Bluebird's Nest

In Egypt it’s sun all the time. ALL. THE. TIME. And the other cool thing is that it’s really close to the equator so the sun rises and sets at roughly 6am and 6pm every day. All year. That’s pretty cool in my opinion. Although I wonder if that makes it kinda boring and predictable. When I was talking with one of the guides, I asked him if he had ever left Egypt. His reply was no. I asked him if he could go one place, where would it be. He said he has always wanted to see snow. Imagine that for a minute. Always seeing the sun in it’s predictability… I can completely understand why he would want to see snow. I would LOVE to see the look on his face when he first encounters snow.

We began the morning at 5:15am when we were picked up from our hotel to drive to Luxor. The bus was a “private modern air conditioned vehicle” as described on the website. Marmoud would be our guide until we got to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings about 3.5 hours away.

The bacteria from the food or water (not sure exactly what it was as we were being so freakin’ careful!!) had gotten to the hubby and the tweenager but not too badly. I was a bit worried for the tweenager though as she had been sick during the night and I wasn’t exactly sure how she would do for a 3+ hour drive. Turned out that she did not too badly and was feeling a lot better as time went on.

We said goodbye to Marmoud and hello to our new guide Marmoud. It was an easy transition.

When we got to the Valley of the Kings, it was HOT and probably around 11am. I had begun to feel a little of what the hubby and tweenager had… So I decided to hit the bathroom. My first experience with paying to use the toilet (on this trip). We paid the 1 Egyptian pound per person and got our 5 squares of toilet paper. Hint for those traveling to Egypt: take some extra toilet paper in your backpack in case you might need it as they don’t supply it in the bathrooms.

Our guide was both English and French speaking but the majority of us could speak French so he spoke mainly in French. The bits and pieces that I didn’t understand I asked him or the hubby or the tweenager to translate. My father-in-law and sister-in-law both helped me as well. What was great was that I had watched a bunch of youtube videos before we left on Egypt so I knew a lot of what he was telling them.

The Valley of the Kings is simply amazing. There is a replica of the valley and where all the tombs (which are under the ground) are placed. There were 3 tombs available to go into and view the hieroglyphics and construction. The most unfortunate part was that we weren’t able to bring in our cameras to take any photos. Unfortunate for us but if everyone was taking flash photos of the hieroglyphs then then would surely dim to nothing after a while. As it was, we weren’t able to get a guided tour of them inside the tombs as the perspiration and condensation from people’s breath was wrecking them.

As we walked through the tombs it was very powerful to see the chambers, the art work, imagining the people creating this masterpiece in the ground thinking that no one would ever be able to see it again. It’s simply amazing how the Ancient Egyptians believed so strongly in the after life. It was almost more important than the living life. They would store their furniture, 365 little figurines to be their servants (one for every day of the year), food, jewelry, organs, etc… as they believe that these things were needed in the next life. It fascinates me. Probably one of the reasons it was always a dream for me to go there.

But it was so hot. I was carrying the wee babe in our Ergo but that was too hot for her so we carried her in our arms. I was getting a little concerned about the intake of water she was getting as she was drinking breast milk but I wasn’t sure enough was going in for the amount she was sweating. It also didn’t help when my hubby told me that he overheard someone else speaking French saying “I can’t believe they brought their baby here in this heat.” I told him that he should have replied for them to mind their own business.

After we left there (things were getting worse for me in a bathroom sort of way) we headed to an Alabaster factory. That was nice to see them making pots and different items by hand. We bought a few things and headed out again.

Next stop was Hatshepsut’s temple. Now it was probably about 1pm. H.O.T. That coupled with no food since breakfast at 7am – I wasn’t feeling great. It’s definitely impressive to see but I think I missed out on some of the background story as it was said in French and my concentration was lacking a little.

Then lunch. Thank god. We had brought so much water but it was all probably 20+ degrees hot by this point so I was craving some nice refreshing water and the restaurant didn’t let me down. The food was quite good as well, being sure to stay away from the uncooked veggies.

Back in the van and off to the other side of Luxor where we visited the Karnak Temple. The sun was going down at this point so the photos we took of the architecture there were stunning compared to the photos we got during the middle of the day. I’ve seen photos and video of this place but it’s much more impressive in real life. You just can’t help but wonder how this ancient civilization (with no modern technology) could build something so immense. How much time it would have taken them… When you walk amongst the pillars and take in the immenseness of the obelisks, it’s enough to make you stop and catch your breath a little.

