Egypt: Our second adventure

I thought a long time before including Egypt in our "beat the heat" summer trips away from Saudi. Normally I think I would have planned a cooler destination but as it's getting closer to our expected end date from Saudi Arabia we are trying to make sure our traveling hits our 'must-do' list as much as possible. Egypt is nice because it's a quick flight and it's cheap, plus with adding Luxor to this list we saw our 'must-do' sights and don't feel like we have to return.

Originally this trip was supposed to be just relaxing and laying on the beach, maybe some snorkeling and swimming but no sight-seeing. I really was going to stick to it! But then...I got an email from our airline suggesting nearby places we should visit and found out that Luxor was only 3 hours away! How could I resist being so close?? I really didn't have a choice. So I last minute planned a couple days in Luxor as a side trip and we had a balanced vacation, albeit a hot balance.

We flew into Hurghada with a quick 40 minute layover in Cairo, luckily quite a few people on our plan were headed there so they held the plane for us. After a drive to the seemingly middle of the desert we arrived at Soma Bay which is a collection of 5 different hotels with restaurants and a really nice spa all together in one gated area. We booked at the Sheraton because we could have direct access to snorkeling right off the beach.

For the next few days we enjoyed the amenities of the resort, we relaxed in the pool, played in the sand at the beach, went snorkeling off the sandbar, and went out on a boat for a snorkeling adventure. It was hot but thanks to a nice breeze it was bearable. Maddy really enjoyed the kids club even though no other kids ever seemed to be there. And we enjoyed some afternoon time to ourselves to catch up on grownup talk and take an occasional nap. We got to use our new GoPro camera finally on our snorkeling adventures and although I don't think anything will ever compare to the Maldives it was still beautiful.

Early Saturday morning we got up and headed to Luxor with a driver and guide. The guide was really informative and it was interesting to hear his perspective about Egypt and world affairs. As were driving along on these seemingly abandoned roads we pull up to a checkpoint where our guide and the police are loudly discussing us in Arabic. I don't speak enough to follow along but I know the word Americans was used multiple times, then on of the officers gets in the front seat of our car. He was serving the role of "tourist police" and escorting us on the drive which we've had happen before it just was a reminder that we were not in Kansas anymore ;-). The road from our resort to Luxor was long and bumpy, silly me expected a highway or something, again forgot where I was! We arrived around 11am and decided to brave Karnak temple before heading to the hotel. It was so hot getting out of the car but I thought we would get used to it. I packed us one water (it was amateur hour really) and loaded down with sunscreen. Of course the entrance to the actual temple is no where near the car lot so by the time we got inside we were all pretty much done. Poor Maddy looked like a beet she was so red and after seeing three people pass out and peeing in a bathroom filled with steaming hot water we decided to admit defeat and retreat. Our poor guide was dealing with the heat a little better then us and even asked if Maddy would whine less if she was a boy (hilarious if you know my adventure loving fearless tomboy). Quite a few people were concerned I was going to pass out on the way out but I wasn't stopping until I made it back to the shade. So, in hindsight, it was a mistake, 117 degrees is too hot under any circumstances. We surveyed the damage which included sunburnt fingers and ears while recovering at our hotel. We told our guide to come back for us after the sun was down.

That evening we ventured back out to visit Luxor temple under the lights, it was still around 100 degrees but at least the sun was down. Luxor temple was as grand as I imagined and I really enjoyed seeing the reliefs built into walls and hearing the stories of Egyptian history. We then headed back to Karnak temple for the lights and sound show. We did the lights and sound show in Cairo when we visited there and it was wonderful, this one was different because you walk through the temple while they illuminate different elements, it was really cool. You finish by over looking the pond where they stored the boats and watching a light show and listening to a narrative. We even got a chance to walk around the beetle statue 7 times counterclockwise and make a wish on our way out. This wish did the trick for Maddy because she found her Minnie mouse right when we got home ;-) Our ride back to our hotel around 11pm really showed us local night life in Luxor, we witnessed tons of people picnicking and two wedding parties out celebrating. Overall we found Luxor to be much more conservative and traditional then Cairo and it was interesting to compare the two.

