it was time to do so despite that fact that I pretty much explored every part I could get to (and possibly even some parts that I really wasn’t supposed to be – as I was the only one there and there seemed to be some excavating going on).

We flew back to Cairo from Luxor on Egypt Air. Then I flew from Cairo to JFK in NYC and on to Minneapolis. The entire trip was so memorable and I am so glad I took the opportunity to see Egypt when I could.

During the night we docked at Thebes (modern day city of Luxor). Thebes dates back to 2300 BC and includes the temples of Luxor and Karnak, plus the Valley of the Kings, the Colossi of Memnon, and Hatshepsut’s temple of Deir el-Bahari – all of which we visited during a couple days of being docked there before flying back to Cairo.

When I opened my drapes, I found myself looking directly into the stateroom of a complete stranger on another riverboat. We were right up against each other. Actually, we were sandwiched between a couple of boats and had to walk through three other boats to get to shore. A Nile traffic jam. This wasn’t too bad for just coming and going to sightsee, but was a little awkward when leaving the boat for the airport and taking our luggage with us. This was especially true when boats didn’t quite line up properly and we had to balance along the ledge of one to get to the opening of another. I couldn’t help but wonder if anyone had ever fallen into one of the gaps between boats.

We started our day at the Valley of the Kings, where for roughly 500 years (from the 16^th century to the 11^th century BC) the pharaohs, their families, and other nobility, were buried. At this point, archeologists know that there are at least 63 tombs. The possibility exists that there are still some undiscovered tombs. The most famous tomb in the valley thus far is that of Tutankhamun, which was discovered intact in 1922 by Archeologist Howard Carter and the 5^th Earl of Carnarvon.

We arrived fairly early in the morning before the heat reached its highest point for the day and before the valley was completely thronged by tourists. Here and there I actually managed to time taking a photo without a lot of people. As we sat under an awning listening to our Egyptologist talk about what we were about to see in the tomb we were going to visit, more people began arriving. By the time we actually ventured into the tomb of Ramses IV (KV2), we were no longer alone.

Ramses IV was a pharaoh from the 20^th dynasty. Although his tomb has a lot of graffiti on the walls from ancient Greek and Roman visitors, it is still in great shape with most of the original colors intact. This is in part from its position in the valley. The frequent flash floods that take place in the Valley of the Kings have not reached this particular tomb, unlike Ramses II whose tomb is in very poor shape.

Seeing Tutankhamun’s tomb (KV62) cost extra. Our Egyptologist offered to wait for anyone who wanted to see it, but tried to talk us out of it. He said that there wasn’t much to see – everything was in the Cairo museum except for Tut’s body which was in the remaining inner sarcophagus inside the tomb. I was determined to see it anyway. I was the only one from our group who was interested.

Photos weren’t allowed in Tut’s tomb. I couldn’t even carry my cameras in with me. I had to check them in with the person from whom I bought the special ticket. Fortunately I had taken a photo of the outside of the tomb as we passed it earlier. I left the rest of the group sitting in the shade and hiked over to the tomb’s entrance. Nobody was there to look at my ticket, so I just went ahead down the stairs. When I was nearing the bottom, I could see a few women over to my left looking at something that I couldn’t see. There was a man a ways ahead of me, looking over at Tut’s sarcophagus to the right. I stopped to take in what was on the walls of the tomb and give the guy time to move on before I reached the sarcophagus. I was excited to be there and wanted to get it all imprinted on my mind, especially since photos were not allowed (otherwise I would have been shooting loads of photos and video).

The man moved on and I went down the last few steps to the level of the sarcophagus. It had glass on top so that the coffin inside was visible. I stared at that for a while and then looked around the rest of the tomb. It was quite small. It was amazing to me how they had stuffed all the things I had seen at the Cairo Museum into these tiny rooms.

The women had gone up the stairs and out of the tomb. The man was on his way up the stairs. Nobody had come down after me. I could see what looked like two blackened feet sticking out from under a sheet in a glass case. Holy moly! Was that Tut? Was he out of his coffin and in that case? I swung around to the area that had been to my left and approached the glass case. Those feet were Tut’s! He was under a sheet except for his feet and his head. I reached his head, looked him in the face and said, “Hello Tut.”

Suddenly the lights went out and I found myself alone in King Tut’s tomb with Tut himself in total darkness. Trying not to panic while imagining a bony little hand reaching for my throat, I fished around in my travel purse for the flashlight I always carry. I had it in my hand and turned on when the lights came back on. Tut had not moved. I was relieved. I thanked him for his hospitality and headed up the stairs.

