Got a Condo Made-a Stone-a

The Brussels Expo recently featured a King Tut exhibit. It wasn't the real thing, but we went to see it and it was a good replica. Apparently the "real" stuff is all over the place. Until the 1960's, most of it was in the Cairo Museum.

In the '70's and '80's, many exhibits traveled the globe, mostly in Russia, the UK, and the US. It is still possible to see it somewhere even today.

Just some quick geography.

You may remember the Ancient Rome map in one of my "Rome posts" that showed the River Nile and Alexandria, Egypt. Cairo is on the Nile and is about 3 hours south of Alexandria. Probably just below that "T" in EGYPT.

Here's a close-up of the area along the Nile River. King Tut's tomb is near Luxor (like the Vegas hotel :)

And just one more map I thought gave some perspective on where this is on the globe.

His tomb was encased in these gold boxes.

One inside the other like nesting dolls.

This was the final one.

The "nesting" didn't stop there. Then he was in this.

This is all real gold. You can see all the hieroglyphs which covered all those huge gold boxes as well. I read about hieroglyphs on wikipedia and still do not have a full understanding of how it all works. I guess it's sort of like Chinese symbols which don't simply translate into English. If you'd like to know more . . . hieroglyphs.

Anyway, then his body was in this one.

The famous mask covering his face.

The detailed stonework and gold inlay is amazing.

This is an Anubis (Greek) or Inpu (Egyptian) - a jackal-headed god associated with the afterlife usually portrayed as half jackal/half man.

We definitely got a glimpse of how elaborate the burials of the pharaohs (King Tut was a pharaoh) were and how it was all centered on the afterlife. Nearly everything in the tomb was to be used in an afterlife where one would need furniture, shoes, and chariots.

This is the throne he would use in the afterlife.

No one knows for sure how King Tut died, but the consensus is that he'd broken his leg shortly before his death and it likely became infected. Tests on his remains also showed the presence of malaria so the combination probably led to his death.

There was only one pair of shoes exhibited and boy were they elaborate. Those aren't painted, they are inlaid. The audio guide we listened to said King Tut had over 100 pairs of shoes. I didn't think that was so many :) I wonder what his wife had back in her "closet".

Actually, they didn't have closets, just box after box after box to keep everything in.

By the way, he (King Tut) was married to his half-sister. They lived a long, long, long time ago. King Tut lived from 1341 BC to 1323 BC - only to the age of 18 years and he was ruler for the last 10 of those.

The couple had two children, both stillborn. Their bodies were also found in his tomb.

Another of the hundreds of elaborate decorative items to be used in the afterlife.

Perhaps one of the most interesting parts of the exhibit may have been the way the tomb was discovered. Despite excavators declaring there was nothing left to find in the Valley of the Kings, Howard Carter, who had worked in Egypt for over 30 years, was certain there was the tomb of King Tutankhamun yet to be found.

Carter and his sponsor, Lord Carnarvon, began excavating in 1914, but were interrupted by WWI. Work resumed, but after years of funding, Lord Carnarvon became dissatisfied giving Carter one more season to find the elusive tomb.

On November 4, 1922, they found the tomb that had been largely undisturbed for nearly 3,000 years. It was to be the most intact and preserved of all the tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

This is a map of the Valley of the Kings. KV62, "KV" meaning Valley of the Kings and "62" is the exact area of King Tut's tomb.

We went to the Brussels exhibit with our neighbors who've lived in Belgium all their lives, traveled a good bit and have been to Egypt more than once, the first time more than 20 years ago. They encouraged us to see Egypt while we are still in Europe. I read that to see the pyramids, you can walk, take a horse and buggy or ride a camel. Three choices. Given this and the fact there's been some unrest there of late, I don't know when I'll be ready to see Egypt.

Up until now, this video is about all I knew of King Tut . . .

Hi-Yo Silver!

I thought it was Hi Ho too, but it's not and he . . .

just might have been de-licious. We'll never know because he's been dead for decades, but my fellow Americans, you will soon have the golden opportunity that we who live in Belgium have enjoyed for . . . well, forever, I guess - paardenvlees.

You probably recognize that word because I've written about it before.

That's right. Horse meat. Black Beauty and Mr. Ed served up as sausage or lunchmeat. America could even become one of the top 8 countries that consume 4.7 million horses every year.

And it's better for you than Elsie, of course, with less fat, calories and cholesterol.

Apparently, Congress quietly lifted the 5 year old ban on horse meat inspections (it's only been 5 years?!). I think it was slipped into a spending bill that was probably already several hands high.

