Little Stars

Sarah Shepherd just gave me a heads-up about a Luxor-based charity that looks like it's worth our support:

http://www.littlestars-luxor.org/index.html

Check it out!

Truth in Advertising!

Man cannot live by bread alone, but women can do a pretty good job!

The baguette was warm and we had torn off chunks to devour even before we had left the boulangerie parking lot!

A Day in Paris...

I had one quick and very full day in Paris, before heading to Blois today. Here are some of the highlights!

I got a chance to watch the leaders in the Paris Marathon as they passed my hotel (Hôtel de la Porte Dorée) in the 12th:

And then there were all the others!

By Métro over towards the Musée Jacquemart André with a walk along Boulevard Haussmann. Doors, shop windows and "publicité":

The museum, the exhibition (Le Crépuscule des Pharaons) and lunch in the restaurant were all superb, as usual! The show was a great reminder of how beautiful many of the artifacts from the Egyptian Late Period are. Do go if you're in Paris before July 22.

Then by Métro to the Hôtel de Ville, where I had hoped to see the Doisneau show, forgetting that the Hôtel is closed on Sundays! Not wanting to go underground again quite yet, I strolled along the Seine and up to Bastille where I grabbed another train back to my hotel.

Charming period dresses for little girls

After some R & R back at the hotel, I hopped back on the Métro and rode all the way across Paris to Invalides/Tour-Maubourg because, thanks to the heads-up from my friend Andrea (Merci mille fois!), I had purchased a ticket to the 3D spectacle titled "La nuit aux Invalides" which was running from April 11 to April 18. I had not been to the Hôtel des Invalides since the summer of 1972, during my first visit to France. We had to stand outside the cour d'honneur for almost an hour before we were admitted for the show and I have a few pictures of the exterior of the hôtel:

The spectacular "spectacle" covered its history from its establishment by Louis XIV through the Napoleonic era and into the 20th century. Astonishing images which are quite impossible to describe adequately! Here is a video which demonstrates a little of what we experienced:

I had purchased the ticket which included a "visite" to the dome des Invalides, where Napoleon's tomb is located, after the show. Some images:

Yes, that's liquid nitrogen! Quite atmospheric...

All in all, a full and fulfilling first day in Paris! Also an exhausting one...

To the West and Back Again...

A friend and I headed over to the West Bank after work today for an art show "opening" (great work, Fay!), good conversation and lovely dinner at the Marsam Hotel/Sheikh Ali's. On the ferry headed west:

And on the ferry headed east:

I will miss these magical vistas when I leave Egypt for the summer (Saturday).

Spring "Rainy Season"!

It rained several times today, but I missed every one! Last library day of the season had me tied to my desk. But there were some lovely thunderheads over CH just before 6 p.m.

Belated Happy Easter!

Sorry for the delay, but now I have two great photos taken by Tina with which to pass on my greetings. Buttons was obviously working very hard to get the decorations ready!!

Pyramid Scheme Part 2a: Dahshur

One more pyramid field to conquer, and so I did on the 27th of March with a fascinating visit to Dahshur. We started the day with breakfast at Mena House and one more Giza pyramid photo, this time complete with red rose! (I would love to have these "dangles" to put in my windows...)

Coincidentally, our guide-for-the-day's name (courtesy of Egitalloyd) was "Mena"! We headed for Dahshur first thing, saving Saqqara for later in the morning. I was "blown away" as they say, especially since I was at liberty to appreciate these monuments without being hassled by touts. The only reason there were quite a few people at the Red Pyramid was the arrival of five busloads of kids from a German language school. They were amazingly well-behaved, much better than some adults I know!

We did a clockwise circuit of the Red Pyramid and these are a few of the photos I took:

The Bent Pyramid in the background 

The Bent Pyramid at a distance

Looking north towards Saqqara -- the large pyramid on the left is the Step Pyramid 

Lining up! 

Moi and kids at the Red Pyramid

And on to the Bent Pyramid:

Moi (obviously!) at the Bent Pyramid

Some less-than-successful silliness: Moi "patting" the Red Pyramid!

The Black Pyramid from the Bent Pyrami 

Camelback security at the Bent Pyramid 

The Black Pyramid

The Red Pyramid (l.) and the Bent Pyramid

A sphinx-like "face" on the Bent Pyramid

For more information about the pyramid field at Dahshur:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahshur
http://pymd.com/Pyramids-of-Sneferu.htm
http://egyptphoto.ncf.ca/Dahshur.htm

To be continued...

"Virtual Tours" Over Giza and More Photos

Cool! Check it out:
http://www.airpano.ru/files/Egypt-Cairo-Pyramids/start_e.html

And some more of my shots from my afternoon on the plateau:

Detail from the Royal Rest House next to Khufu