When I reached my group, I found out that the power had momentarily gone out for the entire Valley of the Kings. I told the group (and especially the Egyptologist) that Tut was now in a case instead of his sarcophagus. But we were on a schedule so it was too late for anyone else in the group to go down to see him.

We left for Hatshepsut’s temple Deir el-Bahari, which was carved from the side of a mountain on three levels. In 1997, 62 people, mostly tourists, were killed by terrorists on the steps of the temple.

Hatshepsut was the daughter of Tutmose I. She was married to her half-brother, Tutmose II. She reigned in between her husband and his son from another one of his wives, Tutmose III. Both Tutmose III and his son, Amenhotep II attempted to erase Hatshepsut from history. Her name was chiseled from monuments and records and her statues were removed or defaced. Here and there, however, something remained. That was enough for Hatshepsut not to be completely erased from history.

After spending time at Deir el-Bahari, we stopped off at the Colossi of Memnon. These are statues of Amenhotep III. His grandfather was Amenhotep II and his father Tutmose IV. His son was Akhenaten and grandson Tutankhamen. The statues had once been at the entrance of a temple that no longer exists.

The next day we explored the temples of Luxor and Karnak.

The 2^nd week of my 2008 tour to Egypt was spent on a cruise of the Nile, which began in Aswan. We flew from Cairo in the middle of the night so we could pack in a whole day of sights before boarding the roughly 200 passenger river boat. Immediately upon arrival in Aswan, we were taken to see the High Dam (completed in 1970), which created Lake Nasser and alleviated the severe flooding on the Nile.

From there we were taken on a flat-bottomed boat to an island to see the Temple of Isis from the Island of Philae. Philae was one of the temples that would have ended up under water due to the High Dam and so was relocated. It had been suffering from floods for several years in its original location as it was.

After visiting Philae, we journeyed to the Unfinished Obelisk. It was carved on orders of Hatshepsut, but was abandoned when cracks began to form. If it had been finished, it would have been the largest obelisk created. To get to the obelisk, we needed to climb quite a ways up the granite quarry. Sometimes there were rudimentary steps or some wooden slats, but it was mainly balancing oneself on the granite. I whipped out my folding cane. Really great gripping tread was needed on one’s shoes.

Once we got back down to the tour coach, we were given box lunches to take with us. Then we were driven to a special area guarded by soldiers with automatic weapons. There we formed a convoy of coaches and soldiers. We had two additional armed security officers plus an armed soldier on our coach. We also had two drivers – one to take us out and the other to bring us back. It was a three-hour drive each direction from Aswan to Abu Simbel. The soldier in our coach sat in the seat directly in front of mine (across from the middle door). He cradled his automatic weapon in his hands the entire time. I was afraid to move.

Fortunately the ride out was uneventful. I was also so tired from the lack of sleep the night before that I ended up dozing off several times along the way. Not much to see anyway, just the Nubian Desert. Abu Simbel consists of two temples – one for Ramses II and the other for his queen, Nefertari. Both were moved, piece by piece, like giant jigsaw puzzles, from their original location now under Lake Nasser. They were originally built in roughly 1264 BC. We could take as many photos as we wanted outside of the temples, but nothing inside. I did talk the fella guarding the door to the Ramses II temple into letting me take a photo from the doorway, however.

On the ride back, we didn’t do the caravan. The other two coaches had further plans in the area, but we needed to get to our cruise, so we got an extra soldier and set off on our own. Closer to Aswan, we did get passed by a truck full of guys who then tried to block our passage on the road. They changed their minds about whatever their plans had been when two soldiers with automatic weapons came off of the coach and aimed their weapons at them. They took off quite speedily. We arrived at the cruise boat about 7pm with a very good buffet dinner, with a lot of variety, at 7:30pm. I slept like a baby when I got in bed that night.

The next day we woke up at Kom Ombo. Temple. It was a double temple dedicated to the crocodile god, Sobek, and the falcon god, Horus. Some of the original colors were still on some of the walls and the piece of a ceiling. Once we returned to the boat, we sat on the top deck under a large canopy and relaxed as we sailed down the Nile to Edfu. Here and there we saw actual crocodiles slipping into the water. Sometimes we saw water buffalo along the shore and watched feluccas (the traditional Egyptian sail boat) gliding by.

When we reached Edfu, we lined up for the horse drawn carriages to take us to the temple. Edfu Temple is one of the best preserved in Egypt. This is because it ended up buried in silt for over a thousand years. This meant that it still is relatively intact and has its roof and some of its colors. It also hadn’t been vandalized by the Romans. It is the largest temple dedicated to the falcon god, Horus. He was the son of the goddess, Isis, and the god Osiris.

