Sunday, January 10, 2009. Luxor

I have been on holidays now since December 23. I have long since lost track of what day it is.

Day: Visit to the Valley of the Kings. Tombs of Ramesses VI, Tawosret / Sethnakht, Seti II, and Siptah. It is no longer possible to bring cameras into the valley, so (for once) I just gawked and tried to take it all in. The Valley was hot and very sunny. In fact, it was a bit like walking through one of those tanning reflectors some people use to ensure an even browning on the neck and face. Maureen spotted me some much needed sunblock. She really is prepared for just about anything.

Best summary comment came from Paul. On the way out of Ramesses VI, he said, “Nice place” with a gentle southern drawl. I couldn't put it better myself.

An unanswered question: In Ramesses VI's tomb, the vultures on the ceiling fly out. In the other tombs, they flew in. Why? It turns out that Sandy is a big fan of vultures, so now I mention them to her when I see a really interesting one.

Night: I did laundry in the sink and wrote captions for the pictures I shot. Gayle, Maureen and I visited the Luxor Museum where we got a chance to meet with one of its administrators who wanted to copy down the particulars of our archaeological passes. The curator's office is right next to the W.C. I wonder if that's significant. The nice thing was that one of their staff is visiting Toronto at the end of the month in conjunction with the ongoing King Tut show at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Gayle left her contact information and offered to give a tour of the ROM. All is well; we exit to the museum galleries.

I visited with the mummy of Ramesses I for more than a couple of minutes. He spent many years in Niagara Falls (Canada), and that makes him one of us. We have met a number of times now – once in Atlanta, twice in Luxor, and maybe once in Cairo, though I'm no longer certain whether that was really me or someone else. I'm faintly worried that I'm doing this more and more often – taking someone else's experiences and telling them as if they were mine. I met Buzz Aldrin a couple of years ago, so it's only a matter of time before I start telling people about my trip to the moon.

Also visited the small wax statue of Ramesses IX / XI. I have a picture of it in my study, and I must look at it at least once a day. It was good to see it in the round again, though I tried to find the exact view from the picture, but failed. There were two small wax boxes found in the same tomb with four baboons sitting on the corners and what look like the icon for “flames” coming from the four sides of the lids. I had completely forgotten about these.