Hamish also enjoyed his stay at the Winter Palace Pavilion

We had a small extra passenger with us this year - Hamish the Heilan' Coo (translation for the non-Scottish - Highland Cow) and he too enjoyed his stay at the Winter Palace Pavilion

Hamish quickly secured a little bit of Egypt to be known as 'Little Scotland' for two weeks!!

A very brave Hamish perched on the balcony

Hamish had to sit down after perching on the balcony!!

Remember to take high factor sun screen on holiday to make sure you don't burn in the sun

Be safe at the pool and adhere to the guidelines (see below)

Be sure to keep within the rules of the pool

Sunday 9th October

Our last day was here!!  The holiday had passed so quickly, especially since the arrival of Suzie and her mum, Mr and Mrs KV-Exlporer and Mr and Mrs Bob 62, but I was so grateful that it had been a busy holiday after having received the terrible news about my aunt's death at the beginning of the holiday.  All of these guys, and my hubby and friends helped me through those first days and I will always be grateful to them for that.

Needless to say, after such a hectic holiday, which is unusual for us in Luxor as we normally spend our time relaxing at the pool, we spent our last day at the pool and I made a start on the packing.  For some reason, it was a nightmare this year - it all came with me so it surely must all fit back in the cases!!  I hadn't really bought very much and, in any case, there should have been some room as I had brought presents out for the family we visited.  Eventually, it was done!!

I'll include more photos here of the Winter Palace pool and grounds just to show you why I love it here so much!!

Tonight was to be our farewell dinner over on the West Bank at the Nile Valley Hotel.  We all met on the front terrace of the Winter Palace Hotel then walked along to the ferry point to meet Mr and Mrs Bob62.  One more 'must do' tonight was to try and get photos of the West Bank with the Theban Hills illuminated.  I had been here for two weeks and had never yet captured them!!  They look lovely all lit up but I don't think they seem as bright as I have seen in other photos.

We all clambered aboard the motor boat to be taken over to the West Bank but, in the middle of the crossing, the boat captain allowed KV-Explorer to take the helm!!  This was not a good idea - he had us spinning round in circles so that we were all dizzy, but it did get the evening off to a good start as we were all laughing our socks off!!

After a nice meal, I surprised Bob62 with a Scottish tea towel as a memento of the holiday and to make sure that when he was drying the dishes when he got home he would remember us all fondly!!!  I won't repeat here what he said to that, but it also got KV laughing as well - however that soon stopped when I presented him with a Scottish tea-towel too!!!  All in all it was an excellent end to the holiday with good food and great company with memories that I shall treasure.

Looking over to the East Bank

After our journey back over the Nile back to the East Bank, we all said our goodbyes and went back to the hotel for an early night as we were up early in the morning for an early pick-up to be taken to the airport for our journey home.

I went to bed with a heavy heart that night.

Friday 30th September

Woke up to another lovely sunny day in Luxor and spent most of the day at the pool, so there's not much to say about it really!! Here's another photo that shows why we just love the pool here

Panoramic view of the shallow pool that surrounds the pool bar

Lunch was again spent at the local cafe - here's a view from the ground this time

Dappled shade in the cafe

That night we walked to the Lantern, which is hosted by Debbie, and where we had a lovely meal.  On the way back to the hotel we stopped off for a coffee and then had a nightcap on the balcony before setting the alarm for 5.30 a.m. - it was to be an early start to the day for our travels to Abydos and Dendera, which I was really excited about.  I had travelled to Dendera in the past, but never to Abydos, so this was going to be special!!

Tuesday 27th September

This was to be a very sad day for me as it turned out, but more of that later.

We basically spent most of the day relaxing at the wonderful pool area of the hotel, enjoying the sunshine in this little oasis in the middle of Luxor!!  Here's a little taste of what the pool area looks like

I have taken loads of photos around the hotel so will also be posting them to Webshots once I get a bit of time to myself, and will probably post more here too as I get through the days!

We went to a local place, El Kababgy, for lunch today which lies on the banks of the Nile, but it was quite poor and nothing like the place it used to be. It appears that because there aren't many tourists around, there are no stocks of food etc., and when they do get someone wanting to eat, they go out and buy the ingredients to make up the order - all of that makes for a very SLOW service.  needless to say, we didn't go back to eat there at all, which is a shame as they would have probably had our custom almost every day for two weeks!!