After the disastrous heat of the previous day we decided to start our time on the West bank at 5:30am.  Project "beat the heat" was underway, we were the first people in the Valley of Kings and after a short trolly ride to the site we were on our way exploring! We got to visit three tombs plus King Tut's tomb which was the only one discovered intact. We were able to finally understand how King Tut's tomb escaped discovery because it was built directly under another tomb and none of the others were designed this way so no one considered digging there. The hieroglyphics in many of the tombs were breathtaking and well preserved in color and design, other areas were destroyed from raiders and one tomb even had ash covering part of the wall where soldiers had a fire burning using the tomb as shelter. Makes you wish that more of the tombs were left undiscovered so you could really enjoy the beauty of the discoveries. King Tut's tomb was especially special for us because we had originally seen pieces of the collection on exhibit in Houston then the full exhibit in Cairo and came full circle by getting to see the tomb and mummified remains in Luxor. Unfortunately no photography is allowed in the valley of kings but seeing it was memories enough. Disclaimer the photos below I stole off the internet, I didn't take any myself. I was amazed how deep some of the tombs were and the different rooms that were created. Our guide told us great stories about the history along with the meaning of the hieroglyphics. Maddy enjoyed the art and stories of enemies portrayed with missing heads, boats carrying pharaohs into the afterlife and the book of the dead portraying the balance scale judging the ruler's heart against the weight of a feather. We were leaving around the time all the large buses were arriving, it was perfect timing.

We visited Hatshepsut burial temple and although it was vast and remarkable in design most of the rooms were destroyed and no actual burial rooms exist any longer. Queen Hatshepsut was one of the famous female ruler of Egypt who posed as a male to gain the throne. We then visited the funerary temple of Amenhotop III where the only remaining pieces are two giant statues, it really gives you a chance to imagine how vast and great this area was originally. We finished our tour with a boat ride on the Nile river back to our hotel. We got to see the great temples from the water and Maddy got to try her hand at driving. We gathered our stuff and headed back to our resort to finish our last couple days of relaxing.

We enjoyed some pool time, some more snorkeling and laying around before it was time to head back to Saudi.

An adventure on the Baltic Sea

Our one family 'fancy night' onboard, I had forgotten that people bring ball gowns and tuxs for cruising! I can't fit that in my carryon!!

In our dating days we decided to take a cruise to escape our busy life, it was a comedy of errors before it even started. We ended up on a longer cruise then we paid for because of the swine flu in Mexico and then had a wild weekend in New Orleans before getting abroad. It was a total disaster and we hated every minute of it. After that we swore we would strictly stick to land based travel. Well when the option of seeing Russia came to mind it left us with something new to consider. In order to get a visa to Russia you have to do a complicated process and pay a large fee, it's tougher because we aren't in our home country. A way around this was to take a Baltic cruise that spent two days in St. Petersburg and you don't have to get a separate visa. So very wearily we booked our second cruise and kept our fingers crossed that it was better then the first.

We decided to spend a couple days in Stockholm, Sweden before boarding our cruise. We arrived in the afternoon and used their beautiful metro lines to reach our cozy apartment in a great family neighborhood. After we got settled in we ventured out to explore the local park, fountains and try some really good Italian food (random I know, the owners family was from a town in Sicily we had visited the month before). After spending time in the Saudi 110+ days we were shocked to be outside in the Swedish "summer" of mid 50's weather. We had grand plans of doing one of our 'big' things that evening but the fact that we had been traveling since 11pm the night before finally caught up to us and we were dead on our feet! We all crawled into bed long before the sun was down and crossed our fingers the next day would be super productive.

