After dinner a few of went to the roof of our hotel where Beatrice was kind enough to show off some Egyptian dance moves.  Some how I got roped into the deal, however unlike Beatrice,  I just couldn't get that hip moving action down.

Karnak is a temple of a  spectacular complex of sanctuaries, kiosks, pylons and obelisks, all dedicated to the Theban god - and to the greater glory of Egypt's Middle and New Kingdom rulers.

This is the Great Court just inside the entrance.  Ahead you can see the two large statues of Ramses II on each side of the entrance to the Great Hypostyle Hall (You can see the huge columns with in).

You can see the large size of the Ramses II statues.

Here is a close-up of the Queen at his feet.

Here are a couple of pictures os the massive columns within the Great Hypostyle Hall.  Each column was very detailed and also helped support the stone roof (you can see some of the stone support beams).

As we approach the mountain range of the Valley of the Kings & Queens on our donkey ride, we came upon the Colossi of Memnon.  These are all that remain of the temple of the hedonistic Amenophis III.

Once our donkeys made it up the mountain and over the ridge, we had a fantastic view of the canyon area below.  From this point we had to hike down into the canyon to begin our tour.

This is inside of the tomb of Merneptah where I got busted for taking pictures inside without a ticket (I ended up having to pay the whopping 5 Egyptian Pounds - or about US$1.40).  After I paid for the privilege, I snapped off a lot of pictures.  In this one you can see how colorful some of the tombs once were.  All of the color is original.

Here is another picture showing the detail and colors inside the tombs.

Here I am standing in front of the lid to the sarcophagus in the burial chamber.

Just around the corner was the Tomb of Tutankhamun.  Melissa and myself went into the tomb but weren't allowed to take pictures (and I didn't want to get busted twice).

So what I did was scan a postcard of what it looks like inside.  As you can see, there is only the outermost coffin (of gilded wood) containing the mummified body of Tutankhamun.

One of the reasons this canyon was chosen to bury the Kings was because of the natural pyramid looking mountain top.
 

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Valley of the Queens

When we finished up at the Valley of the Kings, we hike up and over the ridge to the Valley of the Queens.  Once on top of the ridge we were able to get an awesome view of the Temple of Hatshepsut.  To get this view I had to walk up to the edge of the cliff.  I guess to most of the people behind me my speed and bold stepping made it appear as though I was going to walk right of the edge.  I don't think they got over that one real quick.

Another great shot of the Temple if Hatshepsut.

One of the rare Todd poses on our way up to the temple.

Here we were inside of the temple and I thought the inside looked pretty awesome against the cliff side.