My Birthday with Pharaohs in Egypt

Trip date: December 2022 

Last year I finally was able to visit a country that had been on my list since I was a kid; Egypt! My friends and I went for my birthday, Christmas, and New Years. It was amazing!

I flew from Seattle to London on Virgin Atlantic. Virgin had had a points transfer deal which made my Chase points worth 30% more so I booked into their Upper Class which I had never flown and was excited about. Virgin shares the Delta Lounge at SeaTac, which is really a great lounge, so I had a lovely snack paired with champagne before boarding my overnight flight. 

I always love a layflat bed when flying but I have to say that the configuration of Virgin's B787 was not good. All the "pods" face into the aisle (instead of forward) and have their back to the window. This means you are facing everyone; so weird!

Service was very good, all my food was fine (the airplane salt & pepper shakers were a cute touch), goodie bag was basic, but the jammies were great! I wouldn't choose to fly this particular metal again but that is a first world problem, I am aware. 

In London I met my friend Caitlin at our terminal for our Egyptair flight to Cairo where we would be connecting on to Luxor. As we waited to board we found out that Egyptair is a dry airline, aka no alcohol served onboard due to their Muslim ownership, but you could BYOB! So I grabbed a couple of mini bottles of wine and away we went. 

I had booked my London-Cairo-Luxor flights using miles via Amex so was also in business class. The layflat seat was very comfy and there was a ton of room! I asked the flight attendant for a glass for my wine and had a very enjoyable flight. Unfortunately Egyptair is known for being delayed and our flight was 2 hours late getting into Cairo, meaning we had missed our connection to Luxor (with our friends Forest and Thibault on it!).

Egyptair was very helpful though and not only put us up in a hotel but let us choose the Marriott which was in the airport. Since I am Marriott Gold they gave Caitlin and I a huge room with a lovely big bathroom. We ordered up some room service and caught up, forgoing any actual sleep as we had a 4am wake up call for our rebooked 6am flight. TOO EARLY!

Our 1 hour flight to Luxor was uneventful, I was even served a good breakfast and coffee in nice china in business class. We landed at Luxor airport, picked up some gin in duty free, and grabbed a taxi to meet our friends at the Embrace Hotel on the west bank. 

Dec 22nd, my birthday, and boy did we hit the ground running! We got to the hotel at about 9am and our private guide picked us up at 10am for our day in the Valley of the Kings. Hiring a private guide, we used Gaber and booked thru Yalla Travel, meant that we had an Egyptologist and a driver for 3 days to show us around and more importantly to explain the over THREE THOUSAND YEAR OLD history of what we would be seeing. 

As soon as we were on the road heading west to the Valley, Gaber was pointing out excavation sites, ruined statues, and other tombs in the hills. It was absolutely surreal! All of the area is an excavation site basically. I was thrilled!!

There are 63 tombs in the valley and 11 are open to the public, but not all on the same day. We chose to visit 4 of them, including Tutankhamun's (did you know he was buried in Luxor?).

Our first tomb was KV14 which was originally built for Queen Twosret, who was the last ruler of the 19th dynasty of Egypt. She was buried here in 1189BC. The tomb was then reused and extended by Setnakhte, the first pharaoh of the 20th dynasty. It was very unusual for a tomb to be used like this and also makes it one of the largest tombs in the valley. For an idea of the the layout of these tombs this site is fascinating! 

Next we toured KV11 which is the tomb of Pharaoh Ramesses III. Setnakhte originally started this tomb but abandoned the project when they accidently broke into the tomb of Amenmesse! 

KV62 is everyone's favorite child pharoah, King Tutankhamun. Immediately upon entering you go down a set of stairs and through a small hall before entering a chamber where Tut's body is on display! This isn't the burial chamber, you continue just a bit to enter into that small but lavish room. It's just incredible that you can be that close to the 2000 year old mummy!

And finally KV6 the tomb of Pharaoh Ramesses IX. The walls of the entrance here are covered completely in hieroglyphics but as you continue on the decorations aren't complete. They think that maybe the had to rush the finish when the pharaoh died.

Nothing can prepare you for walking into these tombs. The fact that the colors on the walls are still so distinct is mind blowing. It would be very easy to spend the day here but we had more to see! 

A short distance away we stopped at the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, built into the base of the cliffs just outside of Luxor. It looks like a movie set!

 

Queen Hatshepsut was the wife of Pharaoh Thutmose II and reigned from 1479 BC until 1458 BC. She is remembered as one of Egypt's greatest rulers. 

This 3-level temple took 15 years to build and was like nothing else at the time. Originally there were rows of sphinxes guiding you to the 900 foot long building adorned with 22 Hathor columns. There are chapels dedicated to various gods and walls covered with reliefs of every known plant and animal in all of Egypt. It's truly a marvel.  