Bright and early the next morning we headed out for a tour of Stockholm with a local guide, we walked the old town, saw the castle, saw the bank where the term 'Stockholm syndrome' was from and enjoyed some fun santa, princes marrying playboy models and other local tales. We finished our tour with a Swedish Fika (loosely translated to coffee and snack break) at a bakery that still serves as the royal castle bakery.  It was early afternoon and we decided to head to the Junibacken, a children's museum that is inspired by the work of Astrid Lingred (creator of Pippi Longstocking) and other Swedish children's authors. Although it was a bit pricey it was really worth it! They have an awesome 'train' that tells all the stories of the most famous Swedish children's books, it even goes aerial over some of the scenes, nothing like any train we've ridden before. Then they had adventure rooms, a Pippi Longstocking house along with other fairy tale character houses and a theater. I loved Pippi Longstocking growing up and was so happy to be able to introduce Maddy to the stories. Reading the books to her later it was funny to realize my child is very similar to the 'world be damned' do it yourself Pippi attitude!

One of the plainest palaces/royal residences we've ever seen which was surprising because multiple other buildings were beautiful 

church associated with the castle, where all royal weddings/burials take place 

smallest statue in Stockholm, Maddy wished she could find her Minnie doll 

Viking stone that was built into a building it's verified by being authentic and protected by traffic with the cannon you can see on the left 

Narrowest street in Stockholm 

So maddy has this weird obsession that every time she sees one of these statues she says "thats my dad" and insists on a photo with it, it's weird. 

I couldn't resist a photo with the Pippi Longstocking house, Maddy was too busy playing to pose with me

After the Junibacken we headed to the Vasa Museum which is on the same island and got to geek out seeing a 17th century wooden ship that was rescued nearly fully intact after sinking on it's maiden voyage due to design flaws. They had a cool video explaining the reason it sank and how it was finally excavated. We were in awe seeing the detailed carvings on this beautiful ship and how well preserved it was. They even had an interactive station were you could design your own ship and see if it would float, all our ships sank, good thing we kept our day jobs! When the Vasa Museum closed we grabbed some street food on the way to the ferry and headed to our final activity of the packed day. We did a canal cruise to fully appreciate the Swedish countryside and buildings from the waterways. Thanks to long summer days we were able to enjoy our cruise and have a local dinner before making it back to our apartment at 10:30pm as the sun was finally setting.

After being raised from the ocean the process began to preserve the wood by keeping it sprayed with sea water until they could adequately coat it with polyglycol to act as a sealant 

Color representation of how the ship looked

Amazing wood carving of the back of the Vasa, you can also tell how narrow it was despite adding more height, their fundamental flaw and why it only made it a couple hundred meters before tipping over 

What is the world coming to?

Our #selfiespot photo, we couldn't resist! A lady even offered to take our photo walking by so I had to explain about the selfie spot sticker. 

A submersion device where you trapped air in the cone and used eye holes to peak out, amazing how much this technology has changed 

The next morning we enjoyed some lounge time and fun at the local park before heading to the cruise port to start our journey on the Baltic Sea. Checkin went smoothly and we were on board enjoying a busy lunch and spent some time getting acquainted with the boat while we got underway sailing. I had booked most of our city tours with private companies vs the cruise boat company so we were set on our excursions. Our first port stop was Helsinki, Finland and thanks to a friend that lives there we were able to get some tips on what to see/do on our stop over. Sadly we only had a couple hours in town, we ended up meeting one of the boat staff on the bus and he gave us some tips too. We enjoyed the afternoon roaming around the market, seeing the buildings and trying some reindeer meatballs. Maddy enjoyed the evening in the kids club and we relaxed in the piano bar catching up and feeling like grownups for once ;-)

Although Helsinki itself wasn't as green as I anticipated it had beautiful parks and gardens 

