Egypt
Recently checked of another of those "must see before you die" places.  We went to Egypt
for the Bright Star exercise, which was interesting enough on its own, being an exercise
with 13 coalition nations, but to also get to experience some of the sights and sounds of
Egypt was a great opportunity.

By the way!!  Notice the background here is Papyrus, not the marble I use on most of the
rest of the site.  Just thought it would be more appropriate since I spent half my paycheck
on papyrus souvenirs when I was there!!!
OK, the first set of pictures is of the hotel where we stayed.  Not bad at all.  Right on the
Nile River, great restaurants and the best gym I've ever seen in a hotel.  The view (above)
from just over the pool and across the garden promenade at the rear of the original
building.  And below is just the view when I turned around.
And of course no trip to Egypt is nearly complete without seeing the pyramids.  The first
glimpse of them was from my hotel balcony!  But this is only possible on a clear day.
Then we saw them each day when going from the hotel to the work site and back.  Again,
only possible on a clear day.
And then a closer look....
Above and to the right.  The
view from inside the tomb of
the chief architect of the
pyramids...
One of the most amazing
things to me about the
pyramids was the precision
used in its construction.  
Here our guide points out
how tightly the huge stones
were fit together.  (pictured
at left)

Originally the pyramids must
have been in incredible
sight.  The sides were not
originally as they appear
now, but were covered in
smooth limestone and the
peak was covered with gold.
 Also, the surrounding area
was covered with granite
stone.  The remnants of the
limestone and granite are
pictured below.
And finally, perhaps the best photos taken that day were taken from an unlikely location.  
After touring the pyramids we stopped into the KFC and Pizza Hut that is located just in
front of the pyramids and sphinx and the view from there was incredible!!
And a few shots from my
balcony.  First of the
garden, promenade and
pool area (left), then of
the Nile River (below).