#sail boats

[alteredstatesstuff]

sunset view

[rebecca96]

On the other side of the bay, seeing the far view of San Francisco 😎🏙️🌁⛵️

[jttlpgroup]

(via 5092 Dylan 🐬 | 💜💜)

[cpahlow]

[royllowarch]

Fareham Creek by Roy Llowarch Via Flickr: Fareham Creek in Fareham Hampshire. Fareham is a large town of 115,000 people and is north of Gosport and sits between the cities of Portsmouth and Southampton on the south coast of England in Hampshire. William The Conquerors reserve army landed here in 1066. Photo taken with my Canon DSLR but I lost the photo data when I downsized it and I don't know how to stop that happening!?

[nocturnalpicnic]

Liberty bay in winter water color 2023 micheal pontieri

[timmurleyart]

Off the coast of Sardinia. 🇮🇹⛵️💦⚓️

[doctorfriend79]

Tropical Paradise

[ist-das-kunst-oder-kann-das-weg]

[alteredstatesstuff]

sitting on the docks of the bay

[the-cricket-chirps]

Maurice de Vlaminck, Sailboats at Chatou, 1905

Maurice de Vlaminck, White Sailboat at Chatou, 1907

Maurice de Vlaminck, The Seine at Chatou, 1908

[peacefuldwellings]

[sprigara]

Week 21

All work and no play makes my camera roll dull

[kyndaris]

Monuments of the Past

We docked as Aswan during an known moment in the middle of the night. I certainly was not awake for it, although the water in our room temporarily halted and I had to find an alternate method to wash my hands. Thankfully in Egypt, bottled water is aplenty and the only real way to stay hydrated. Anything straight from the tap would be detrimental to both guts and stomach.

Heading back to sleep, I was rudely awoken by an early morning wake-up call and rolled out of bed around 3:15AM in the morning as we needed to drive down to Abu Simbel Temple. Of course, by then, the toilet to the room I shared with Popo were constantly flushing and I was required to find a fix to the problem. I managed it. Somehow. But I can’t say how or why what I did helped. All I know is that it was fixed and we were ready to head down to Abu Simbel. 

From Aswan, Abu Simbel was almost a four hour drive, made more complicated by the fact that the roads were filled with other large coaches, all needing to pass through a police check point.

It was almost 9AM by the time we pulled up at the temple and listened once more to the exploits of King Ramesses II, from how he defeated the Hittites, even though he was vastly outnumbered, to his vainglorious display of his love for his wife. After all, the small temple at Abu Simbel had been built in her honour. 

What we didn’t get to learn, although I did hastily duck inside the visitor centre to read it just as we were leaving, was that the Abu Simbel we saw was not the original Temple in its original location. After the Nile was dammed and a lake formed in the 1960s (more information will be revealed in a future post), the original Abu Simbel was at threat of being flooded. Egyptian authorities requested the assistance of UNESCO to help move the ancient site out of harm’s way. 

And thus, Abu Simbel was able to remain standing and frequented by tourists.

After drinking my fill of both the large Temple that was Ramesses II’s attempt to say that he was as strong as the midday sun (his statue was placed in the centre between the morning Ra and the afternoon Ra), as well as the Small Temple (although the line was so incredibly long), I started to make my way to the meeting point that our guide had indicated. That was until my hat flew off!

Sill me attempted to stop my hat but had forgotten that I was still holding a hefty water bottle in my left hand. As such, I managed to bludgeon myself with a mighty blow. There was no blood but it still hurt like the Dickens. And, of course, the blow sent me into a panicked anxiety-fuelled spiral. There I was, in the middle of Abu Simbel, wondering if I had suffered extensive brain damage, concussion or possible memory loss.

Let it be known, dear readers, that sometimes it doesn’t pay to read too many articles about sport-related head injuries and their consequences. While a little bump to the noggin can lead to long-term health complications if you’re unlucky, not every light tap will. And even if it did, well, there sin’t much I can do about it now, is there? The deed is done. Just learn to be careful for next time? Or live in a protective bubble!

Regardless, despite my best attempts to stay awake on the drive back to Aswan (for fear of concussion), the comforting rocking of the coach and the early start to the day had me falling asleep in mere minutes.

Once we arrived back at the Jaz Celebrity cruise ship, I had a quick lunch and barely any rest before boarding a sail boat to enjoy a lazy afternoon on the waters of the Nile river.

We then boarded ANOTHER vessel whilst on the water and headed to a distant Nubian village. And what a sight it was! The settlement was a myriad of different colours and the locals rode around on camels and motor vehicles alike. They also kept crocodiles in their own houses. 

It should also be noted that the Nubians also have their own spoken language. After learning my numbers and the Arabic alphabet (which I promptly forgot soon afterwards), we also learned how to say them in basic Nubian (which I also forgot). Afterwards, we enjoyed some tea and snacks at a local Nubian house, which was just as colourful as the other buildings we had seen. But instead of traditional floorboards or carpet, the Nubians liked to coat their floor with sand. 

As some of the tour members rested, including my grandmother, I and a few of the others left to wander the streets. I even bought a simple dress for my mother at a local stall before we returned to our cruise ship by motor boat.

Later, my grandmother was able to celebrate her birthday according to the lunar calendar and we all enjoyed some cake!

And so ended our third last day in Egypt. It was hard to believe that our time in this land of ancient mysteries was finally coming to an end.

[nocturnalpicnic]

lake Union and swimmer 2023 water color michael pontieri