Back into the van and off to the hotel. This hotel was even better than the one we were staying in. This one had three restaurants, a spa tub/shower with jets in the tub and one’s on the side of the wall of the shower. The toilet was like a little spa for your ass. No kidding, there was heat, massage, spray, dry… The only thing was it was broken. So no ass spa for me

By this point though I was spent. All I wanted to do was crawl into the bathtub, turn on the jets and let the day wash away. Unfortunately, the hubby and I had a communication breakdown and he took the tweenager to the pool with the rest of the family and left me for 1.5+ hours waiting for him to come back with barely any water to drink. By the time he got back, I was fairly upset as the baby hadn’t gone to sleep once and needed to breast feed the whole time and I wasn’t feeling top notch either by that point.

We headed down for Italian after I had a bath and then we headed up to bed. The bed was WONDERFUL in the hotel but we had yet another early wake up call (5am) and at around roughly 3am I found myself hugging the ass spa.

Day 2 we will spend visiting the doctor, the Pyramids, two flights and some interesting shopping.

This was the day that we headed to the beach. The hotel provided us with a free bus to get there. The bus was a little sketch but at least there were seat belts we could seat belt our baby into.

After arriving at the beach we laid down our towels on the beach chairs, lathered on the sun screen, put the baby in her swim suit and headed quickly into the warm water.

We frolicked (I love using that word) around for a bit, passing the wee babe back and forth. I was finally tired and headed back into the shade to dry off.

Not long after that a local showed up and started trying to peddle us some trips around the area. We were a little wary of him at first but then he had some other tourists come over and let us know that they had been on the same snorkeling trip that he was offering and it had been a great experience for them. We were sold and decided to go the next day.

Not long after that, we walked over to the area where the bar, food, and a henna tattoo shop were. The woman began trying to sell us the hair braiding (it was crazy expensive) but instead the tweenager ended up buying a henna tattoo on her arm (which we evidently paid too much for…). She also negotiated four massages for us scheduled for the last day of our trip. It was a tough negotiation but she had one of her masseuses come over (Tito) and he gave everyone a free 5 minute massage.

We had lunch and before you know it the sister-in-law had brought back another local who wanted to marry her. It was nice to talk to a local and get an idea about Egyptian life, politics in Egypt, more info on the local scene… but after what seemed like an hour, I found that I wanted him to leave so that I could enjoy the beach again and the beauty that laid before me.

I need to interject here and explain one thing: In Egypt they speak Arabic. But they also speak English so this worked quite well for me. I understood everything. The interesting thing though was that the family that I was travelling with spoke French all the time. So we were constantly switching back and forth between French and English and it was quite normal for either Luc’s mom or I to not know what was being spoken about as it’s impossible to translate everything.

We left the beach and everyone was pretty tired for the day so we cleaned up, had dinner and got ready for a big day the next day by having an early bedtime.

The next morning we ate and set of for the beach to catch up with the boat which was going to take snorkeling and to an island. We grabbed some snorkels, masks and flippers and walked the plank to the yacht. The music was booming and there were already a bunch of other people onboard from other hotels. We set sail.

First stop: snorkeling with about 10-15 other boats loaded with people.

Before I recount what happened for me, please understand that everyone else in our party had a GREAT time snorkeling. I was an anomaly.

I was holding the wee babe as everyone was getting the masks, snorkels and flippers on. Bad idea. I should have been getting ready myself but I was to concerned that the wee babe was going to cry and I wanted to leave it to the last minute. Everyone was pretty much off the boat so I passed the baby to my mother-in-law and put on my mask – it broke. I asked one of the staff if they had another and they did but it was too small. Now I was getting anxious as everyone had taken off and I wasn’t planning on wearing any flippers in the water (not really into them to be honest).

I finally caught up with everyone but it was like a swarm of piranhas. There was people, elbows, flippers, arms, legs everywhere. I’m not one to feel claustrophobic but I was really feeling it. I was getting poked, hit, jabbed all over the place. On top of it, my mask wasn’t suctioned properly so every time I put my head in the water, water would enter it. And it was fogged up. So you can imagine my frustration. I made a motion to the guide that I wanted to go back to the boat. I could barely make out which boat was ours as every time I looked over at it the sun was shining directly into my eyes and I could make out what the names of the boats were as my mask was all fogged up. The guide said 5 more minutes and everyone would go back. I endured but after what seemed like 15 mins I finally packed it in and headed back myself.