It had been suggested to me that draping myself with one of my gauze scarves like the women in India and the Middle East would work well for keeping me cool as well as keeping the sun off of me. So I tried it. Unfortunately it did not work well for me at all. In fact, the cloth around my neck made me much hotter than when I had on my archeologist hat. By lunchtime, I was somewhat overcome by the heat and wasn’t feeling well at all. So, after a very light lunch (which I mostly drank), I retreated to my air conditioned room for the rest of the afternoon with a very large bottle of cold water (there was a fridge in the room to keep it cold). I had a large picture window in the room from which to watch our boat glide on down the Nile towards the Valley of the Kings.

After leaving Alexandria, with a fresh security guard, our first stop was El Alamein (Al Alamin), which was a World War II battlefield in July 1942 and again in October/November 1942. The Allies managed to push the Axis powers all the way back to Tunisia in a decisive victory. The US was not involved at this point in North Africa, so they were not a part of either one of these battles. We visited both the Military Museum and the Commonwealth Cemetery.

We arrived at our resort in Marsa Matruh about three in the afternoon. Pretty much all of us decided to head down to the beach and sit next to or in the Mediterranean. I had a very large brimmed white straw hat with me to keep me in the shade even in the water. So, with swimsuit, hat and large bath towel, I joined the others under a couple of giant umbrellas next to the water. Once I received the sizeable, lemony drink that I ordered, I wandered into the water and sat down in it with only my head and the hand holding the drink above the gentle waves. I was soon joined by most of the rest of the group. We sat in the Mediterranean, chatted and sipped our drinks. What a pleasant way to spend a couple hours before dinner.

When you think about how long people have lived next to the Mediterranean, it is amazing how clear and beautiful the water is. The following morning, we visited some of the more famous beaches in and around Marsa Matruh. The first beach was Agiba (Ageebah) Beach. It is a beautiful, turquoise color and is only accessible by a path leading down from the clifftop above the beach. Another beach is called Cleopatra’s Bath. It is rumored to be a beach where Cleopatra and Marc Antony came to bathe.

We headed from there to Rommel’s Cave, which was his headquarters prior to El Alamein. The German General, Erwin Rommel, nicknamed “The Desert Fox”, did not return after El Alamein and left all of his belongings behind. He later commanded the German forces that opposed the Allied landing forces that invaded Normandy. About a month after that, he was implicated in the plot to assassinate Hitler. Since he was considered to be a national war hero, he was given the choice of committing suicide (by a cyanide pill) instead of a trial. He was then given a state funeral with the official reason for his death being that he died from injuries incurred when his staff car was strafed in Normandy.

We had another free afternoon, so we bought some food in town to have lunch down by the water and spend another relaxing afternoon in the Mediterranean (I was actually contemplating paddling around instead of just sitting in the water with a drink). While getting ready to go down to the beach, a big storm came up. No rain, just a lot of wind and sand – an authentic Egyptian sand storm. The umbrellas were taken down quickly and the waves became very choppy. A few hardy souls still tried to gather down on the beach, but seven of the group came to my room.

The rooms were all quite large with sofas and tables and chairs. There was a plastic table with four chairs out on the balcony which we brought inside to allow for seating for eight using the two tables. We hoped it would be a short storm, but it ended up going the rest of the afternoon and all night. It was extremely noisy, so none of us got much sleep. We were all pretty bleary-eyed in the morning.

In anticipation of the trip, I had purchased a couple pairs of light-weight, cotton trousers in a khaki color plus several cotton gauze tops in light colors. I had read that most of the mosques and many of the Coptic churches frowned upon people entering wearing “immodest” clothing. So, I kept cleavage exposure to a minimum and kept the trousers legs and the sleeves of the tops long. I was also trying to keep as much of my fair skin as possible from being exposed to the sun.

Then there were the shoes. I kept those light in color too, but still with great tread on the bottom and lots of comfort. Due to having issues with my left foot, I wear a great deal of bracing inside my shoe and often an additional brace on my foot and ankle. I knew I would need to remove my shoes at mosques and possibly other places as well. So I wore the brace on my foot and carried my collapsible cane whenever that was a possibility. I also had a couple of cotton gauze scarves to cover my head. How did I know about all of this? I not only read about it in guide books, but it was in the information that came with my tour documents.

The day after the sand storm, we went to visit the Saint Macarius the Great Coptic monastery in Wadi el Natrum. We were warned the prior afternoon. But several people on the tour did not bring anything other than tank tops and shorts and had nothing for their heads. They were denied entrance to the monastery (at the mosque in Cairo, those who were inappropriately dressed where given long robes with which to cover up, but the monastery didn’t provide anything, they just didn’t let them in). About half of us went in while the rest of the group cooled their heels in a covered area just inside of the grounds.

