~Abu Simbel, Aswan and the Nile~

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LUXOR OBELISK, NOW IN PARIS

The next stop was a granite quarry famous for its unfinished obelisk. This massive piece of granite still remains attached to the earth on its bottom side, and after an immense amount of carving on its top and lateral sides it was abandoned after a huge crack formed upon it.  It would have been the largest obelisk ever erected had its carving been completed.  It is speculated that it would have joined a huge obelisk in Karnak, one that has since been removed from its original site, and now stands in Rome.

In all of Egypt, there stands no complete pair of obelisks. Of the 30 or so original Egyptian obelisks, only seven still remain at their original sites.  Each that was paired has been systematically separated, as if it was known that the obelisk's power could be broken if they were no longer standing in unison. In many cases, both members of what was originally a pair of obelisks have been removed from Egypt to separate locations.

All over the world stand single Egyptian obelisks, many of them in European cities.  As many as 13 are said to have been moved to Rome alone.  One stands in New York's Central Park, and its twin stands in London.  The sun glints off a gorgeous gold capped obelisk standing alone in a small plaza within a huge traffic circle in Paris.  Its mate still stands in its original position at the entrance to Luxor.  One wonders if they could somehow still be energetically aligned.

We chose to omit our next scheduled stop at an alabaster museum, which, like papyrus museums and perfume shops, are part of every visitor’s tour.  Our guide insisted upon treating us like typical tourists, and we found it difficult to communicate to him that we were more interested in sacred sites and spirituality than tourist activities.

EGYPT, NILE CRUISE TOWEL SWANS

We boarded our boat and immediately felt at home in our comfortable cabin.  We had a sliding glass door with a wonderful view of the Nile, and one of the most luscious and thick fleece blankets I had ever seen covered our bed.  I laid upon this deep luxurious gold sea of fluff for 20 or 30 minutes in absolute rapture.  Such a simple pleasure filled me with deep gratitude, and I luxuriated in the safety and security of our private space where we would have safe haven for several days and nights.  This cruise was going to be a wonderful experience for us.  The cabin crew took great pleasure in creating whimsical towel creatures for us in our room every day.  Yes, we needed and deserved this break from the densities of the energies that we had been facing every day.

At times there are as many 400 to 500 ships cruising the Nile. This astounded us.  It represents a huge industry in Egypt, and we found that tourists are herded around the country to the most famous pyramids and temples by the thousands every day.  The ships are only a few stories tall, and are fairly flat bottomed so that they do not run aground when the Nile is low.  At one time during our cruise I felt us listing slightly, as we actually scraped bottom for a few tense moments.  Each time we docked perhaps four or five boats would have to be walked through to disembark. They were all somehow securely moored to one another, side by side, allowing access to so many vessels from limited pier space. It was a well orchestrated aspect of cruising the Nile.

EGYPT, FELUCCA ON THE NILE