Eric, and his cousin Cleetis, couldn't wait to see the sights.
One of their first stops was this beautiful temple built for
the Pharaoh Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut was unusual as she was one
of the few women to rule Egypt.
Eric was keen to experience the joy of flight which evolution
had denied him. Eventually he decided to take advantage of a
once in a lifetime opportunity to fly over the Theban hills in
a hot air balloon, although he was quite concerned that the ground
was such a long way away.
Never mind, Eric was quite safe as long as no one thought
it would be funny to hold him out over the edge of the basket.
From the Balloon Eric was amazed by how much building the
Ancient Egyptians had done. Everywhere there were ruins of really
big temples and lots of little holes dug into the rocky hillsides.
These holes are actually the entrances to the tombs where
the Egyptians buried their dead.
The balloon is a great way to see the sights
of Egypt. The only down side Eric encountered was that he flew
on a particularly calm day which meant the he did not actually
fly very far.
Unfortunately Eric has a knack for getting into mischief.
When He visited the museum in Luxor he couldn't resist hopping
up onto this statue to get his photo taken. The statue is very
old, and it's a good job that the people who worked in the museum
didn't notice what the little bird was up to.
Statues of the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut still included the
special beard traditionally worn by male kings
Statues like the one Eric is sitting on were often buried
to make way for new ones. This is why they are in such good condition
after 4000 years.
