In the Thousand and One Nights stories, Cairo is described as the Mother of the World – "Its dust is gold, its Nile is a wonder."

True. But the storyteller could have added that in summer's heat its air quality is like smoking a packet of cigarettes a day and the wonder is that more people aren't killed trying to cross the road.

More than 16 million people are crammed into Cairo's teeming backstreets. That's three times the population of London in an area almost half the size.

A million Cairenes hurtle around in cars of indeterminate origin, few of which run on unleaded petrol. With the result that Cairo has become one of the most polluted cities on Earth.

For three days I sat on my balcony in the Royal Nile Tower hotel watching feluccas (traditional sailing boats) and pleasure cruisers darting under bridges and zig-zagging across the banks of a timeless waterway. Then, on the fourth day, a slight breeze brushed away the polluted air... and there were the Pyramids...

TRAVEL: FUN OF THE PHARAOH, The Daily Mirror, UK, May 20, 2006.

The big King Tut exhibition comes rolling into Chicago on Friday.

"Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of Pharaohs" is at the Field Museum through Jan. 1 [2007]. It is the largest Tut show since a 1977 exhibition toured the world.

This show is bigger, but its artefacts are smaller and more diverse. Its coffins are miniature. Its gold treasures, while exquisite, are not the most important (Egypt no longer allows them out of the country). This show presents artefacts and stories from many pharaohs, not just Tut which may disappoint some but will fascinate others interested in seeing the Tut story in context...

Tut exhibit set to open in Chicago, Detroit Free Press, Michigan, USA, May 21, 2006.

cf. Wonders of Tut reign in Chicago, The Louisville Courier-Journal, Kentucky, USA, May 21, 2006.

cf. Return of the king, The Indianapolis Star, Indiana, USA, May 21, 2006.

Our next day's adventure began early again with a bus taking us to another dockside area in Aswan, where we boarded a motor boat for a short ride to the Island of Philae and its Temple of Isis. This site, like Abu Simbel, would have been flooded with completion of Aswan Dam, but also was moved in its entirety to another nearby island.

There, Wafa, our guide, regaled us with stories of the Egyptian gods — mythic and fascinating.

The Temple of Isis

The Temple of Isis on the Island of Philae was built as a place of worship in the fourth century B.C. by the Ptolemy pharaohs. Its entrance façade is made up of two massive towers with grand bas reliefs of the pharaohs and gods, and hieroglyphic descriptions of their exploits. You pass through a portal to a long courtyard with a colonnade, then into columned halls adorned with pictographs and hieroglyphics. I found it especially remarkable that each column had its own unique capital — that special design at the top of a column...

Nile cruise explores exotic sites, Ventura County Star, California, USA, May 21, 2006.

cf. Part 1: A view from the Nile: Treasures of the temples.

The wait is finally over! The highly-anticipated Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs opens this Friday, May 26th [2006] at The Field Museum. To date, The Field Museum has sold more than 190,000 tickets to this blockbuster exhibition.

When the British archaeologist Howard Carter uncovered the remarkably preserved tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, he created a worldwide sensation. When the boy king's riches toured the world in 1977, the term "blockbuster exhibition" was born. Now a new exhibition, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, offers visitors a chance to see new treasures and to enter the world that gives them meaning: 250 years that marked the pinnacle of ancient Egypt's culture, wealth, and imperial power.

Visitors to the new exhibition, twice the size of the 1977 exhibition, will have an even broader and deeper experience. The exhibition includes more than 130 ancient artefacts — of gold and silver, jewels and semi-precious stones, alabaster and gilded wood — excavated from the tomb of Tutankhamun and other royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Visitors will learn about life and death in ancient Egypt, and the intimate relationship between the two, as well as discover what the latest technologies reveal about how the young king may have died.

Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs is an exhibition from National Geographic. Organized by Arts and Exhibitions International and AEG Exhibitions in association with The Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt and The Field Museum. Tour Sponsor is Northern Trust. Chicago Sponsor is Exelon, Proud Parent of ComEd...

Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, PRNewswire, USA, May 22, 2006.

For the first time ever audiences will descend down a narrow shaft beneath desert sands to enter a world untouched, and watch as Discovery Channel exclusively reveals the most significant find discovered in the Valley of the Kings in more than 80 years. Located less than 50 feet from the tomb of King Tutankhamun (KV62), the Discovery Quest expedition team of world-renowned archaeologists excavate and explore this new cache (KV63), unearthing coffins and delicate artefacts, sifting through intricate inscriptions and discovering unprecedented treasures when EGYPT'S NEW TOMB REVEALED premieres on Sunday, June 4 [2006] at 9 PM ET/PT.

