Apr 18 - Sick Bay /Grand Egyptian Museum

Dr. Ahmed had left me Tuesday evening in Doug's capable hands. I shudder to think what would have happened had I been traveling alone. Neither of us got much sleep - I was still making frequent bathroom trips and discovered later that one of the drugs I was taking induces insomnia. Just my luck. Dr. Ahmed arrived back in the morning. My blood pressure was better (not great) so I got another litre of IV fluids. I thrashed around all day. Another visit that night. Another 1/2 litre of IV fluid. My blood pressure was finally normal and my other vitals were good. I still felt like trash - incredibly weak and with absolutely no appetite - a first for me and I was still not sleeping at all.

We were now at Wednesday evening. We were facing a deadline of leaving for the airport at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday for our 3-hour flight at 1:30 a.m. flight on Friday for Dubai. From there, we were supposed to fly for 14 hours to Toronto. Because we had flown from Toronto to Dubai, we needed to fly back out of Dubai, otherwise we would have incurred a huge financial penalty. Going ahead two time zones, only to then go back eight time zones seems odd, but that's what we had to do. Dr. Ahmed promised to see me Thursday morning and again Thursday evening when he would make a travel/no travel decision for me.

Through all of this, Doug was working on logistics. The tour company sent a representative, Nasser, to talk with him. We were supposed to have just stayed at the airport on Thursday after our return from Luxor, but that obviously wasn't go to happen. If I got cleared to travel, he would arrange to send a minivan with a driver along with Walid who would guide us through the airport. Nasser negotiated with the hotel who agreed to let us stay in our room at no extra cost until we had to leave for the airport. The restaurant staff were very kind and helped Doug pack up a few things that he thought I could manage to eat. They gave him a carton of apple juice too and a few bananas. They keep them out of sight, otherwise they get snapped up by the armful by the guests. The Housekeeping staff were wonderful too, keeping us supplied with towels and bottled water and respecting our need for quiet. Trust me, I wrote a lot of thank you notes when I got home. Everyone was so incredibly kind and helpful and cooperative - customer service at its finest from the hotel, the tour company and the medical clinic that services the hotel.

I suspect that the rest of the group went to the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), also known as the Giza Museum, a planned museum of artifacts of ancient Egypt. Described as the largest archaeological museum in the world, the museum is under construction and is scheduled to be partially open in 2018 exhibiting the full Tutankhamun collection with many pieces to be displayed for the first time. The museum is sited on 50 hectares (120 acres) of land approximately two kilometers from the Giza pyramids and is part of a new master plan for the plateau. The architectural competition was won by the company Heneghan Peng from Dublin, Ireland. Love my little leprechaun friends!

On 5 January 2002, then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak laid the foundation stone of the Grand Egyptian Museum. On 25 August 2006 the Statue of Ramesses II (a twin of the one we saw at Memphis) was moved from Ramses Square in Cairo to the Giza Plateau, in anticipation of construction of the museum. The Statue of Ramesses II, estimated to be approximately 3,200 years old will be situated at the entrance of the museum by 2018. The main attraction will be the first exhibition of the full tomb collection of King Tutankhamun.Read more