The monastery had been founded in 360 AD. We visited the tiny original 4^th century church and the 7^th century church. As anticipated, we needed to remove our shoes in both churches. Back when the 7^th century church was being restored in the 1960s, bones which they claim belonged to John the Baptist and Elisha the Prophet were found in a 1^st century crypt beneath one end of the church. They were reinterred in a tomb in that church near the entrance to the crypt. Didn’t get to see the bones, but we saw he tomb. We also saw the entrance to the crypt.

Once we left the monastery, we headed back to Cairo (with another fresh bodyguard) and arrived late in the afternoon. We made a visit to the Khan-el-Khalili bazaar. This maze of shops, stalls and coffeehouses was built in the 14^th century on the site of a prior mausoleum. It seemed to me that a person could get lost in the labyrinth and never be heard from again. I was very careful to go in pretty much a straight line and not wind around too much so I could keep my bearings. It was so overcrowded with things and people that it was very difficult to keep track of other people in the group. Most of us made it back to the tour coach by the right time. There were a couple of stragglers, however, that our Tour Director went on a brief hunt for until we needed to leave. Fortunately we saw them waiting for us in the wrong place before we completely departed the area.

That night we went to a Sound & Light show at the Pyramids. It was basically the history of ancient Egypt and the Pyramids and Sphinx with projections against various walls and lots of different colored lights. It was a very late night as we didn’t get back to the hotel (which was next to the airport) until 10:30pm. I managed a couple hours of sleep before getting up at 1:30am to get ready for the flight to Aswan.

 

Founded in 332 BC by Alexander the Great, Alexandria became the capitol of Egypt for nearly 1,000 years. Due to wars and earthquakes, very little of the ancient city survives. The even more ancient city of Heracleion, a predecessor of Alexandria, has recently been found under the water of the Mediterranean not far from Alexandria (to the northeast). Just off the coast of Alexandria, the palace of Cleopatra has been discovered. Plans are underway to create an underwater museum. Both Alexander and Cleopatra were reportedly interred somewhere in Alexandria. But neither one has been found as of yet.

Cleopatra was thought to have been born in early 69 BC and reigned from 51 BC to 30 BC. The legends about Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, as well as Cleopatra and Marc Antony, and even her death appear to have been based in truth. She did have a son by Caesar in 47 BC whom she named Caesarian. Cleopatra met Marc Antony in 41 BC and had three children with him – fraternal twins Alexander Helios & Cleopatra Selene II, and Ptolemy Philadelphus. Caesarian was the last Pharaoh of Egypt. He was executed by Octavian (who became Emperor Augustus of Rome) shortly after his mother died. It is said that Cleopatra took her own life (either in her palace or her tomb) either by the bite of a venomous snake or via an injection of snake venom with a needle. No snake was found near her body when it was discovered, but she had puncture wounds on her arm that could have been caused by a needle.

Our hotel overlooked the Mediterranean and was across the street from the Royal Palace. The heat was rising. In addition to cold bottled water, I also drank as many lemon-flavored drinks as I could. Lemon is helpful in the heat. The hotel had fresh squeezed lemon squash at dinner. By this time, the temperature was roughly 104° F (40° C).

The day we arrived in Alexandria, several Italians and Germans, one Romanian, and eight Egyptians were kidnapped while camping on safari near the Sudan border west of Aswan. We were going to be flying to Aswan in a few days and then drive to Abu Simbel, which is about 12 miles from the Sudan border.

The Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt (of which Cleopatra was one) were Greek instead of Egyptian. The dynasty was begun with Alexander the Great and ended with the death of Cleopatra’s son, Caesarian. The Greeks honored Egyptian ways and Egyptian gods. But the Romans insisted on the Egyptians converting to Roman ways and treated them poorly. Cleopatra’s three children by Marc Antony were taken to Rome. Nobody’s certain what happened to the two boys. But the daughter was married off and became the Queen of Mauretania. Her son would be executed by Roman Emperor Caligula in 40 AD.

Our first expedition the following morning was to the Alexandria Catacombs, which date from 331 BC to 31 AD. These catacombs (Kom El Shoqafa) are considered to likely be the oldest in the world. We entered the catacombs by going down a circular stairway around what appeared to be a large airshaft. The “airshaft” had openings to the stairs. Turns out that the shaft was for lowering the bodies down. At the bottom, was a chamber with some really interesting carvings, incorporating a mixture of Egyptian, Greek and Roman styles. It isn’t large, but it is very unique.