Why is this tomb of painted coffins hidden in a chamber of solid rock in the Valley of the Kings? There are clues that is was used for embalming and it shares more than common real estate with that of the famed Tutankhamun. A seal with a faint inscription carries the word PA-ATEN, which an Egyptian expert believes is part of the former name given to Ankhesenamun, wife of Tutankhamun. Pieces of pottery found in the tomb match pottery in Tutankhamun's tomb. The painted facemasks on the coffins have also been dated to this period. This past February, KV63 was first discovered, sending shockwaves through the archaeological and scientific world.

Science will tell us the true identities of who is buried in the coffins. Only Discovery Channel provides exclusive first-time access to the unearthing of an Egyptian tomb, step by step from exploration to examination.

EGYPT'S NEW TOMB REVEALED is the first Discovery Quest project of 2006. As the premier provider of the highest-quality factual programming in the world, the Discovery Quest fund reaffirms Discovery Channel's commitment to support groundbreaking research and inventions that change our world. As part of this network initiative to support the scientific community's work, The Supreme Council of Antiquities has enabled Discovery to follow the University of Memphis' excavation...

Discovery Channel Presents Most Significant Find in Egypt's Valley of the Kings in More Than 80 Years in Dramatic World Premiere Exclusive, EGYPT'S NEW TOMB REVEALED Airing Sunday, June 4, PRNewswire, USA, May 22, 2006.

cf. Discovery Channel Announces EGYPT’S NEW TOMB REVEALED, Reality TV Website, USA, May 23, 2006.

Chicago-area residents will get a chance this Friday to experience the story of King Tutankhamen and the golden age of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt.

The exhibit at the Field Museum officially opens Friday, but NBC5's Bob Sirott took an early tour of the more than 100 artifacts from ancient kingdom's boy king. The exhibit will be at the Field Museum through the end of the year. Ticket prices range from $15 to $30.

"This discovery never happened in history," said Zahi Hawass, Egypt's secretary general of The Supreme Council of Antiquities. "Maybe this discovery will never be repeated..."

Ancient King Makes Return Royal Visit, NBC5, Illinois, USA, May 22, 2006.

Authorities have given the go-ahead for the underwater exploration of what appears to be a Roman city submerged in the Mediterranean, Egypt's top archaeologist said Monday.

Zahi Hawass said in a statement that an excavation team had found the ruins of the Roman city 20 miles (35 kilometres) east of the Suez Canal on Egypt's north coast.

Archaeologists have found buildings, bathrooms, ruins of a Roman fortress, ancient coins, bronze vases and pieces of pottery that all date back to the Roman era, the statement said. Egypt's Roman era lasted from 30 B.C. to A.D. 337...

Egypt OKs study of submerged city, Reuters via MSNBC, USA, May 22, 2006.

The 'Egyptian Week' event is back in Como, from 23 to 28 May [2006], displaying items and artefacts at the Archaeological Museum "Paolo Giovio" , donated by collector Alfonso Garovaglio . The collection consists of almost 1000 pieces, the most outstanding one being a sarcophagus dating back to the 9th century BC, which still holds a mummy, a priestess of god Amun, Isiuret. The casket of priestess Isiuret, with the mummy inside, was donated in 1819 by [the] Khedive of Egypt, Mohammed Ali, to Mr Baldassarre Valerio. The casket is actually a cartonnage envelopment: several strata wrapped directly around the mummy, and then painted accurately. It presupposed the presence of an outer casket, probably made of wood, never found. The casket was cut horizontally at the end of the 20th century: the mummy of Isiuret was completely wrapped up and tied with a 7-metre long linen thread. The sarcophagus decoration consists in several pictures of gods, with inscriptions asking for her protection. Isiuret, which means 'Isis the Great', was a priestess of god Amun, and carried out three important duties: "player of 'sistra for Amun", "singer of the Mut chorus"; "nurse of Khonsu".

MUSEUM. "EGYPTIAN WEEK" IN COMO WITH ISIURET SARCOPHAGUS, Agenzia Giornalistica Italia, Italy, May 19, 2006.

The Discovery Channel has announced that on June 4, 2006 at 9:00pm EST they will be airing a special on KV63 called "7 Coffins". I tried to verify by searching Discovery.com, but found no mention. Check your local listings.

Roxanne Wilson is inflight from Luxor, Egypt and will arrive home tomorrow. I expect that she will have new info and photos for the KV-63 site.

KV63, Bill Wilson, Webmaster, KV63 Official website, May 21, 2006.