Our next two days were the whole reason we took the cruise, our time in Russia. While we were in Stockholm our guide had told us that St. Petersburg is very European and to not expect it to be really 'Russian experience', she was so right! We choose a small group tour and after meeting our group of 8   and heading through customs (were we got our passport stamped, yay!) we went to the Hermitage museum. This is a museum of collected art, mostly European, from all the Tsars, it's housed partially in the Winter palace which is where the last rein of Tsars lived. It was beautiful and the art was wonderful but it wasn't the experience I thought it would be. Our guide, and it seemed like the people in general don't want to talk much about the history of Russia other then to celebrate the culture that was brought in. I assumed it would be more like visiting Germany and everyone having an opinion about Nazi occupation and the aftermath. Here it was more a feeling of 'this is the beautiful things we have and our beautiful buildings and palaces but were ignoring any other past events', not to say that the buildings and art wasn't beautiful but the story is my favorite part of a new place. After the Hermitage, we headed to the Church of the Split Blood, a traditional Russian Orthodox church, it was breathtaking both inside and out. The inside done completely of tiled mosaics, was an amazing site to view. The story of having the preserved stones where the blood was actually split in an assassination attempt was really interesting. We then visited St. Isaac's Cathedral and Yusupov's Palace, which is known for the murder of Rasputin. The basement has been turned into a re-enactment with life sized figurines of the murder evening. Our guide did a good job telling us the story and importance of it. Maddy really liked the story but was a little leery of the wax-like figurines. We headed back to the ship were Maddy and Trey were going to stay onboard for the evening and I had made plans to go to the ballet. I had a quick turnaround of about 45 min to get changed and get back off the ship so I quickly changed and headed to find something to eat. Luckily I had just enough time to grab something and get to our car to the ballet. I saw Swan Lake in this beautiful theatre and although I feel asleep a couple times in the first act (it was a long day) it was wonderful! We got to enjoy the view of St. Petersburg at night including a bridge and small tower made by Eiffel which the city lights up to flash every hour on the hour like Paris.

 

Winter palace of the Tsars, now part of the Hermitage Museum 

my favorite picture we saw was this Rembrandt, I'm not normally super art inspired but the use of light he used was amazing and so advanced for his time

building opposite the Winter Palace which was once government offices and now is political and private offices, this square is a main gathering place for citizens. It was full of people in the evening when we drove by

most "Russian-like" thing we saw the whole time

inside of the cathedral covered with tiled mosaics, beautiful site

Family pic outside Church of the Split Blood overlooking the canal 

Super random customs sign...any idea why you can't import potatoes into Russia?

It's hard to get used to 8pm at night being so bright, view of our theatre from the outside 

the beautiful theatre where our ballet was 

I snuck a picture of the cast at the end of the show

Day two of our time in Russia we started the morning with a boat ride of the canals to enjoy the views of the city from the waterfront. When planned originally it was planned to be fully accessible by water like Venice and you could appreciate the idea when floating past these buildings. We also were entertained by some interesting stories about Russian folklore and childhood tales. After our boat ride we visited St Peter and Paul fortress and Cathedral. Our next stop was probably my favorite (I know it's weird) was the metro. It's beautiful and clean and modern while still having all these mosaics in the stations that coordinate with whatever that station is for. Some of the entrances look like pieces of art! It was so cool I could have spent the rest of the day just riding to different stops and looking at the mosaics. A couple people didn't think the metro was a worthwhile stop but I put my foot down and said we had to go! So glad I did. We took an hour drive to Tsars Village to visit Catherine's Palace which was completed destroyed during occupation in the 1940s and is still in the midst of reconstruction. The Amber room here, a room with panels built of Amber in different shapes and designs was really interesting. Then we visited Peterhof and walked around the gardens. There are 173 fountains on the grounds of the Peterhof palace including the "tricky fountains", Maddy's highlight for day two for sure! Fountains hidden in shubbs and walkways that would spray spontaneously, Maddy got soaked and was the happiest I've seen her! We took a hydrofoil (like a speed boat that goes up on two skies in the front and glides on the water) back into the city and headed back to the boat. I would write about the views from the hydrofoil which Trey reports were nice but I could not keep my eyes open, I slept all the way back! That evening my energizer bunny was still going strong so she went off to kids club while Trey and I just relaxed and enjoyed some lounge time.