The next stop was Pompey’s Pillar. According to the Egyptologist we had with us, the pillar was actually erected by Ptolemy II to honor his father, Ptolemy I, who followed Alexander the Great as the second Greek ruler of Egypt. The column is flanked by two sphinxes – one dedicated to Alexander the Great, and the other to Ramses II (Ramses the Great). We hung around long enough to be able to walk up the hill to the monument.

Normally on my travels, I wear a baseball cap. It usually works well to keep the sun off of my face and the top of my head. It also works well when it is raining, to keep the rain off of my face and allow me to continue to take photos. For Egypt, I used a Tilley hat (from Canada). It has a rim all the way around, is vented, and is the type of hat that the archeologists wear. I also upped my 35 spf sunblock to 85 spf. It all worked fine as I did not burn at any point, despite all of the time I spent in direct sunlight. Of course I hid in the shade whenever I had the option. With my fair, freckled, Celtic and English skin, I don’t take chances.

The original Alexandria library was created by Ptolemy I and was burned down several hundred years later, losing thousands of ancient documents. The current library is located not far from where the original was and has room for roughly eight million books. The books it contains are in three languages – English, French and Arabic, which are the main languages spoken in Egypt. The library also contains four museums, four art galleries and a planetarium in addition to a conference center and specialty libraries of maps and multimedia. At the time of our visit, it had about 600,000 volumes.

One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was the Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria. Destroyed by earthquakes in the 11^th and 14^th centuries, the lighthouse was replaced by the Qait Bey Citadel (on the same spot and built from the stones used for the lighthouse) in the 15^th century. After taking a photo from a distance, I walked to it so I could touch the stone walls. The Great Pyramid at Giza is the only one of the Seven Wonders that still exists intact. But touching the stones from the lighthouse meant two of the seven I could touch. I have since visited the locations of three others.

That evening, the five of us (me, Janet, Phiroza, Sue Ling and Irene) went out to dinner. Before we ate, we went fora  walk in the part of Alexandria near the hotel. We wanted to just explore on our own and see a little of the town and the people.

The next day, before leaving Alexandria for Marsa Matruh and parts of Egypt further west along the Mediterranean, we went across the street to see the Montazah Palace complex. It is a very large complex with gardens, various palace buildings, and hotels. It was the summer palace of the kings of Egypt from the 1800s to King Farouk, who died in 1952. The main palace building was not open to the public at that time (I understand it is now), so we just looked at it through the gates. It has its own harbor, including its own lighthouse.

I saw a television program not too long ago in which an amateur archeologist is searching for the tomb of Cleopatra in the temple complex of Taposiris Magna, roughly 25 miles west of Alexandria. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if she found it?

Every once in a while, I go on a trip that fits in the category of something I have wanted to experience my entire life. For many of the years that I had been able to afford to travel, Egypt had not been available through any tour that I could find. Likely part of the reason for that included things like the massacre of 62 people (mostly tourists) on the steps of Hatshepsut’s Temple at the Valley of the Kings in 1997. Then, all of a sudden, in 2008, the tour company I use most of the time had a tour to Egypt!

After the Central Europe tour earlier that year, Mom decided that the Egypt tour would be too much for her. It would be a very physically strenuous trip in very hot weather (about 104F), in late September/early October. So I went on a solo tour to Egypt.

Not only would I be flying to Cairo, but would also be flying from Cairo to Aswan and then Luxor to Cairo later on in the trip for a Nile Cruise. So I bought a new suitcase – a bright purple soft-sided case that was light-weight. I could easily handle it when I needed to and, more importantly, spot it quickly. That really came in handy as we had to identify our cases each morning before they were loaded on the tour bus. I did have to handle it myself at the Aswan and Luxor airports as well as when we left the cruise. Among all the black or red cases, mine definitely stood out.

The hotel was in Giza, near the pyramids. In fact, I could see them from the patio just outside my hotel room. The rooms were clustered into small units with their own entrances and private patios throughout a large resort area which was walled and gated.

Throughout the trip, it was necessary to send whatever bags I had with me through scanning machines at every hotel, tourist venue, and each time we returned to the cruise ship. Most of these machines were ancient. My poor video camera didn’t stand a chance. It died during the trip.

We had a group of twenty five – 10 American, 2 Malaysian, 4 Australian, one from India, 2 from New Zealand and 6 from the UK. I mainly hung out with Phiroza from India, Irene and Sue Ling from Malaysia, and Janet from NYC. I met the four of them our first evening.

Usually on a tour, there is a Tour Director and a Driver. Then we have Local Guides in each location to take us around and show us everything. This trip, we had an Egyptologist with us the entire time, so no need for any Local Guides. We also had a plain-clothes, armed, Security Guard who would be replaced in each city where we stayed with a fresh one.