The entire complex was to be used as a place for people to worship Hatshepsut in her death and to remember her greatness. Unfortunately her stepson Thutmose III hated her. After her death he tried to erase her existence by removing her name from buildings, demolishing statues of her, monuments, etc. There's a lot of drama with these pharaohs! 

And all of this was before lunch!! Gaber took us to a restaurant with a nice terrace overlooking the nearby fields for some traditional Egyptian food. And then we were off again...

Next we visited Medinet Habu. There is so much history at this site! Originally Hatshepsut built this as a Temple to the god Amun in the early 18th Dynasty. 

Then Ramesses III had more construction done to make it his Mortuary Temple. It's a huge complex with courtyards, temples, storage rooms, a palace, etc. It was very cool seeing this after visiting his tomb earlier in the day.

When you visit these sites you will see security men keeping an eye on things in the ruins. They will also offer to show you areas and rooms not open to the public... for a fee. It's a good idea to keep 5 and 10 Egyptian Pounds (20-30 cents each) in your pockets for this. We were shown a few interesting spaces including the area where animal sacrifices were made. 

It was late in the day when we visited and the light was just beautiful! And we were the only people there by the time we left. Honestly, this site wasn't on our list but our guide Gaber recommended it and I'm so glad he did! It's his favorite as he grew up in the village next to it and he use to play in the ruins as a kid! Amazing!! 

We made a quick stop at the Colossi of Memnon on the way back to our hotel, which were built in 1350 BC as part of a massive temple that no longer stands. 

And then it was time to have a drink, get cleaned up, and go out for my birthday dinner! We went to Marsam which is inside a very cool hotel by the same name. The food was great, and the restaurant served wine (most don't since it's a Muslim country), and the company was even better!

Happy Birthday to me! In Egypt!!

All Luxor photos here. 

Other posts from this trip:
Day 2 & 3 in Luxor, Egypt
Four Nights on the Nile
48 Hours in Aswan, Egypt
New Year's Eve Inside Egypt's Pyramids
Exploring Cairo
48 Hours in Dubai, UAE
Emirates International First Class

36 Hour Parisian Birthday Party

Trip date: December 2016

The morning before my birthday I woke up early and headed for the airport. The twelfth annual New Year's Eve trip was about to start but first I would be spending five days in France. It was on the way after all.

I had a 45-minute flight from Seattle to Vancouver, on which I was given a new boarding pass as I boarded for seat 1D. I'm always happy with a free upgrade no matter how short the flight! In Vancouver I found the Business Class lounge and helped myself to some champagne and dim sum; I've never seen dumplings in an airport lounge before!

I was flying Business Class on Air France to Paris and the flight cost A LOT less flying from Vancouver, something I will be keeping in mind for future trips. The Air France lay-flat seats were some of the nicest I have been in so far. There was a little cupboard built in to keep my things in, complete with a mirror on the door. There were also slippers! A cute Tumi toiletries bag was passed out, filled with products, as were glasses of Billecarte champagne. Happy birthday to me!

I enjoyed my 4-course dinner with wine pairings, watched a movie, and got a great night sleep. Upon arriving at CdG, I was able to use a special lane for passport control and was out to the cab queue in no time.

Normally I take the train from the airport but since I was bringing Christmas presents with me I had 3 bags instead of 2. There is a 55Euro flat rate into the city and as it was about 9:30am the traffic was really light. And it was really fun to drive under the Eiffel Tower on the morning of my birthday!

While I was in the taxi I had a text from my friend who I was staying with asking me if I wanted a warm croissant. Is there any other answer besides yes??? As I pulled up to my friends' apartment there was Thibault crossing the street carrying a bag of fresh croissants. Now that is a birthday breakfast I'll say!

Forest came home from work around lunchtime and the two of us went to a nice little Peruvian restaurant in her neighborhood for lunch. Ceviche, a few glasses of wine, and a birthday dessert compliments of the restaurant, with my best friend in my favorite city.

That evening Forest and I had cocktails at Le Syndicat, a really cool bar using all French ingredients in their drinks. Great music, great space, and excellent drinks. And the bartender sent us some nice vermouths to try as we tabbed out.

The birthday dinner plan was to go to Bourgogne Sud with a small group of friends for a casual and classic French meal. One of the girls had graciously invited everyone over to her lovely apartment for pre-dinner bubbles. It was so fun to see everyone, including getting a chance to meet Nicky's mom who had just arrived that day from Ireland. And before we all continued on to the restaurant, Nicky's daughter Naoise played the piano and sang me "Happy Birthday". So sweet!

The restaurant served really good Lyonnaise food, the ten of us drank many bottles of wine, and we did lots of catching up! Such a fun night and exactly what I wanted for my birthday.

Forest, Thibault, and I grabbed an Uber home, passing the pretty Christmas lights of the city, and Forest and I finished the night with martini nightcaps. As we do.