So here I was swimming back. Salt water in my right eye (hence swimming with one eye open), mask fogged up, sun shining directly on me and I can hear faintly as I’m swimming back, the wee babe crying her eyes out. Swimming, swimming, swimming… getting closer…. I couldn’t get there fast enough. So as I get to the boat there are two people hanging off the ladder to get up. I basically just pushed them out of the way and barged straight up the ladder. Grabbed a towel and then grabbed the sobbing baby.

Phewf, I made it.

There were two other places that everyone on the boat went snorkeling but after the experience I had, I wasn’t planning on going in again. And from what I understand, it was much better as there wasn’t barely anyone else at those snorkeling spots. What I was most happy about was that the tweenager had a great time swimming around with my hubby. She adores the water.

We then had lunch which was supplied for us. I tried desperately to stay away from the uncooked veggies that they lumped on my plate.

And then everyone piled into a little boat and headed off to a white sand island. It was hot and around 1pm and there was next to no shade except for a little hut that had no access to get inside it. I guess this is where all the boat tours go as the beach was packed full of people.

We went swimming again with the wee babe and tweenager and after we thought that the baby had had enough, I took her out and joined my in-laws in the little hut for some shade. We rested there for the remainder of the time at the island (about an hour).

After that, we headed back to the beach and then back to the hotel. It had been a really nice day out on the ocean. We were all pretty tired from all the swimming and the sun and we had another early wake up call the next day.

Tomorrow we head out on our two day tour of Luxor and Cairo (the Pyramids, a museum, Valley of the Kings, a temple…oh and I get sick).

The next morning we awoke, had breakfast, gathered our things and said good bye to grandma and hit the road. This was supposed to be our last day on the road but there were other things in store for us.

We stopped in and bought a bunch of meat. Then we stopped in at another shop and bought a bunch of chocolate. Oh yeah baby. We also stopped for a little more discovering around Heidiland where we took a little walk to the village. I guess when we stopped before it was just the Heidiland restaurant and gift shop. If you want to do the full experience, you need to walk for 2 hours. We didn’t have the time.

We stopped in at the hubby’s uncle and aunt’s place near Zurich for lunch. His cousin was also there. What a delicious meal with great company. I always enjoy seeing them and hearing about what they are up to. The wee babe received a little cat we call Lea that plays music when you pull a string. Merci beacoup!

After a wonderful lunch we stopped in at Lucerne to check the famous lion that’s there and also the covered bridge that burnt down many years ago. We wanted to do a maze with mirrors but it was going to cost us $12 per adult to get in as it was within a museum so we decided to forget it and hopefully we’ll get a chance to see the maze over in Vallais. By this point in the day, it was hot.

Back on the road and off to Thun to see Hans, our best man at our wedding in Canada and to meet his girlfriend.

The road to Thun was a beautiful winding road through a lake district where the colour of the lakes were this gorgeous turquoise blue. They all looked the same colour and the tweenager and I so wanted to go for a swim (even though I’m sure it was freezing cold). But we were running late and needed to move it.

We arrived in Thun and decided that it was going to be too late to drive back that night so we were going to sleep there. Thank goodness we like to wing it and thank goodness Hans and Maria have space for 4 people! I was so relieved as I really didn’t want to have to eat and then run as the drive back was another 1.5 hours. Sigh…

They cooked us a wonderful dinner of tarte flambé and salad. They speak German and English so we figured the most common language between us was English. I kept finding myself speaking French with them and reminding myself that I needed to speak English. This language thing is so crazy!! I’m not used to it. Switching back and forth, it’s pretty cool when you think about the diversity of it all.

We had a wonderful night, drinking wine and rehashing old memories that we had with Hans.

The next morning, it was yet another beautiful day and Hans and Maria had said that we really needed to check out the castle in the middle of Thun before we left so we walked over to it. Thun is a beautiful little town with a gorgeous turquoise blue river running through it. Devine. I can’t help but want to plunge myself into all their bodies of water here! But I don’t ?

