We left the hotel at 4:30 am. The hotel fixed us a breakfast bag with bread and cheese. We got to the airport in good time (despite the guide knocking down our door at 4 am). SO many security checks!!! I lost track. The most we have been through hands down. It was Leesie's turn to throw up at the airport. :( 1 hour flight to Aswan.

Our tour guide today was a woman (Basma)! Cool! She was a little harder to understand, but we could understand most things. She is Nubian (ancient people from here). She told us the Nubian love to wear gold (this region has a lot of gold). They have their own language (Nubian) and they speak Arabic. Their wedding celebrations last 40 days! She quickly taught the girls a new word: "Yalla bina" meaning "let's go!". She used that a lot in the couple hours we were with her! :D

We went straight from our flight to The High Dam (built 1960). The old dam "The British Dam" was overworked, so this one was built with a loan from the Soviet Union; so there stands a monument of friendship. On the other side of the dam is the biggest man-made lake in the world- Lake Nasser. It is quite beautiful. There is a Temple that was covered by water when the dam was built, that has since been moved to higher ground nearby. The British Dam now provides electricity for Aswan, while the High Dam provides electricity for the rest of Egypt!

Next we went to the Philae Temples. These were so fascinating to me! They were built on Philae Island (hence the name), but because of the dam, were underwater for around 70 years. They built a small temporary dam around it, siphoned the water out, and brick by brick (wrapped in rubber) they moved them to the Island of Agilica - where they stand today. This process took 4 years. We took a little boat out to Agilica and got to see the Ancient Roman ruins. The boat ride was quite exciting as we got to play bumper boats on the way in and out of the ports! Turns out they drive the same way in boats as they do cars. :) Basma was so very versed in all the depictions and etchings. After Leesie felt done, I had to ask Basma to skip some and do the short version. Peter and I decided she must not have kids, because her short version didn't seem very short, but we had fun and Leesie persevered and we enjoyed the cute little island. We asked for an early lunch for the kids sake, but she said lunch today was right after the tour on the cruise ship (and no food places nearby). We had a freeze-dried apple snack, but everyone was still hungry. We got to the cruise ship and checked in and then went straight to the dining room. We were told earlier we could eat at 1 pm, but they asked us for more time. Peter wasn't having it. We were all super tired and cranky and hungry. Finally Peter just told us to just go help ourselves to the buffet - at this moment I was so grateful for his ability to ignore the rules! I was able to speak with the chef, who was very kind and helpful. And this is the first place Clara has been able to have dessert (darn hazelnuts in everything!)! She was thrilled to say the least and enjoyed several! :D

We had mandatory nap time. I couldn't stop coughing (not again!) and felt ill, but everyone else was able to rest which was a Godsend. We have 2 cabins (2 beds each), so the girls get to share beds again. They have been pretty good about that even though it's not a favorite. The last several nights Addy has talked/yelled in her sleep- so funny! It's always interesting to hear what her dreams are about the next morning! Her most said word is "Stop!!" Haha.

We explored the ship a little and then had some down time. They don't serve dinner until 8 pm!

Favorite things:
Emma: My favorite thing was the boat ride today.
Clara: My favorite thing was the boat ride to the island.
Leesie: I learned they built the dam and cut the building into pieces and it took four years to put back together.
Addy: My favorite thing was I really liked seeing the friendship monument. I thought that was really cool.
Kathy: My favorite thing was learning about how they moved the Temples of Philae and taking the little boat ride out and back.
Peter: My favorite thing was the nap. I thought it was comical to see the boats. I also liked seeing the island structures.