The next morning Thibault went out and returned with fresh warm croissants again. I was feeling spoiled for sure, but for him it was just a typical morning!

Forest and I had a little walk around her arrondissement's Christmas Market, picking up a few stocking stuffers and enjoying the decorations.

We had planned on doing a big platter of oysters for lunch at the 2-storied restaurant Cafe du Commerce but when we got there we were told they didn't have any oysters that day. I'm still not sure why but we had already ordered a cocktail so we enjoyed those and then moved on to Huitrerie.

At Huiterie we proceeded to order 2-dozen oysters on the half shell; the big flat shellfish so different than what I get in Seattle. Here they remove the top shell entirely (unlike what we had in London) but they don't free the oyster from the shell so you have to dig it out a bit.

The oysters were delicious, the bottles of wine were cold, and the restaurant was gracious to include a couple of raw cockles and clams for us to try too. I'd absolutely recommend this place in the 15th but it seems that they recently closed.

We went back to the apartment, met Thibault and hopped in an Uber to the Gare Lyon. We were taking the train to Beaujolais to spend Christmas with Thibault's family.

I absolutely love train travel and this was a great ride spent enjoying the scenery as we passed through tiny towns and vineyards, while sipping on some white wine Forest and I had brought along.

All in all a pretty wonderful birthday spent with people I don't get to see often enough!

All Paris photos here.

Other posts from this trip:
Christmas in Beaujolais
Baltic Bash Kick Off
Out and About in Lithuania
A Very Baltic New Year
Latvian Eats & Drinks

24 Hours in Tallinn Estonia

After a two and a half hour cruise we arrived in the port of Tallinn, Estonia and checked in to the Merchant Hotel in Old Town. It's a funny hotel with big rooms of irregular size and the location is absolutely perfect to explore the entire ancient area on foot.

As the Christmas Market was going on we dropped our bags and headed out to do a little shopping and sightseeing. It was chilly and drizzly as we walked around the walled medieval town. The stone walls, streets, and buildings hadn't seemed to change much since the 11th century.

We were able to climb up to parts of the town wall for glimpses of red tiled roofs and church spires. For such a small town there are a lot of churches!

We stopped into the popular bar Hell Hunt for a few beers and snacks and then headed back to the hotel for a nap. We'd been up very early!

It was my birthday so we had a nice dinner planned at Restoran Ö. We started with cocktails from our hotel's "Ice Bar" which had a lot of flash but never had any customers except for us. They were quite intrigued by Forest & mine gin martini requests, obviously serving mainly vodka.

It was a quick cab ride to the restaurant which sat just outside the walls of the Old Town. The decor was a bit Scandinavian, minimalistic and beautiful. Our server was absolutely wonderful and even presented us with a few things compliments of the kitchen. And at the end of dinner when I asked for a cheese plate instead of dessert she stuck a candle in it! Very fun!

 
The next morning after breakfast, which was included in our hotel price, we walked to Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the beautiful onion dome church.

We continued walking to the Hill of the Harju grounds where we came across archery lessons. Random. Forest and I had a little competition in which she won. Barely.

The town, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, is really charming and it is easy and relaxing just to stroll around. We headed back to Old Town and had lunch at the touristy medieval restaurant Olde Hansa.  Sometimes you just have to play the tourist that you are.

The place is lit entirely by candlelight, the only utensils are makeshift wooden spreaders and spoons, the cocktails were thematic and very herbal, and our waitress was dressed like a wench. We had a great time!

We just had just enough time after lunch to walk back through the Christmas Market and grab a hot Calvados before catching a cab and our ferry to Helsinki.

All photos of Tallinn here

Booze Cruising to Estonia

We arrived in Helsinki late, after 17+ hours of travel, then easily grabbed the airport shuttle (no reservations required and only 6€ each) for the 30 minute ride into town, and walked the short distance after being dropped off at the central train station, to the Omena Hotel.

The Omena Hotels are a comfortable chain where you take care of yourself without the assistance of a front desk staff, room service, etc. They text you a door code and room number 24 hours before arrival, and you use that for the front door, elevator, and room door code.



Our room was large and slightly resembled a cabin on a ship, complete with table and booth seating. It was clean and comfortable also, and the perfect place to crash since we went to bed at 1am and got up at 7am to catch an early ferry to Tallinn. After meeting Forest & Thibault for a quick nightcap at the nearby American Bar we called it a night.

We boarded our ship around 8am for a 9am sailing and the common areas were already full, mainly of octogenarians drinking and dancing to a very loud live band. Did I mention it was 8am?