The castle was neat. I wasn’t overly impressed for some reason. Maybe it was because it was getting hot again, I was a bit hung over and I really needed a change of clothes. Since we had extended our vacation by a day, I hadn’t brought enough supplies.

My hubby surprised me by saying, “why don’t we stop in in Bern for lunch?” I’ve been trying to get to Bern since we came here as the tweenager really wanted to see it and it’s the capital of Switzerland so I thought it would be nice to show her. So, off we went to Bern for lunch.

Now the weather was about 34 degrees. It was HOT again. I’m realizing I don’t do too well in weather like this. I feel like a big blog of melted marshmellow in that heat. We ate lunch which was less than great (oh and they were going to make us pay for tap water!! $3 per glass. I find this so tragic as there are fountains all over the country that spew forth cold fresh mountain spring water that never stops and there was one of these fountains just across the square so we could literally walk over there and drink for free if we wanted too) and then ran through the fountains in the middle of the town. It was refreshing for about 5.4 seconds.

I guess when you’re in Bern, the thing to see is the bears. Who knew that there are real live bears in the city for you to take a gander at. So we hoofed it over there. Really very anti-climatic in my opinion.

My temperature gauge was at the tipping point and I think the wee babe wasn’t doing too well either as she was so whiny. But really like a whine like, “get me the freak out of this weather, I’m dying a slow and painful death.” She didn’t want to sit in the black stroller and only wanted to be carried. You can imagine how much I wanted to be carrying a hot sweaty body around.

Back in the car and this time our destination was home. All in all, we had a wonderful time toodling around Switzerland. I think now I can safely say, I’ve seen most all of it EXCEPT for the Italian part (although I did see this a few years ago with my hubby). I think we’ll save this part for when my mom comes to visit in October.

Hmmmm… I’ve had shitty nights sleep lately but this one takes the cake. It’s not too often that I breast feed the wee babe in the middle of the night and then she wakes up again when I put her in her tent. Sigh. Totally annoying. On top of it, it appeared that one of my milk ducts was blocked. A little uncomfortable. Sorry if that’s T.M.I.

We woke up and got dressed and then went for breakfast. And what a breakfast it was. They don’t call it a BnB for nothing. Just check out the photos to see the gourmetness.

After indulging in riverside splendor, we set off on our 5 hour trip.

Another time change puts us at 4 hours ahead of Victoria. And now only 5 hours behind Switzerland. Losing time sucks though.

So we had a free lunch somewhere in New Brunswick near some falls and a zip line. Free lunch as we made sandwiches and granola bars followed by chocolate cookies with double stuff.

Then we continued on until we hit Fredericton where we met John to take us to his camp. (As you can see the day was pretty uneventful besides playing ‘Name that Tune’, trying to keep each other awake and reading ‘Anne of Green Gables’.

We made it to the camp and it’s AMAZING. It’s not what you would think of when you think of ‘camp’. It’s more like a fishing/hunting resort. It was built in 1948 and has 8 rooms. It’s right beside a river with an artesian spring for it’s water supply.

John and Sylvie are great hosts. We sat around and had a beer and then I gave the wee babe a bath. We followed that with Atlantic Lobster. Man-o-man was that delicious. Sylvie explained to us how to best get the meat out of the lobster and we were up to our necks in lobster juice.  The only crappy thing was the wee babe was being a little fussy (can you say cry-fest) so the hubby and I needed to trade off every once in a while which meant cleaning our grubby paws off.

We followed that with salad and potato salad and then with strawberry ice cream with strawberries and cracker. The whole thing was soooo yummy. I couldn’t ask for more.

We’re staying in two rooms (me, the hubby and the wee babe in one and the tweenager in another.) with a bathroom that is shared between them. But we had a choice of whether we wanted that or a room with two beds. This place is HUGE.

I’m so enamored with new Bruinswick and the cost of real estate and land. I’m almost convinced I want to buy a little piece here and build a yurt on it and rent it out. I just need to work a little on my hubby to make it happen. He’s all about the yurt right now but he’s still stuck on the west coast as to the location of it.

Tomorrow we have great plans to tube down the river (it’s my turn this time), check out a suspension bridge and just enjoy the day.