At night we walked along the back streets of Luxor (El Medina Street) and experienced no hassles whatsoever.  In fact everyone was very friendly and we felt completely safe as we normally do when in Luxor.  We were just a little more apprehensive and vigilant than normal after reading lots of negative comments regarding Luxor after the 'revolution'.  We ended up at the Taste of India in 'Little Britain' and had a decent meal and a couple of drinks before heading back to the hotel for our usual nightcap on the balcony.

Just after arriving back at our room my mobile phone rang and on answering it was my dad to let me know that my aunt Alice had died very suddenly.  That was a pure and utter shock to the system as I had only just seen her on Sunday before we travelled to Luxor.  All I can say is thank goodness I had both my mobile phone and netbook with me on holiday so that I could help my parents arrange things in my absence.  So, to all of you people out there who think it's a bit sad taking netbooks and phones on holiday, I can tell you they were both a Godsend to me.  In my aunt's memory, I'm going to post her photo here.  She would have loved the fact that she was 'on the internet'!!  She was 80 but didn't look that age and certainly didn't act that age - she was more like a 16 year old and lived life to the max!!

Alice Whitehead Robertson MBE 1931 - 2011

Death is nothing at all
I have only slipped away into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other
That we are still
Call me by my old familiar name
Speak to me in the easy way you always used
Put no difference into your tone
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed
At the little jokes we always enjoyed together
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was
Let it be spoken without effort
Without the ghost of a shadow in it
Life means all that it ever meant
It is the same as it ever was
There is absolute unbroken continuity
What is death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind
Because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you for an interval
Somewhere very near
Just around the corner
All is well.
Nothing is past; nothing is lost
One brief moment and all will be as it was before
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

Monday 26th September - journey to Luxor

The long awaited day had arrived.  The day we were to travel to my 'second home' - Luxor!!  (There were four of us, my husband and I and our friends)

Being in Scotland, it's a bit of a long journey but this time we had booked with Kuoni who had handled the internal flights as well as the scheduled Egyptair fight from Heathrow and, as a special treat, we had booked into the Servisair lounge for some rest and relaxation prior to the flight.  I wasn't too happy wth Kuoini however when we got to Edinburgh Airport as we weren't able to book our hold luggage straight through for the Luxor flight so had the hassles of picking up baggage when we got to Heathrow, but that was all forgotten once we were eventually in the air and on our way!!

The flight wasn't too bad actually with quite a lot of leg room on the flight and, the encouraging thing was that the flight was quite busy and more tourists arriving is exactly what's needed after the recent troubles.

I'm not quite sure where we were, but here are some photos of some mountains and the sunset on our way to Luxor

 

We arrived in Luxor in the dark, which was a new experience for us, but the heat that hit us when we disembarked was not a new experience, and it was very welcome!!  We already had our Visas but was very surprised when the Kuoni rep directed people to the bank kiosks for their visas, unlike the the other holiday company reps who try to squeeze as much money out of the tourists as possible!  It was then onto the bus and off to the Winter Palace Pavilion.


We had been told that an upgrade to the Old Winter Palace was very likely as the Pavilion had been closed but, on our arrival, the Pavilion had just been re-opened and the anticipated upgrade never happened.  However, we were very pleased (as always) with our Pavilion rooms - here's a wee peek at ours (3009)

It was a lovely refurbished room and was very comfortable.  After a long tiring day travelling, it was just lovely to be back in Luxor to relax.  The men were sent to the supermarket for 'supplies' and I done some unpacking before a little nightcap on the balcony!!

There was one little panic however - I discovered that the adaptors I had brought with me and that I'd been using for years in Luxor, now did not fit the sockets in the newly refurbished rooms!!  Looking around I saw that the TV and fridge were plugged into the new sockets by the use of small adaptors, so I unplugged the TV as we don't really use it anyway, and used the adaptor so I could re-charge my phone.  Here is a photo to try and show the difference - we quickly discovered that these adaptors were being sold in Arkwright's supermarket and were also available on loan from reception

My own adaptor (European two pin) at the top and the new adaptor at the bottom

The adaptors for sale in Arkwrights plug into the new sockets and will take the European two pin as shown, and also the square three pin UK plug and the UK two pin round plug.  It probably takes others as well - here is a photo of the front of the plug so you can see for yourself

I was back in my 'second home' and immediately felt an overwhelming sense of peace!!