Goodbye & Hello

Holiday Greetings!

Threshold to Cleopatra's mausoleum discovered off Alexandria coast

Read the Guardian article here. I love that they use a photo of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in Antony and Cleopatra to illustrate the article!

Solstice Greetings!

Christmas Cookies with an Egyptian Flair!

They aren't just ordinary Christmas cookies!
These mummies are all buttoned up...

Living the "sweet life"...

William (the Met's famous blue hippo) may have left the building, but there are plenty more...

I don't know what sharks have to do with Christmas or Egypt, but here they are...

These sphinxes are dressed to the nines...

Happy Holidays from Luxor!

The Louvre Returns Five Fragments to Egypt

It happened today at the Élysée Palace. The article from lepoint.fr is here.

UPDATE! Zahi Hawass has now announced what will happen to the fragments. Read about it here.

A Wedding and a Funeral...

It's hard to believe, almost surreal in fact, that just one Sunday ago we were celebrating the wedding of a CH workman and then yesterday we were at a funeral mourning the passing of dear friend Susan Weeks.

You can read the statement from AUC here.

Her body was found in the Nile late Saturday night. It appears she fell from the Kingfisher, the Weeks' dahabbiya. Jane Akshar tells the story on her blog. (N.B. Perhaps it would be more effective if those commenting on Jane's blog post directed those comments to Jane herself.) I had just been with them for drinks on the Kingfisher earlier in the evening. We shall miss her terribly. Rest in peace, Susan, in your beloved Luxor...

(Photo from the Theban Mapping Project)

Member of the Wedding

I had the opportunity to attend the wedding party of one of our workmen on Sunday evening. What a joyous occasion! Any and all relations and friends were amongst the guests....Music blared from industrial size speakers....Men, women, and children danced....The official wedding portrait was handed round....The beaming bride and groom ascended to a platform above the crowd and all guests climbed up in small groups to greet and congratulate them...Glitter and happiness filled the air! Truly heartwarming.




And I have video:

Of course, the boys all wanted to have their pictures taken!

 I think a great time was had by all!

Theban Balloons

Yesterday, as I walked to the ferry to go to the West Bank, I was greeted with a view of several balloons rising into the morning sky...

Egypte-Algérie, encore et toujours...

The saga continues... Today's entry on Egyptoblogue (Carnet de bord de Claude Guibal, correspondante de Libération au Caire) points out the absurdity in the ongoing conflict over a spot in the FIFA World Cup 2010.

Moon Over Luxor...

There's a beautiful full moon over Luxor tonight. Here's a photo which isn't the greatest even with a tripod ;[ MaAlaysh!