It was a little sad leaving the ship because it was laid back and fun. What would a day in Aswan be without a visit to the dam. There are now 2 dams, the old one and the new one. Not sure if they didn’t get the first one right and had to do it again. Next we stopped at the Philae Temple. It was to be our last temple. I have to admit that I wasn’t really sad about that. It is all so overwhelming that there is noway you can keep track of what you have seen or what has been said about what you have seen. In a way this blog helps with my memory but if I wait to post more than a day, I have a problem with remembering the details. For several people on our trip this is their second trip to Egypt and I can understand why.

The Philae Temple was affected by the Aswan Dam just like Abu Simbel. UNESCO moved the entire temple in 1968 to protect it from eventually being completely covered by water. This temple is dedicated to the goddess, Isis. The temple is on an island and it was a very enjoyable boat ride to get there.

Next was a shopping trip to a perfume factory. They went through an entire presentation on essential oils. They told everyone that the oils were 100% pure and were selling huge liquid quantities of them. They gave massages to people’s aching joints with eucalyptus and they bought like crazy. You all know that I know a lot about essential oils but there was no way these oils were pure. To sell 200 milliliters of a pure oil it would have to be diluted with a carrier oil. It wasn’t any of my business but it was kind of sad to watch this all happening.

Next was off to the new hotel in Aswan that was on an island. We had to take a boat across the Nile to reach it with all our luggage on another boat. A beautiful, modern hotel. Our room had a balcony over looking the Nile.

Peggy and I had dinner on the 13th floor in a beautiful restaurant over looking the Nile.

In bed at 11:00 PM for a 4:30 AM wake-up call for our flight back to Cairo.