And the winner is......................

Yes, the first person to contact me with the correct answer was...........
DivaDarling, from Trip Advisor. Being a long-term sufferer from Luxoritis, she must have recognised the antique mirror or the furniture in the pictures. (Might have been the menus, which were a dead give-away on enlargement!) Anyway, it was lovely, and now I have the option of visiting either one of two of my favourite places when I'm up that end of town.
One or two folk have commented that the Oasis might be competition for Tutti Frutti, but I rather think that they will complememt each other, along with the other restaurants on that street.
Starting at the St Joseph end: you have the Tudor Rose, very nice for a more formal/intimate meal, then, past Arkwrights shop, the Oasis is next with a wide menu catering for all sorts of tastes in a very different atmosphere. Next door is the famous Tutti Frutti, where the tea is as lovely as the welcome, and the cakes and scones are to die for. (So is the PIE!!!!) Another few steps and we are outside the "Taste of India", whose wonderful reviews speak for themselves, although I cannot comment as the thought of the smell of curry puts me off from even entering, sorry. Next comes the new "Pizza Roma", again, not my cup of tea, but I've heard some very good reports regarding their food! Another minute or so and around the corner is "Puddleduck", which I am assured merits it's top spot on the Trip Advisor restaurant list, directly opposite are the new ventures of the Taste of India owner, which I expect will soon earn the same high reputation, they are the Fortune Cookie (Chinese, obviously) and upstairs, the Regal Grill.
Unlike any other street in Luxor, all these eateries are entirely different and as visitors pop into their favourite one they cannot but notice some of the others and quite possibly think "Oh, I've heard of that place, let's have a nose in there tomorrow." I'm certain that the diversity and quality of these eating places will ensure regular patronage for them all.
The following picture explains part of the reason why we aren't getting out much during the day.



It was taken after 4 o'clock today.
See ya!

Spook at Carter's House.

We've wanted to go to the new Museum at the house of Howard Carter (discoverer of the fabulous tomb of the "Boy King" Tut Ankh Amun in 1922) since it was opened as such in November last year. However, you know how things just slip by and get put off? We haven't had a real excuse to free up the time until today!
Well, we have a group friends, four sisters from the "Black Country", who come each year to visit the "Black Land" and they landed last Wednesday for a week at the Etap Hotel. They are known collectively as "The Wenches". They don't always come altogether, and this time there are only Glen and Mar, who are the two most interested in Egypt's history etc.
I suggested that we visit this relatively new attraction together, and they both thought it a good idea! We arranged a mini-bus to collect us this morning and whip us away to the "Side of the Dead".
The House is quite interesting, with the various rooms furnished and mocked up something like they would have been during Howard Carter's residence. I took several photo's, but being my usual rubbish self with the camera, they are too embarrassingly bad to put on here!!!! Never mind, though, I got some of the Great Man" himself when he deigned to come and speak to us.






To be perfectly honest, I don't really know what I expected. But this was a seriously clever bit of work! I'm pretty sure that the "powers that be" will soon realise the potential of what they have here, and slap on an entrance fee, but even if they do: it'll still be worth paying to go and see. At one point, he even gives us a slide show from the projector on the table onto the wall at the right, it's truly a "Magic" Lantern Show.
If you get the chance to go, please don't miss it. All you need to do is lose the guardian who follows you around with unwanted directions and comments, otherwise an excellent visit. It will be even better when the promised Tearoom is open!

Moulid of Abu Haggagg, Parade on Last Day.

Digi camera packed up, so I had to get the card downloaded onto a disc and then load the pics onto the laptop, what a carry-on! I knew I shouldn't have changed the Brownie 127!!!!!!
Anyway, stacks of photo's just to give you a taste of what it was like, but you have to imagine a deafening cacaphony all the time as well.
People come from far and wide to celebrate, with the Muslim population of Luxor, the Sheik (and saint) Abu Haggagg. The streets are crowded with onlookers, climbimg to every ledge or wall top to get a better view of what's coming!

On all the pictures, click once to enlarge, and again to magnify.



Once there's no room left for anyone to stand, then you know that the procession won't be long in coming. First of all there are the daft lads with their camels and horses. Shoving each other out of the way, and making the horses rear up, they don't seem to mind using their whips!




Interspersed between each group are gangs of youths, with fighting sticks or swords or knives. Thank heaven they aren't filled with drink!



The next group to appear are the Holy Men of Luxor, this group used to be a LOT bigger than today's showing, lol.



The Holy Men are followed by the camels with tents mounted on their backs. These represent the seven major Mosques of Luxor. On some of them they have a woman inside the tent, as I noticed at least two with female legs sticking out the bottom!




After the Mosques come the Trades of Luxor, represented on different floats hauled along by poor little donkeys or half starved horses, but always helped along by plenty of willing hands as well. The pictures are of the Felucca Men and the Fruiterers. The Bakers are always somewhere to be seen, covered in flour usually, but I didn't catch them here.




As well as the stick and sword men gathering between the floats, we also have the entertainers and fools. Here we have a right clever-clogs standing up on his "Hijabi" camel, also the man with the twitching false moustache who gave everyone a laugh!







The poor old soul playing the kettle drums really deserved that drink!

There were some floats and banners which I didn't know what they were, with an election coming up one or two were definitely election posters. I don't know what this one was, but the man wanted me to photograph it anyway. It did accidently produce a good profile picture of our good friend Mr. Ramadan, the local (spitting, remember?) electrician.

More West Bank changes.

I looked out one evening last week and was astonished to see the Theban Mountains illuminated! What a lovely sight it was. We were due to get four guests to stay, an American family, and I thought that it would be a grand scene for them to see from our terrace. Wouldn't you just believe it, they switched them off the day before they arrived!
Of course, I told them about what a lovely view we had had, but I didn't even manage to get any photos of the damn things because the camera batteries went flat. You know, those "Lithium" ones that are supposed to take 6 zillion pictures, but actually run out after about 47!!!!!!! I've hunted high and low, so far without success, but someone mentioned that Angie at Arkwrights might sell them, Insh'Allah! Bukra! In the meantime I'm struggling on, manfully, with some ordinary ones.
The day after the charming Americans left, the powers that be turned the lights on again, typical? Or what? Anyway, I got this picture after a lot of attempts tonight.



With it being dark (and possibly more because I'm a cameraphobe as well as a technophobe) the camera was taking 15 seconds or so to take the shot. Have you ever tried to hold a camera still for 15 seconds? I thought that I did pretty well, until I saw what passed for a picture, the lit up bits were all over the place! Eventually, the Boss suggested putting a table on top of a table with the camera on the top, and just press the button. No-one likes a "Clever Dick" do they? I'd been standing on a pair of steps to try and miss the lights fron the windows across the street, but it was hopeless, so I gave in to her suggestion.

It was a bit of a Heath Robimson affair, the breakfast cupboard had one of the breakfast tables on top, with the other breakfast table on top of that. Champion, you would think? But no, the cheap rubbishy Egyptian plastic tables aren't quite flat, they curve away around the edges! So much so that the camera was cutting the tops off the mountains, a problem which I fixed with my engineering ingenuity. I found a pen and shoved it under the extended lens.
I'm actually quite pleased with the result, not bad for a lad with no GCE's from Windy Nook, eh?



As usual, click on the pictures to make them bigger.

There are a couple of rumours going the rounds about these lights. Someone said that it's to do with a planned "Sound and Light" show on the West, but somewhere else I read that it is a part of the plans to have the antiquities open in the evenings in order to get more tourists through the doors.
Time will tell, I suppose. Goodnight, and God bless.