Day 10 Jan. 2nd (Canon XSi)

Damon's photos at Abu Simbel. Finally we end our Nile tours with a visit to the temples at Abu Simbel. Well known for its four colossal seated statues of Ramses II, it was built into the rock face. The statues are about 20 meters(65 feet) high and the one on the left was damaged in an ancient earthquake. Since the temple was covered with sand in ancient times, the damaged head and torso were found were they fell and the archaeologists have decided to leave them there. The temple is designed so that the sun shines all the way to the inner sanctuary on October 22nd and Feb 20th each year, 60 days before and after the winter solstice.

The second temple is for Ramses' first wife Nefertari, but of course Ramses is still just as prevalent here. The smaller temple is half-scale of the main one, so the statues in the front are about 10 meters(32 feet) tall. Photography is not allowed inside, so you will just have to take our word that this was an awesome temple, inside and out.

After spending the morning at Abu Simbel, we flew back to Cairo just in time to see the evening sound and light show at the pyramids.