The next day, we went to the Giza Plateau. The pyramids and Great Sphinx were just as magnificent as I figured they would be. We went to the Khufu pyramid first. This is the pyramid known as The Great Pyramid and is the oldest (roughly completed 2560 BC) and largest of the three — Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure.

We were on the side of the pyramid with an entrance that tomb robbers created. Usually tourists were allowed to go inside, but that wasn’t being allowed at that time. Not sure why. So we went over to the Khafre pyramid to go inside that instead.

This was another time I was glad to be so short. The ancient Egyptians were so much smaller than people are today. Even I was bent over. I wouldn’t recommend going inside to anyone who is claustrophobic.

Khafre was Khufu’s son. His pyramid was the second built. There is evidence that the plan might have been to make it larger than his father’s, but that didn’t happen.

Next came something that I didn’t even know existed – Khufu’s boat. It had been buried in a pit in front of his pyramid and, despite being built of wood (Lebanon cedar), was still intact when discovered in the 1950s. The boat was buried in pieces to be reassembled in the afterlife. It took years to be reassembled and is now displayed in a building in front of Khufu’s pyramid. I just loved seeing a boat that old. So far, it is the oldest I have ever seen.

In front of the Khafre pyramid is the Great Sphinx. With the body of a lion and the head of a man, it looks like it is guardian of the entire area. The face was supposedly modeled on Khafre and was certainly built during his reign. There is a raised area to the left of the Sphinx when facing it, from which we could look at and photograph it, but we couldn’t get close enough to touch it.

There were several men in the area who were trying to sell things to tourists or were taking tourists on camel rides. It wasn’t a great idea in Egypt, even at that time, to admit that you were from the US. So, whenever I was asked, “where you from?” I would say, “Canada.” The reaction was the same every time. There would be a short beat, and then the other person would say, “Canada Dry.” That just made me smile.

To save time spent on lunch, our Tour Director got us all falafel sandwiches to eat on the tour bus en route from the pyramids into Cairo to visit the National Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square (where the Egyptian Revolution took place three years later in 2011). We were also there during Ramadan, so most of the population was fasting.

We also quickly found that Cairo traffic is “every man for himself”. There are no traffic signals, stop signs, or seemingly any rules at all. There is also so much traffic that it pretty much crawls along and takes forever to get anywhere. We had plenty of time to get our lunch eaten before we arrived at the museum.

Ice cold bottled water was kept on the tour bus and was sold to us for 1 USD apiece. I went through three or four of them daily. We were instructed to drink bottled water only and to watch for the bottle to be sealed. This is because the water in Egypt is not drinkable. One can get really ill from drinking it as it contains parasites. It was also suggested that we not get ice cubes in drinks and use bottled water for brushing our teeth too. When we took the Nile cruise later, it was okay to use the water and ice cubes on the ship as the water came from a different source.

The Cairo Museum (with roughly 120,000 items) reminded me of someone’s attic with everything packed in and stacked up. It was only two levels, but like a labyrinth. It would be very easy to get lost. During the riots that took place in the square during the revolution, parts of the museum and some of the contents were destroyed, damaged or stolen. That really upset me as I found the contents to be awe-inspiring. If I were ever to return to Egypt, I would like to spend at least a full day exploring that museum.

When our group entered, we went straight to the Tutankhamun exhibit, which covers a very large area of the upstairs. We weren’t allowed to take photos anywhere in the museum. The amount of items that had been in the tomb was overwhelming. They were packed into a relatively small space. But the space was much larger than the tomb had been. There was a special room for the most precious items from Tut’s tomb, including the gold mask. Since two of his statues were damaged during the revolution, it’s a good thing that the vandals couldn’t get at the mask, gold coffin, jewels, and some of the other completely irreplaceable items.

We then went through several other parts of the museum where we saw statues of Khafre, Khufu, Djoser, Menkaure, Ramses II, various Amenhoteps and Tutmoseses, Tut’s dad Akhenaten, Hatshepsut, Seti I, the Seated Scribe, and loads of other items from all over Egypt. During free time, I made a beeline to the Royal Mummies.

After paying extra (the equivalent of about 25 USD), I was able to gaze upon the actual faces of Seti I, Ramses II, and several other pharaohs. New to the room was female pharaoh, Hatshepsut who reigned from roughly 1478 – 1458 BC. Just the year before my trip, Dr Zahi Hawass had used modern methods to try to identify her body from among three possible candidates. The actual identification came from comparing a space in her mouth from a missing tooth to a tooth contained in one of her canopic jars (jars the held the heart, entrails, and other parts of mummified pharaohs). I had watched the whole drama of the search for her identity unfold on the Discovery Channel and was thrilled to actually see her! Other royals who had not been pharaohs, were in another room nearby and there was a room with animal mummies – cats, goats, crocodiles, and a dog.