 

this mosaic was at the stop where the sports stadium is, just breathtaking

Mosaic art on the wall at the metro station 

Subway trains that date to the 50's

Oh just some summer (18C) swimming off the back of Peter and Paul's fortress nothing to see here

The bridge built by Eiffel that lights up at night 

Enterance to Peter and Paul's fortress sporting my shiny shirt baby belly

Peter and Paul's Cathedral with the angel on top

Maddy with the wax statue at Peter and Paul's fortress 

Catherine's Palace 

View from Peterhof castle steps, can you imagine looking out the window to that view!

The 'tricky fountains' are hidden along the pathway and then spray in an arch every 30 minutes, we got there just in time!

Maddys final tricky fountain the mushroom which varies in water pressure so you have to find the perfect minute to jump in without getting drenched 

The following day we arrived in Tallinn, Estonia and was meet by our quirky guide and started our adventure. She was probably the most entertaining part of the trip for us, this was her first job, she frequently said things like "well I am only 25", she couldn't drive to save her life and she was super clumsy. All that aside she had tons of knowledge about the city and was really interactive. We enjoyed a walking tour of the Old Town Tallinn followed by a visit to Kalamaja, which is a hipster up-and-coming neighborhood built on an old mining town. We then visited Pirita and Kadriorg were we got to visit the president's house (its amazing how little security there is and how close you can get) and some beautiful parks and gardens.

Inner courtyard between the city walls and the fortress

unique coat of arms in the oldest standing church in Tallinn, you can see how they are 3 dimensional here 

view of Tallinn from above, kinda reminded us of visiting Croatia but not as pretty

Maddy thought this deer statue was beautiful and I promised her I'd put it in our blog

A church that survived occupation by being a museum for atheism, irony much? 

President's residence, no sécurity but the two armed guards at the door. Our guide said if you step on the first step they load their guns, we didn't try it!

An old home, that is now a museum, maddy LOVED the garden because it resembled a maze and she could run through it! 

Our last day of port cities was a visit to Riga, Lativa we had booked a mixed tour here that was part food tour and part walking tour. We also had the need to use the internet to complete an assignment for school. We docked kinda far from town and were bused in and it was pouring rain, to this point we had been really lucky with the weather but I worried our luck was ending. But by the time we got off the shuttle the rain had mostly cleared up and we were able to do 90% of the tour without bad weather. After finding the place we were meeting the guide we headed out to the market for some food tasting. Our guide was a bit full of himself and hipster for the sake of cool but he was alright overall. Another couple on the boat ended up joining us with their 2 year old on what was supposed to be a private tour and their kid was a nightmare. But we got to visit 3 breweries, enjoy some local pastries, fruits and cheese. We timed it well that the rain had just let up so we headed into the city for our city tour, I found Tallinn to much more charming city but I was skewed by this point because we were exhausted. While the guide took the rest of our group off to discover the Art Nouveau area of Riga we decided to split off and find reliable internet. It was a bit of a challenge that involved two restaurants, a town square and one wonderfully accommodating Information center lady who let me use her computer but we got it done! Just in time to catch the final shuttle back to the boat and for the rain to start pouring again.

One of the breweries we visited in the market 

Piece of the old city walls in Riga 

Sadly most of the town was destroyed in the 40s and rebuilt so although the buildings resemble the originals most of it is very new

Our only day at sea was a bit disappointing because it was chilly and raining all day. We had planned to do the water slide and mini-golf but ended up at the indoor pool and indoor games. It was a nice rest day though to transition us back to life in Saudi Arabia. We had an early flight when we disembarked so we carried our luggage off hired an Uber and headed to the airport. Then we were homeward bound!

Pirate Night at Kids Club they put on a show for the parents, she really loved the kids club on board!