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Up, Up and Away

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December 22nd
The aerial balloon ride was a once in a lifetime experience. Our skilled Egyptian pilot flew us to a height of 1500 feet to catch the wind that gave us a 360 degree view of the sun coming up over the Nile and the moon going down behind the Theban Hills.  Descending over farmland, our gondola brushed the tall blades of sugar cane which Barb feared hid snakes -- we deftly landed just on the other side on an unplanted portion of the field.
We had two nice surprises while leisurely exploring Luxor later that day -- running into a Palestinian family from the cruise in the Luxor Museum, and later finding newlyweds Ankit and Parul, also from the cruise, in an Egyptian fast food joint. We took them with us back to the rug shop and Parul was master at demanding her price for several rugs, as well as a "proper bag" (not plastic) for her purchases. India had taught her well.
We enjoyed our last evening at Desert Paradise Lodge with a long talk with Farida over a delicious meal. Just before we left, we met an incoming family from the U.S. -- from Armonk NY, no less.
The local See Egypt agent waited with us in the train station and got us on the tourist sleeping car - again a nice service during the well planned trip. Our two cabins were small but well appointed (cleanliness, towels, sink and water, hangers for clothes, storage area for bags.) Disappointingly, the train car itself was bad -- constant jerking as the brakes grabbed and didn't release properly (we presumed) so a good night's sleep was impossible.

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