That night we had a Nile Dinner Cruise that included belly dancing. Egyptian belly dancing is very different from the belly dancing found in the rest of the Middle East. It is actually more sensual despite the dancers wearing more clothing. There were a couple of male dancers who, at one point, brought me up to dance with them.

We began the next day at the Muhammad Ali Mosque, built in 1848. It is mainly a tourist mosque and was the first mosque I had ever been in. Then we went to Old Cairo. We were told that the street level was 18^th century. We went several steps down to reach the 8^th century. The 7^th century was when the Muslim conquest of Egypt took place. Prior to that, Coptic Christianity (founded in 42 AD by the Apostle Mark in Alexandria, Egypt) was the main religion throughout Egypt.

We went down a few more levels to reach the 4^th century. At that level, we walked to the Saints Sergius & Bacchus Church (also known as Abu Serga), which is one of the oldest churches in Cairo. It was built over the location where Joseph, Mary and the Baby Jesus reportedly lived when they fled to Egypt after Jesus’ birth. We could look down the steps to the 1^st century level, but we weren’t allowed down there.

The next day we set off for Cleopatra’s capitol, Alexandria.

During our 2008 tour of Central Europe, once we left Budapest, we headed directly to Vienna and arrived by lunch. We ate at a lovely place at the foot of Rotenturmstrasse near Schwedenplatz. They not only had good food, but marvelous gelato in a large variety of flavors. Mom wasn’t feeling 100%, so she went on to the hotel with Wence, Esther and Franco while I went on a walking tour of Vienna which began at Hofburg Palace (the Hapsburg’s Former Winter Palace).

The palace was built in the 13^th century and has been expanded several times since. It is currently the residence and office of the President of Austria. The Royal Music Chapel is where the Vienna Boys Choir sings mass every Sunday. The palace is enormous and also includes a riding school for the Lipizzan horses, called the Spanish Riding School. They sometimes put on shows for the public, for which they sell tickets.

From there it was all uphill – literally. At the top of the hill is Saint Stephen’s Cathedral (Rotenturmstrasse takes you down the other side of the hill to where we had had lunch and where the bus was waiting at Schwedenplatz). With its multi-colored tile roof, it is as gorgeous outside as inside. The cathedral was built in the 14^th century over the remains of two earlier churches, which were, in turn, built over a Roman cemetery. The Giant’s Door is named because of the hip bone of a mastodon that was found during excavations when expanding the cathedral in the 15^th century. For quite a while, that hip bone was on display above the door.

I have been to a lot of cathedrals in my travels and Saint Stephen’s remains one of my favorites. It is said that Beethoven realized just how deaf he had become when he saw the birds flying out of the belfry at Saint Stephen’s, but couldn’t hear the bells. Mozart had been named as a music director at Saint Stephen’s shortly before his death. His funeral was held there in one of the side chapels (which isn’t open to the public). There is a catacomb beneath the cathedral with the remains of over 11,000 people which can be toured.

One story that I find amusing was when Emperor Leopold I took an icon of the Virgin Mary with the Baby Jesus from a church in a village and moved it to Saint Stephen’s. This was because the figure of Mary on the icon would cry and miracles were said to be performed. The Emperor said he was taking the icon for safe keeping from the Ottomans who were running around in the area of the village at that time (late 1600s), but he didn’t give it back when the village asked for it. Instead, he sent them a copy. Interestingly, the original hasn’t cried since it has been in its new home, but the copy now in the village cries every once in a while. Hmmm.

That evening, we went to a show at the Kursalon where the Strauss brothers used to give Promenade concerts. The music consisted of Strauss waltzes and Mozart. They also had a couple of dancers. Mom had perked up by that time. Just needed some rest that afternoon.

The next morning, we took a tour at Schonbrunn Palace, which was built by the Hapsburgs in the 17^th century. Most of what you can see was decorated by Maria Theresa in the 18^th century with a small section of rooms redone by Franz Joseph in the 19^th century. The personal belongings of both Franz Joseph and his wife, Elizabeth (called Sisi), are still there as if they are still living there. I really liked this palace because of the personal touches.

After lunch back in Vienna, we departed for Prague in the Czech Republic. The hotel was brand new and we got a little bit lost trying to find it according to the directions we had been given. But, eventually we got there. The hotel was connected to a large shopping mall with several restaurants. Not everything was completed as of yet. There was an underground stop at the shopping mall, which ended up being quite handy the following day.

