After lunch, the ship docked at the town of Luxor and our first visit of the day was to the Temple of Karnak. It is also sometimes called the "City of Karnak" because early explorers didn't think a structure of its sheer size could simply be a temple. In fact, it is the biggest temple and house of worship in the world, covering an area of 102 acres! Inside we saw the 134 massive columns which fill the main portion of the temple, many of which still had much of their original color left intact. As we walked through further, we saw a set of two obelisks, one of which is the second largest in the world, and an area that was at one time a zoo for the Pharoah. In the rear of the temple, we saw a large statue of a scarab beetle, which carries with it a unique legend. If a person walks around it 3 times, he will get married, 5 times and he will be rich and 7 times means he will have a child. Needless to say, Bolls and I settled for 5 trips around the statue...
After the visit to Karnak, we stopped at an oil and fragrance shop, where we got to see a glass blower crafting a very delicate little bottle for storing the fragrance. The shop owner shared with us some of the oils, called "essence", which come from local plants such as the papyrus. I didn't realize it, but most perfumes and colognes are originally from Egypt. The oil form is much more potent before it is shipped off and mixed with alcohol, and he showed us how the essences are mixed in order to form such brand names as Calvin Klein and Chanel No. 5. Some of the girls bought some fragrance bottles and then we headed out for our night trip to the temple at Luxor. Leading up to the temple is a long series of statues, known as "Sphinx Avenue". At the entrance, two 25 foot statues of King Rameses II guard the temple, which is also dedicated to Amenufus III. The entire place was previously covered in sand in order to hide it from invading armies. Thus, some structures still remain on top of it, including a Muslim mosque. The temple looked very mystical at night with the flood lights casting awesome shadows all over the statues and carvings. Our guide, Osmond, grew up next door to this temple and he had a blast showing us around the place where he would often play as a child. He has been such a blessing to have on our trip--the man has a masters in Hieroglyphics and taught at the University of Pennsylvania for 3 years, so he speaks perfect English.
After our night visit to Luxor, we boarded the boat and had our dinner. Afterward, we were supposed to have evening entertainment consisting of a belly dancer, but she was paid to take the night off by the powers that be. So, instead, we had one of the most bizarre forms of entertainment I have seen. I have lived in Allen dorm for a semester and have seen some pretty crazy stuff in my day, but this guy was a whacko! We waited for like 10 minutes while some men set up a keyboard and sound equipment, and then they started playing as another man, dressed in a flaming rainbow outfit, began to spin around. And he continued this spinning for about 10 minutes straight, and we were all dumbfounded and started cracking up. Well, after some interesting displays of his spinning abilities, he stopped and the guys packed up their things and walked out...we again were speechless, because the show just ended so abruptly. Anyway, afterwards we went up to the top deck again to enjoy our last night on the Nile...it was pretty sad, but I just count it a blessing that we were able to enjoy such an incredible experience. It is one that I will remember for the rest of my life, I am sure, and one that I wish more people could experience. Well, I better get to bed, it is getting late...