EXPENSES:

Sleeping: At the camp at John and Sylvie’s camp
Wee babe disposition: We think she’s having issues with her teeth but she’s pretty great as usual.
Weather: Overcast and about 29. Nice for lunch and the air-conditioned car.
Stress level: Fab.

After packing absolutely EVERYTHING we own back into the car (it sure was nice to be able to take a day or two off from packing) we got back on the road a little lighter. We left our camp stove and grill behind (on purpose).

Today was fairly uneventful except for the crazy rain storm where it slowed traffic down to a crawl for about 10 minutes and had everyone putting on their lights and hazards. It was mental.

We stopped a couple of places. One for lunch in Trenton where huge air crafts were flying over head constantly. We thought that maybe it was a special day but after I asked a local he said “That’s our tax payer dollars at work.” Bitter much but I could understand. There was also a crazy water park there, so the wee babe and the hubby had a bit of time to play in the water. Too cute.

We also stopped in a no name place beside Lake Ontario where there was a really strong warm wind and the tweenager and I used a composting toilet. It was calm and peaceful. I imagined myself hanging out there for the day if I lived close by.

Back on the road. The driving didn’t seem near as long as it has on other days. This was our last long day of driving. We’ve covered 5500 km’s of road and tomorrow is the half way mark. So that leaves roughly 2500 km left to drive. From here on out we’re doing shorter trips thankfully.

The wee babe has been really really amazing. She’s doing a lot better in the car than in the beginning. I’m not even sure if she complained at all today. She does really well in her little tent that she sleeps in. During the hot hot parts of the day, she seems unfazed by the extreme humidity and temperature. I would say if anything she prefers to be carried in our arms than in the stroller. I guess she doesn’t get a lot of a breeze on her when she’s in the stroller and let’s face it, it’s a better view. I’m really impressed by her.

We arrived into Ottawa around 5 pm and met Allison. We parked the car in the underground parking. Allison’s condo is really close to the downtown core so we’re going to head out walking from here tomorrow.

After we settled in, I started the laundry, my hubby set off in search for food for dinner (pizza in the oven) and the girls and I headed down to the pool in the building. Refreshing.

We came back up, got dressed, and it seems like we’ve all been glued to the computer since landing here. Ahhhhh…glorious internet. We even Skyped with my parents a bit to touch base.

Until tomorrow.

EXPENSES:

Sleeping: Free! Thanks Allison and Dave
Wee babe disposition: Best yet considering the 5.5 hour drive. We didn’t even have to sing Baby Beluga once!
Weather: Stinking HOT and humid: 32 degrees. AGAIN.
Stress level: Great save for getting out of the Toronto area.

Last night we had a fire around the campsite. It was nice and warm. Tank top and shorts. Same thing we slept in. It’s a bit uncomfortable in the morning when you’re kind of sticky from the humidity I guess. But I’m not complaining.

We made some sandwiches and ate some breakfast and hit the road to Toronto.

I really don’t know how you would do it, driving around on the freeways without a GPS. There’s no signs say “Toronto” anywhere. It’s almost like the signs are now designed to work with the GPS units.

Once we arrived downtown we looked for parking. There’s parking EVERYWHERE. The first spot we saw we asked about price. Turns out that U2 was playing in Toronto that night. Man oh man, how much did I want to go. I heart U2. But with the wee babe and probably the price of the tickets, it wasn’t meant to be. But you could feel the vibe in the city that day.

Once parking, we unpacked the car and loaded the stroller. First stop CN Tower.

The heat wasn’t too bad at this point. It was around 10am.

The price for the tower was crazy expensive. $99. To go all the way to the top. Which we had to do. It wasn’t too busy either at this point.

I admit that I was feeling a little queasy and I felt a little intimidated standing on the glass floor. But the view was pretty cool. Bird’s eye view to say the least.

We ate our lunch at this point in a little couch area in the CN Tower which was neat. Bathroom break, diaper change and we were on our way again.

Now the heat was stifling. So about a half an hour later we stopped in at a Starbucks to pick up some iced drinks. We still had a gift card left over from our wedding (two years ago!!) and coincidentally we didn’t even remember that it was our 2 year anniversary until the next day. Doh!

Toronto reminds me of Vancouver only a bit bigger and HOTTER.

Off to Eaton’s Centre to do a little shopping. The tweenager found one of two dresses we need to get her for two weddings we’re attending in Switzerland.

