I'm going to Eygpt, I'm going to Eygpy tra la la la la la la!

I really am so VERY lucky! Each year at RMB every department is allowed to go on a weekend away - there is a budget for this and you can save up one year and combine it with another so that you can go somewhere really nice. So far we have managed to go to Mozambique, Zanzibar and now Eygpt! In between years we have goen to the DrakensBerg and one really memorably bad place in the Waterberg (geve us stuff to drink and then showed us the bottle - had a pickled python inside!).

This years itinerary is:

29 May 21h45 Depart Johannesburg on Egypt Air flight in Economy class
30 May 06h45 Meet & Assist at Cairo airport, then transfer to the hotel
Accommodation at the Ramses Hilton Hotel in Nile View rooms including breakfast
10h00 Half day tour to the Citadel, Mosque & Bazaar including lunch at a local restaurant
Situated on a spur of the Muqattam Hills, the citadel dominates Cairo’s skyline and was the nerve center of the city and Egypt for almost 700 years. Its construction was initiated in 1176 by Saladin and completed by Muhammad Ali. Mameluke Sultans and Turkish governors later on made it their residence, building palaces and mosques within the citadel walls. Facing the citadel is the Mosque of Sultan Hassan,
built between 1356 and 1363 and perhaps the most majestic monument of Arab architecture in Egypt. The tour also includes a visit to Khan
El Khalili, a famous Cairo bazaar dating back to the late 14th century.
18h00 Sound & Light show followed by a Felucca Dinner

31 May Full day Alexandria Tour including lunch
A three-hour drive from Cairo. A special seafood lunch is provided on the bay of Abukir, scene of the naval battle between Nelson & Napoleon.
01 June Full day Cairo Museum, Pyramids & Sphinx Tour including lunch at a local restaurant
The Egyptian Museum has the largest collection of Egyptian antiquites in the world and features artefacts from the Pharaonic and Greco-Roman periods. The pyramids of Cheops, Chephran and Mycerinus, were considered by the Greeks, as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Not far
from the Pyramids is the Great Sphinx of Giza, which dates from the time of Chephren (2620 BC).
19h00 Traditional dinner at Felela restaurant
02 June 09h00 Half day Memphis & Sakkara Tour including lunch
Memphis served as the capital of Upper & Lower Egypt some 5,000 years ago during the 1st Dynasty. Menes, the first pharaoh of this dynasty, built a great white-walled palace & the Temple of Ptah here
Sakkara one of the most exciting historical & archaeological area in all of Egypt is Sakkara, situated about 12 miles South West of Cairo.
The site is dominated by the famous step pyramid of King Zoser. It was the first pyramid to be built in ancient Egypt, preceding those at Giza
by many centuries, & is the work of the famous pharaonic architect, Imhotep.
02 June 19h00 Nile Cruise dinner
02 June Transfer to the airport
03 June 02h40 Depart Cairo on Egypt Air in Economy class
09h40 Arrive in Johannesburg

Unfortunately we won't have time to go down the Nile to Luxor but I think we are really packing in as much as possible. I'll be getting off the plane and zooming off to the SAOUG conference where I may have to present a talk on automating news clipping tasks previously done by humans - I hope thay put me on day 2 not day 1!