Keep in mind, the sale of horse meat wasn't illegal, just a ban on inspections which I presume essentially made the sale illegal.

Well, my friend Flicka, not anymore.

However, I did read that the sale of rabbit meat does not require federal inspection so if you can't stomach a nutritious Trigger steak, perhaps Thumper is the next best thing. The Belgians love it and France is the largest producer and consumer of it. Rabbit is all white meat and actually has less fat, calories and cholesterol than even chicken.

Probably tastes like chicken.

As I've mentioned before, I was a vegan for 2 years - the worst 2 years of my life. I've really got to stop thinking about those sad-eyed bovine I've been eating lest I go crazy again.

Carnivore or not, I refuse to dine on My Little Pony.

The American Road Trip II

Our first stop on this day was Heidelberg, Germany.

The fog makes it difficult to see all the houses going up the hillside.

High above the city is Heidelberg Castle (Heidelberger Schloss in German).

There's a tram that will take you to the top so we decided to try it.

The views were really nice.

The castle was in good condition too.

Construction began some time before 1214.

I think this picture looks kinda like a postcard.

That's the River Neckar running through Heidelberg.

Our next stop was Cologne, Germany. I've never seen the cathedral at night - just beautiful.

The Cologne Christmas Markets had opened that very day. There are about 75 cities in Germany that host Christmas markets like this one.

More decorations I loved.

There was plenty to eat and drink like gluhwein (hot wine - not so good) and bratwürst. This fish was chopped up and made into a sandwich - lekker.

There are several markets throughout Cologne. You can see this one is set up right at the base of the cathedral.

We stopped at a pub for some German beer. I don't usually like German beer, but I must say this was pretty good.

Then it was home for our Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends.

[Jan, Annemie, Jim, Ross, Hannah, Bert, Daniele, Laurel, & Pieter]

The American Road Trip I

We left early on a Saturday morning heading south on our American Road Trip (meaning a long car drive there and back).

First stop was Luxembourg City.

It is the capital of the country of Luxembourg. Kinda confusing. Like New York, New York.

On this map, you can see the tiny country of Luxembourg (Lux.) bordered by France, Belgium, and Germany. Luxembourg City has a population of about 100,000 people and the entire country has less than a half million.

The country has become a financial and administrative center and many companies have established an office or even a regional headquarters there. Like Skype, eBay, PayPal. It's not Switzerland, but I think it gives the term Swiss Bank Account a whole new meaning. Perhaps it's their legal banking secrecy laws where banks are not allowed, by law, to provide authorities with personal and account information about their customers unless there's been a criminal complaint filed, for example. Some might call this a tax haven.

Anyway, Luxembourg also enjoys the title of second highest per capita GDP in the world. Second only to Qatar (that's in the Middle East near Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - oil).

There's a lot more to see here (not just because of the fog) and I hope we can return one day.

Our next stop was Interlaken, Switzerland. Jim and I have been here before and it was just as beautiful this time.

Hannah and Ross looking through binoculars to get a close-up view of the Jungfrau Mountain in the Alps.

Interlaken is a popular ski destination. You can see the Jungfrau peak in the top center of the map and you can see Interlaken in the bottom center of this map. It lies between these two lakes, hence the name.

I can't imagine living here with this as your view.

We drove up the mountain to get a better view. This picture looks like a painting to me.

The first snow of the season had not fallen yet, but we found a little snow.

Our next stop was Lucerne, Switzerland. Jim and I have also been here before and I think it is one of the most picturesque cities we've ever seen.

The city lies on Lake Lucerne and this is the Reuss River which runs through it. The Chapel Bridge was erected in the 14th century. The Alps mountains of Pilatus and Rigi are in the distance, but the fog makes it difficult to see in the photo.

When I say "take a picture of all of us", Jim always obliges.

I guess this last one is where we said "okay, that's good enough".

Our next stop was Strasbourg, France. It lies only 3 miles from the German border and is the capital of the French Alsace region.

I just loved these Christmas decorations.

This is the Ill River which runs through Strasbourg and empties into the Rhine River in Germany. It's difficult to see every city during the day as our days are so short this time of year, but sometimes they are just as beautiful at night.

Last stop on this day was Zürich, Switzerland's largest city.

It was getting late and pretty chilly so we didn't stay too long. The city lies at the end of Lake Zürich and what's not showing in this picture are the mountains that surround Zürich.

It is a beautiful city and the Old Town area was really nice. I hope we can go back some time.