The hubby picked up a hat. It’s a fedora. I’ll get a photo soon.

After that, back into the heat and off to Chinatown where the smells and atmosphere changed again.

The onto Kensington Market. Wow, the heat was really getting to me at that point and I was a bit worried about the heat for the wee babe so I stopped to breast feed her to make sure she was getting enough fluids. We had also packed a bottle with water for her.

I think I hit my peak sweating capacity in Kensington Market. Stupid me, I thought it would be a good idea to do some clothes shopping then too. Just one reason why you should always launder your clothes before you wear them after purchasing.

I’d had enough with the heat and we’d made a reservation at Milestones as we had a gift card from the hubby’s work. So we booked it there a half hour early to sit in the air conditioning and cool down.

All in all we were on our feet from about 10:30 to 4:45 so we were exhausted and hot. I can only imagine how we looked and smelt. I had the whole sweaty butt crack again.

For our anniversary dinner (that we didn’t know it was our anniversary but it worked out perfectly anyway) I had steak. MMmmmm…. It was delicious.

Luckily, the car and Milestones wasn’t that far away so we trucked back to the car just after 6 and packed up and headed home.

After we got back to the campground, the tweenager absolutely needed to have one last swim in the pool, so I fed the wee babe. After the tween and the hubby returned I headed off for a well deserved shower.

Early to bed so we can be early to rise for our 5 hour trek to Ottawa to visit Allison and Dave where we fully anticipate taking full advantage of their hospitality. Laundry, showers, electricity Oh MY!

We may have missed U2, but it was still a beautiful day.

EXPENSES:

Camping: $32
Dinner: $77
CN Tower: $90
Parking: $12
Item lost/found:Gold Necklace
Wee babe disposition: Really good considering the heat. I worried more about if she was hydrated enough.
Weather: Stinking HOT and humid: 32 degrees. AGAIN.
Stress level: Pretty even keel.

We had not too bad a sleep last night. The wee babe woke up more last night than any other night. 3 times which kinda sucked. It was a bit cold so she maybe was uncomfortable.

We woke up late and had coffee. Glorious coffee. With real cream. Two cups. Mmmmm…. Then I cooked a big breakfast with hashbrowns, bacon, toast and eggs on the new stove. Dreamy.

It was so nice to not have to pack up and hurry in the morning to get on the road. We took our time and got on the road around 10:45.

Today was our first bonified tourist day. We drove all the way to Niagara Falls, which wasn’t that far actually, just an hour. When we arrived it was stinking hot. Like 34 degrees hot and the humidity was high. The tweenager was dying. Sweat was dripping down my back into my butt crack. It was pretty terrible.

We had made sandwiches for lunch with nectarines so we stopped and ate those. The unfortunate thing was that we didn’t bring enough water. So we ended up buying two bottles that were 3$ each (way too expensive) and some frozen yogourt. We’ll be smarter for tomorrow, that’s for sure.

We all remembered to put on sunscreen and I think we all came away unscathed. But man oh man where there a lot of people there.

It was beautiful. Breathtaking. There was a mist coming off the falls that was ever so refreshing. But it was all slightly anti-climatic since I’ve seen a lot of photos of it. But it was the after-math that I wasn’t ready for.

It’s like a freaking carnival there! Once you move away from the falls onto a stretch of street where it’s like Disneyland crossed with Las Vegas crossed with a carnival. Music, rides (RIDES????), stores, smells, people, people, people! I’m happy to have seen it once in my life, I don’t think I need to see that again.

We hit a grocery store on the way home to grab more water for tomorrow and then some gas for the car.

We were all really looking forward to getting back to the campsite to cool off in the pool. I’m so happy to be able to let the wee babe swim in the pool a little bit. I dunk her every time so she gets more and more comfortable with it. She doesn’t cry anymore so I guess that’s a good thing

Tomorrow we have a BIG day ahead of us. We’re heading into Toronto to hit the CN tower, the Kensington Market, China town and maybe a bit of shopping. I understand that tomorrow is going to be hotter than today. Gosh, I’m not used to this kind of heat. Hopefully, we’ll be inside for a lot of it.

EXPENSES:

Camping: $32
Parking: $12
Wee babe disposition: Fab.
Weather: Stinking HOT and humid: 32 degrees.
Stress level: Pretty even keel.