The crossing was quite rough which made it hard to walk around, but these grannies were waltzing and fox trotting all over the place. Most tables were crowded with pint glasses of beer, some of these with folks looking a bit green around the gills. Besides partying it up as the big draw of the sailing to Estonia, there is the opportunity to do some duty free booze shopping, as the price of liquor in Finland is very high. The shops were busy with folks snatching up cases of beer and 10-bottle packs of vodka. We focused our efforts on gin & rum- nothing unusual to be found but larger & cheaper options than in the Alko stores in Helsinki & in Lapland.



The ship serves a pretty decent buffet breakfast, there are two seatings, one at 8:30 and one at 10:30, but We hadn't booked in advance and the first seating was full. We grabbed a quick snack in a small cafe and then watched the dancing until our reservation was ready in the main dining room.



2 1/2 hours later we docked for an overnight in Estonia, my 34th country on my 45th birthday.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Tallinn, Estonia

Birthday Fête in Paris

Taking advantage of our flight going thru Paris, on the way to our first stop in Central Europe, Dayne and I decided to lay over for the weekend and celebrate my birthday in my favorite, the city of lights.

A quick and easy train in from CDG (I really recommend this much more than taking an expensive cab, where you sit in traffic for over an hour!) and we were at Forest's apartment at the base of Sacre Couer. Since she just moved from this kitschy location this month, it was also a sweet goodbye-weekend-tour of the 18th, a neighborhood I have grown quite fond of.

And no "farewell Montemartre" would be complete without lunch at the Relais Gasçon, consisting of huge bowls of salad, lardons, chèvre and fried garlic potato chips. And a pichet of Bourgogne blanc bien sur.

Wandering back to the apartment for a much needed nap, we passed by a tiny Christmas market next to the metro Abbesses, selling mainly tourist tchotchkes, vin chaud, churros and saussicon.

Rested and spruced up we headed out that evening for pre dinner drinks at Glass, newly opened near Pigall by the fine folks who own Candalaria. The vibe is casual and relaxed. The interior slightly dark with seemingly unfinished wood stools and booths. The staff is more than helpful in answering questions about the well crafted cocktails, featured frozen machine offerings and even ideas for going off menu. This was a great stop and I highly recommend it if you're in the area- they are newly opened so it's not yet the crowded "hip" place and it was easy for four of us to grab a table. 

For dinner we had secured, after many attempts, reservations at the much lauded Le Chateaubriand. Nic, Dayne, Forest & I arrived to meet up with Thibault. The restaurant is quite casual, small and brightly lit. Decor is minimalistic and looks like your typical bistro interior. They also have a spot on the World's 50 Best list. 

Dinner here was good but maybe it was all the hype, or maybe it is just that "farm to table" is tougher in the winter, but none of us were blown away. We had a few nice dishes (Saint Jacques, a white fish, and beef), a very typical cheese course and some good wine and cognac. And then we went out for more cognac at a random corner cafe until it was late, late, late. Or early. Whatever. It was then officially my birthday.

The next morning Dayne and I hurried to meet Forest for my birthday lunch at the very excellent l'Ecailler du Bistrot (owned and next door to Bistrot Paul Bert). We had a wonderful feast of Breton oysters on the half shell, lobster with lemon butter sauce, frites fried in goose fat, a delicious cheese plate, dessert of Paris Brest and also an apple tartin with caramel, all washed down with some brilliant Sancerre. A decadent and perfect lunch for my birthday but I'd suggest it even if it was just a weekend ;)

To walk off all that deliciousness we headed to the Champs d'Elysee to the Christmas Market. This isn't the most traditional of markets, it is set up more for the tourists, but it was still fun to wander around. We bought Styrofoam cups of vin chaud and strolled the stalls selling everything from Russian dolls to fajitas. Pretty lights, some kiddie rides and lots of yummy smells tucked in amongst the grand sites of Paris.

Needing a warm-up break and remembering Mini Palais from last summer, we made the short walk and had a glass of champagne before heading out again to the newly opened Le Coq for pre-dinner drinks with the gang. Another hip, new cocktail spot in Paris, this one recently opened by London's cocktail darling Tony Conigliaro.

We then made our way to La Rollange, another newly opened spot, next to Table d'Eugene. The restaurant serves small plates of extremely delicious food, meant to be share and devoured, which we did. The wine is inexpensive and plentiful. It was a very fun and festive birthday dinner surrounded by wonderful friends who I don't get to see often enough.

The night wrapped up with Mel, Dayne and I closing down another random corner cafe after drinking one too many cognacs, and then climbing the stairs up and over deserted Montmartre, as quiet as I have ever seen it. The entire city sprawled out before us with it's twinkling lights at predawn.

And then the next morning we said goodbye to Forest's quirky neighborhood and studio (and those damn crazy flights of stairs) for the last time and caught a flight to Budapest. All in all, a birthday that I'll cherish for a long time to come. Thanks friends for celebrating with me! xo

All Paris photos are here!