Wednesday, January 13, 2010. Luxor.

The Morning:
Deir el Medina: Tombs of Sennedjem (TT 1), Inherkha (TT 355), Pashedu (TT 3). Tombs of the Nobles: Roy and Shuroy.

Lunch:
Back to the Hapy Habu. The construction in front of the restaurant is picking up pace. There is no longer room for the bus to park out front, so our driver gets us close, and we walk the remaining distance. Out driver is the finest I have ever seen, by the way. He navigates our enormous sight-seeing bus thorough narrow streets with the most expert aplomb. And he can do it in reverse too. Astounding.

The Afternoon:
One more visit to the Valley of the Kings. We start with the tomb of Ay in the Western Valley. The decoration is very good, and largely complete. There was a recent issue of KMT that contained an article describing it, but being there works a lot better. A quick swivel of your head and you can see what's where and how it all fits together. It's worth climbing the 145 stairs to see it. And the Western Valley is splendid in its silence. You can simply stand there, yellow-pink rock sloping away on either side, and, if you are still, you can hear – nothing.

In the main valley, I dragged some of the Texans into the tomb of Ramesses I. It's small, and there are a bunch of stairs to climb down, but the colour is vibrant, and the damage is minimal. The last time I was in it, two years ago, I think it must have been just recently restored, because it was immaculate. This year, there has been a buildup of fine dust on the walls from a fan which blows from an unfinished storage room into the main chamber. Still – the reliefs of the King, the gods, and the great bulls (they're not cows; count the tails) blow me away

Next tomb: Ramesses 9. This was the last tomb made here, and the people who made it probably knew it because it's got it all – all the best books, all the best artwork. We spent some time in the burial chamber at the back of the tomb looking at the two depictions of Nut, back to back, and painted on the uneven ceiling. Gayle explained the events depicted on the side to the reis, who seemed very interested and appreciative. Then, for a special treat, we stayed in the chamber while the reis went back to the mouth of the tomb and turned off the lights. Everything was dark for the moments our eyes took to adjust to the gloom, but gradually, we could see light entering from the valley which lit the two paintings on the very back of the tomb. This was in the late afternoon, around 4:30; earlier in the day when the sun hits the valley directly, it would have been even brighter. I wonder if this made it possible to work on the tomb by natural light alone rather than relying on oil lamps.

Last Tomb: Ramesses 3. This is a very long tomb with splendid painted reliefs with lots of colour showing guardians of the underworld and the King. The burial chamber is in poor condition due to earthquakes (I think). Most of the decoration has come off the walls, leaving raw and uneven limestone. Still, it's an astounding effort you might expect from the King who had Medinet Habu built.

The Evening: Dinner with Maureen in the hotel's Italian restaurant. I had the manicotti which was almost, but not quite completely unlike manicotti. It was, however, bubbling hot and filled with spinach and tomatoes. Just what I needed. While we were there, a boisterous group of Egyptian businessmen in dark suits came in, partook of the buffet, and then abruptly left, their cell phones ringing throughout. Maureen and I dine languidly (if that's a word), and then I retired to do laundry.

Faves of the Day:
1.In the tomb of Shuroy: Just to the left as you go in, the tomb decoration is only sketched out in red paint. It isn't finished. There is a figure of an underworld guardian with the head of a hare and the body of a man; it's holding a knife. Wonderful.

2.The astronomical ceiling in the tomb of Ramesses 9. I just like astronomical ceilings – the navy blue background, figures representing the hours of the night drawn in yellow-gold. It has the same mystique for me as old European star charts with elaborate Greek gods shown scattered in the sky.

3.Paul's summary comment on Sennedjem's tomb: “Nice work.”

Commentary:

Something happened this morning at Deir el-Medina which set the tone for the day. A few of us crazies kept the others waiting as we explored The Pit behind the Ptolemaic temple. We were shooting pictures fast and furiously of anything even faintly interesting. (Egyptofile's maxim: if you don't know what you're looking at, take a picture and figure it out later.) As we hustled back to the bus, Michael asked me if I was an Egyptologist. What a kind thing to ask. I replied that I wrote software for a living. “Oh. So you've got memory.” Well, no, I thought. At 43, I barely have any memory left at all. Mostly I forget things as quickly as possible, sometimes sooner. In fact, to live a stateless life, being in the present, in the moment, is something I aspire to. But how to put that all into words in response to his question?

And then I understood that he was referring to the memory card in my digital camera.

Some people (e.g. Gayle) are good at communicating. She's a master. It seems effortless for her. Me – I start every conversation with the same lurch as a kid who's been caught picking his nose in class. Words spill out of my mouth, and all the wrong words, and in the wrong order and it's terribly uncool, but that's the way it is. And so, I spent the rest of the day feeling gawky and gangly, faintly foolish and uncool. I'm not complaining or anything; I'm living the dream here, but it's left me a bit subdued.

As I write this, it's 10:58. So much for turning in early.