We started our day at the Svatopluk Cech Bridge, where we were dropped off to explore the Old Town of Prague. Although some cars are allowed on some of the streets in the Old Town, the majority of the thoroughfares are pedestrian only and no big tour buses are allowed period. We were taken on a walking tour of the old Jewish Quarter and over to the 14^th century Charles Bridge.

The Jewish Quarter (Josefov) saw its first occupants in the 10^th century. By the 18^th century, much of the population had moved out, leaving mainly the Orthodox and the poor. In the early 20^th century, some of the oldest parts of the area, with the most narrow, cramped streets, were destroyed.

Construction began on the Charles (Karlov) Bridge in 1357, replacing a 200-year-old bridge that had been severely damaged by floods. It is now a pedestrian only bridge and is lined with copies of the original 17^th century statues, which have been moved indoors to the National Museum for safe keeping.

At the Charles Bridge, some of the group (including Mom) departed for the hotel. They walked down to a nearby square from which they could catch the underground to the hotel. There were about seven of them, including our “guide in training” Esther. Both she and Wence could speak the language. Wence got everyone on the right train and then left them in Esther’s capable hands. One of the men on the trip took Mom by the arm and was her escort. I gave her plenty of money for the train and for some lunch.

The rest of the group was staying in the Old Town for lunch and then would meet Wence back at the first bridge where we had been dropped off to take an afternoon optional excursion to the Prague Castle compound. We walked over to the astronomical clock in the Old Town Square to watch it do its thing.

This very complicated piece of machinery was built in the 15^th century. Legend has it that the clockmaker was blinded after he completed it to make it impossible for him to duplicate it anywhere else. Having great talent back in those days wasn’t necessarily a good thing. There are several animated pieces and figures that are set in motion when the clock strikes the hours. We made sure we were there and able to see it when the time came. A skeleton rings a hand bell while the Twelve Apostles parade by the windows. Then the hour is rung by a larger bell and it’s all over.

Thus contented, we went off to find someplace to eat a light, but satisfying lunch. I found a place with some hearty soup and a half sandwich. I found a shop where I bought a few souvenirs, including a Pilsner Urquell glass for one of my brothers (Pilsner Urquell was the first pale lager, or pilsner, created and is a very tasty Czech beer), then I explored around in more of the Old Town before walking back to the meeting point.

Once we entered the castle precinct, we headed straight for St Vitus Cathedral. The castle is the largest ancient castle in the world. It dates back to the 9^th century and is currently used as the President’s residence as well as for various government offices. Very little of the actual castle is open to the public. We did visit a small part of the castle with some extremely old cellars after the Cathedral.

St Vitus Cathedral began in 930AD under Saint Wenceslaus and was greatly enlarged in the 12^th century. Many of the kings of Bohemia (the area that includes Prague) and Holy Roman Emperors are buried here, as is Wenceslaus himself. He is the subject of the song “Good King Wenceslaus” although he was actually a Duke. His chapel isn’t open to the public, but it can be viewed through the doorway. The cathedral was named after Saint Vitus because Wenceslaus owned a relic of him – his arm. Vitus was himself Italian.

Another saint who has a really cool tomb within the cathedral is Saint John of Napumuk. John had been tortured and thrown from the Charles Bridge back in 1393. The spot where his statue now stands on that bridge is supposedly the spot from which he was thrown. Apparently they fished his body out of the river and then buried it in a tomb of solid silver. He was pretty much venerated as a saint immediately upon his death although there is a controversy as to why he was killed. I prefer the story of him refusing to tell the king what his wife had confessed to him. It has a much more heroic air to it than that he backed a man for abbot that the king didn’t like.

After visiting the old cellars in the castle itself, we toured the Basilica of Saint George. This is the dragon slayer who is considered to be the patron saint of England. He is also quite venerated throughout Eastern Europe and even parts of the Middle East. The church was built in 920 and enlarged in 973 to include an abbey. The baroque façade was added in the 17^th century.

From the church, we walked down the Golden Lane, which is a small, narrow street within the castle walls where, in the 15^th and 16^th centuries, goldsmiths lived and worked. In later days, Franz Kafka stayed at No. 22 for a while. From Golden Lane, we left the castle walls and walked down a long, steep cobbled walkway to where the bus was waiting for us.

Back at the hotel, Mom had snacked on the food we had in the room for lunch and so we had loads of money left for our last night in Prague. We went to one of the fancier restaurants in the shopping mall and splurged. After dinner, we met up with the rest of the group again for a visit to the Strahov Monastery (founded in the 12^th century) to see the view of Prague from there and to sample some of the beer that they brew there.

Our last Bohemian adventure was to visit the Krizikova Fountain, where they put on a show with the lights and water coordinated to music by the Czech composer, Anton Dvorak. The next day, we returned to Germany.