David and Yanmei

May 29, 2015May 29, 2015

Zurich

We were going to take it easy today, to relax after Egypt, but we ended doing quite a lot. We're staying in a town called Thalwil, which is a suburb of Zurich located on the west bank of Lake Zurich. Zurich downtown is located at the northern tip of the lake. The house we are in has a great view.

I seem to have lost my ability to sleep in because I woke up early as usual even though I was very tired from the previous day of travel. First we went to a nearby grocery store to get a few supplies. The morning weather was lovely, clear, cool fresh air and sunny.

After breakfast we decided to take the ferry to Zurich. The ferry was scheduled for 9:50am and we planned to leave the house at 9:20am, but somehow ended up leaving at 9:30am. This resulted in us running a good portion of the way to the dock, luckily it was all downhill. We made it with about 30 seconds to spare, and fortunately you buy your ticket on board.

When we got to Zurich we headed a few blocks in to where there was a free city walking tour at 11am. There ended up being a large crowd of people for the tour. I guess that is what happens when you are one of the top ranked things to do in Zurich on tripadvisor.com and free.

The tour was pretty informative. I like this more than just wandering around ourselves because you get little tidbits and anecdotes about the locations that otherwise you wouldn't necessarily know about. One thing that surprised me was our guide said women only got the right to vote in Switzerland in 1971. Seems a little late for a country that is supposed to be a human rights advocate.

Zurich was actually governed by women in the 11th to 14th centuries when the abbess of Fraumünster abbey was the ruler. She was overthrown by an alliance of trade guilds when they became powerful. The 13 guilds and their guild houses remain today, and although they no longer have monopolies the guild families remain wealthy and influential.

Clock tower on St. Peter's church from Lindenhof hill

A guild house with guild flag, opposite Starbucks

After the tour we went to a restaurant called Hiltl for lunch. It was recommended by our Bnb host as well as the tour guide. It is a vegetarian restaurant that has been in business since 1898. They have a buffet or a la carte, and we decided on the buffet, which was quite extensive. The food was very good.

After lunch we decided to go up Uetliberg mountain, which is a small mountain overlooking Zurich. It was about a 20 minute train ride and then a 15 minute hike to the top. The view was pretty spectacular.

Finally we took the train back to Thalwil.

-David

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May 27, 2015May 27, 2015

Out of Africa

Tuesday we flew from Luxor back to Cairo. Originally we'd planned to take a train for that leg too, but it is much longer, about 9 hours, so we changed our minds. I'd previously taken advantage of having internet access while in South Korea to book the flight from Luxor to Cairo so we didn't need to take the train.

Wednesday we had our flight from Cairo to Zurich, Switzerland. The full heatwave hit Cairo and it was 114F when we left. It was a pleasant 61F in Zurich. I think Yanmei was happy to be out of Egypt. As the plane started descend to Zurich, she looked out the window and announced she likes here more. We were still at 25,000 feet. 🙂 Our flight was late so we didn't see much of Zurich today, we'll explore tomorrow

This concludes the planned parts of our trip. We have no further flights booked, although we'll need to book the flight to Canada soon before it gets too expensive. We're considering skipping Iceland now. Yanmei's Schengen visa is good for 41 days, and that includes Iceland, so if we don't go there we have more time in mainland Europe. We have Eurail passes for traveling around Europe by train. Now we are hoping to just float around, if we like a place, stay longer, if not move on.

-David

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May 27, 2015May 27, 2015

Luxor, West Bank

I arranged for a tour of the West Bank of the Nile for Monday morning at 8am. The sun sets in the West so ancient Egyptians considered that side for the dead. I really hoped Yanmei would come, but she felt sore and tired. Also she does not like tombs.

First we went to the Temple of Hatshepsut. The temple was extensively restored in the early 20th century by a Polish expedition. This is the same Queen I mention in my previous post about Karnak. Her temple was partially destroyed by her son, and several of her images were chipped out. Others he replaced her name with his. How could he do this? Well to rule in 1500 BC she portrayed herself as a strong man in the pictures, even including a beard in some of the images. My guide said that she wore a fake beard in public ceremonies. Of course the people knew she was a woman, so it wasn't a disguise, it was that she wanted to show she could do anything a man could do.

Inner room with many of her images chipped out. Also notice the blue starry roof. Amazing that these pictures are over 3500 years old.

Panorama, unadorned tombs for the workers in the mountains

A funny thing is Hatshepsut is portrayed as slender and beautiful, although with a beard. She made a record of her expedition to the land of Punt, and in the inscription the queen of Punt is portrayed as fat and ugly, haha. However Hatshepsut's mummy has been found and it turns out she was very fat herself.

After the temple we went to the Valley of the Kings. They have a strict no photos rule there. This actually worked out okay, because I forgot to recharge my camera's battery, so it was almost dead by this point.

A regular ticket to the valley lets you enter three tombs of your choice, among the ones that are open to the public (about 10 of the 63 known tombs). The tombs were built between 1500 and 1000 BC. I went into the ones my guide recommended, which were KV6, KV11 and KV14. The numbers represent the order of discovery. All the lower number ones have been open since antiquity. King Tut's tomb is KV62, but it is small. My guide told me when the king is crowned he starts construction of his tomb, so the longer the reign the more elaborate the tomb.

The interesting thing is when the king dies they stop work on the tomb, mummify him and seal the tomb. So the tombs are not complete. KV14 had the best example of this. The chambers near the entrance were fully complete and engraved and painted, then deeper in the walls are carved but not painted, then smooth walls with lines drawn on where they planned to carve the figures and hieroglyphics, and finally a rough hewn tunnel to start the next chamber. Really interesting stuff, and also amazing preserved for being 3500 years old. Of course they were all looted except for King Tut's tomb. The tombs have high ceilings and wide corridors so they don't feel claustrophobic.

After the Valley of the Kings, we stopped at the Colossi of Memnon, so named by the Greeks. They are actually 3350 year old statues of pharaoh Amenhotep III. They are 18m tall and weigh an estimated 720 tons each. The north one (right of me in the picture) was severely damaged in the 27BC earthquake. The upper body fell off and the lower part cracked. The crack caused the statue to make a noise when the wind was correct. It became known as the singing statue. About 200 years later the Romans repaired and restored it, which is why it looks like it is made of several blocks, because it is. The restoration sealed the crack so it stopped singing.

Finally I went back to the hotel where Yanmei was having breakfast although it was actually lunch time. After the meal we relaxed for a while and rested. We spent some time near the pool on the bank of the Nile.

I think we're both a little tired of Egypt and we are looking forward to Europe.

-David

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