Nothing new to add at the moment to thought I would find links to hotels I will be staying in while in Egypt for some interest

On arrival in Cairo
http://www.fairmont.com/heliopolis 

St Catherine
http://directrooms.com/egypt/hotels/morgenland-hotel-st-catherine-saint-catherine-12936.htm 

Ain Sokena (Red Sea Coast)
http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Hotel_Review-g297545-d642569-Reviews-Palmera_Beach_Resort-Red_Sea_and_Sinai.html 

Alexandria
http://helnan.com/HotelPage.aspx?HID=17&HLID=78&SelID=69 
or
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/dining/index.html?propertyID=438

Cairo

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/hotel-deals/caieg-cairo-marriott-hotel-and-omar-khayyam-casino/

Nile Cruise
http://www.nilerivercruise.com/view_riverboat.cfm?shipid=381

or

http://www.nilerivercruise.com/view_riverboat.cfm?shipid=413

Well finally got the passport papers couriered today after going and getting my photos taken. As usual they are not the most flattering of photos. 
So hopefully it's not to long until passport arrives.
Also have permission to add another three days leave onto the three and a half I had asked for as planes only fly out on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. 
Next week I should be able to find out exact details of tour costs and flights then I can do a bit of planning on what to do in my extra three days in Cairo on top of going to church at the Cathedral. Have already pretty much decided that one of the things I will do is get a guide to take me around the Khan Al-Khalili as I didn't get there last time. Another option is to take a fellucah ride from Cairo on the Nile which would make a nice contrast to the ride that I would already be doing in Aswan on south. Then I'm pretty sure I could fill in a day on the Island that the Marriott is situated on as there are formal gardens an aquarium and Cairo Tower there, not to mention some good shopping spots.
Then I found out that the Marriott has a wave pool and I have to admit that sounds like fun. :)
So hopefully it won't be long before I can start adding a few definite details here.

Shall finish by adding for more of my drawings of the very famous Gold mask of Tutankhamen

 

Nothing new to post at the moment so have hunted down some more of my artwork and scanned so that I can post it here. 
You will see that most of it is Tutankhamen. Some of work dates back to my 6th form year at school.

This one didn't scan so well as is an oil painting. My one attempt at this medium. Discovered that it took to long and I spent ages with my hand at an awkward angle as I automatically started painting on the left which when you are left handed makes life a bit interesting. :)

This is a copy of the painting I did when asked to paint a tomb painting for a service we were having at church about Moses. Decided to copy one of the figures on the wall from Tutankhamen's burial chamber. Painting was life sized and was quite fun to complete.

This is one of the pictures I drew for an English presentation I made at school in 6th form, so is one of my earlier works I have on this subject

This is a water colour pencil drawn copy of one of my photos I took while in Egypt last time, is a gateway situated at the real of Karnak temple.

Shall add some more artwork over the next few days unless I can think of something else interesting to add.

Have just filled out the renewal form for my passport, have been meaning to do it for a while but it involved digging out my old passport which I have finally done.
Have also been doing a bit of research into what to do on the free day that I will have in Cairo. Have another idea up my sleeve now as well as the one I already had. 
Have decided another thing I could do (with the help of a guide as there's no way I'd go by myself) is go to the Khan el-Khalili bazaar which is very famous and I didn't see last time. Have found that there are tour guides who do day tours of Cairo where you can plan what you want to do and are not massively expensive as I had also seen a 2 hour felucca trip on the Nile in Cairo which would be nice to do as well.


Other things I have done a bit of research into are the optional Nile dinner cruise in Cairo and Nubian village visits that you can include on the Insight tour. Nile cruise includes Belly dancer and by some accounts a whirling dervish dancer as well, have seen the belly dancer before but not the whirling dervish so that would be interesting.  Also like the idea of cruising the Nile in Cairo at night for all the city lights, oh the photo opportunities!
The best was still to come though, it looks like on the Nubian village visit they have baby Nile crocodiles, although looking at some of the photos they look more like juvenile ones than baby ones - and you can hold them. Bring it on!!! :) Will have to make sure that if this does happen I get someone to take a photo to prove I've held a crocodile.





 By http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarah_mccans/ Sarah McCans [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

After realising that tour will end on Saturday after breakfast and not Sunday as I thought and adding on an extra day so I can attend church at All Saints Cairo i did a bit of research today of things I can do to fill in the Saturday.
Yes I am going to be a bit braver than last time and venture out from the hotel. 
Have discovered that I will have more than enough to fill in a day just staying on Gezira Island where the Cairo Marriott is situated.
Is a bakery attached to the Marriott so have decided for starters that a picnic lunch would be a good idea as they do take aways.
Are some nice formal gardens on the south of the island which cost all of 2EP to enter, this would work out in NZ 40 cents!
These gardens include the Gezira Gardens, the Andalusia Formal gardens, the Aquarium Grotto Garden and the Gezira Sporting Club which has walking paths around it.

Link to infomation about some of these gardens
  http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/aquarium.htm
 
Cairo tower is also situated on the island too, it does cost 70EP to enter but again that works out at about 14 NZ dollars.
Cairo tower is 187m tall and was constructed between 1956 and 1961. Interesting it has a revolving restaurant at the top, did not know this until today.
It was apparently built with $100,000  that was given to Gamel Nasser by the Government of United States as a personal gift with the intent of gaining his favour. Nasser decided to rebuke the US government publicly by transferring the total sum to the Egyptian Government for the building of the tower. 
 

  By Ahmedsantos (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

These are a few of the sites I can visit, I'm sure I could find a lot more too if I wanted.

I have decided to do something that I wasn't quite brave enough to do last time I was In Cairo, go to church.
I have discovered that All Saints Anglican Cathedral is situated right next to the Marriott Hotel on Gezira Island in central Cairo and it so happens that the hotel that we stay in at the end of the Grand Tour of Egypt is the Marriott.
After my tour back in 1993 I stayed on in Cairo for three extra days, but transfered from the Semiramis InterContinental  which was in central Cairo to a Hotel nearer to the airport. I had thought about visiting the church back then but I found that I didn't have the guts to travel Cairo by myself.
Well this time I'll have no excuse, All Saints being on the back doorstep.
It will be great to be able to take greetings from All Saints Matamata to All Saints Cairo too. :)



A little history then about All Saints Cathedral, Cairo

In 1879 the first All Saints was opened and was located next to the Nile and behind the Egyptian Museum.
In 1920 the Diocese of Egypt and Sudan was formed, with Llewelyn Gwynne as it's first Bishop.
Bishop Gwynne Established the second All Saints Cairo.
In 1970 this cathedral was demolished to make way for a new Nile bridge and the new third All Saints moved across the river was completed in 1988.  

Link to Diocese of Egypt English web page
http://www.dioceseofegypt.org/english/