Leno and I leaned against the railing behind the belching stack, watching sparks flit from the pungent black smoke to be wafted aft, burning out their brief lives like miniature shooting stars.

All day we had seen nothing on shore except for two lonely fishing huts that we probed with Leno's binoculars. Ahead now, a pinpoint row of lights slowly rose into view. Abu Simbel.

We nosed to a landing for the night on a sandy beach. A full moon almost seemed to jump up and then hovered just above the horizon as if exhausted. We leaned back, drinking in the magic night filled with personal thoughts. Mine were of home and my wife, Gina, whom I sorely missed. We had parted in India. She had to return home facing the necessity work and missed sharing those magic moments. The passengers were extremely disappointed that our tour did not include going ashore to visit the fabulous tomb first hand...

Our agenda called for us to be viewing the tomb by moonlight...

Does anyone know where parts one and two are?

Flashbacks from here and There: Rambling In Egypt, Part 3, Nick Ellena, Chico Enterprise Record, California, USA, July 10, 2007.

Thousands of international school children are helping pop artist Romero Britto create a 45 foot pyramid in honour of King Tut's anticipated return to London.

The long-dead Egyptian pharaoh has been touring the world for 35 years and will make a stop at England's new O2 exhibition centre this fall.

Single tickets for the eagerly awaited “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” exhibition will go on sale to the public Sept. 12, ahead of a Nov. 15 [2007] opening.

More than 180,000 tickets for the blockbuster exhibition have already been reserved or sold in the United Kingdom.

About 1,500 children joined Britto at The O2 Thursday to paint panels for his tribute to the Pyramids at Giza, said a press release issued by Project Pyramid organizers...

Artist creates pyramid to welcome back Tut, UPI, USA, July 05, 2007.

The Vatican has accused organisers of an internet poll to find the seven new “wonders of the world” of deliberately ignoring Christian monuments.

Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, who heads the Vatican’s pontifical commission for culture and archaeology, said that the exclusion of Christian works of art such as Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel was “surprising, inexplicable, even suspicious”...

A total of 21 sites have been shortlisted, including Stonehenge, the Acropolis in Athens, the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico, the Colosseum in Rome, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Great Wall of China, the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu, Petra in Jordan, the Easter Island statues and, the Taj Mahal in India. Also on the shortlist are the giant statue of Christ Redeemer on Corcovado mountain above Rio de Janeiro, and St Basil’s and the Kremlin cathedrals in Moscow.

But according to Avvenire, the Italian Catholic daily, the Vatican believes that these have been selected as tourist attractions, rather than as Christian sites, and only after intense political lobbying by the governments of Brazil and Russia...

Note that this article dates to before the results were announced and in fact The Statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rid de Janeiro made the final seven. And anyway why should the organisers pick 'Christian' sites above Muslim or Hindu sites for instance? Ultimately they are correct in their assertion that the competition was all about tourism — which is where the lobbying has come in. In reality it was nothing more than a popularity contest and creating a hundred new wonders list would have been better. It is also interesting to note that since the results were announced that fears have been raised about the future site management of Chichen Itza, Machu Picchu, and Petra, with the probable massive increase in tourist numbers that their inclusion on the list will generate.

Vatican left aghast by new Seven Wonders list, Richard Owen, The Times, UK, July 06, 2007.

The new exhibit of treasures from King Tutankhamun's tomb at London's O2 domed stadium is expected to be the country's largest art show in nearly 50 years.

It was announced Friday that advance reservations for the Egyptian exhibit, which opens in November and runs for nine months, has already reached 180,000, The Telegraph reported.

Organizers already are calling the advance bookings "quite staggering." They expressed confidence the show will smash the current record of 1.7 million visitors set by the first Tutankhamun exhibition in 1972...

King Tut Show Expected To Draw 2 Million, UPI via The Post Chronicle, UK, July 07, 2007.

I was tempted to think that nothing ever changes in Luxor. Temples and tombs survive; boats sail on the Nile; the fellahin, Egypt’s farmers, still irrigate their crops with rainwater from Ethiopia and Uganda; and the sun, the valley and nearby desert remain the defining facts of life, just as they were in the paintings in the pharaohs’ tombs. But I was wrong. Luxor is being transformed.

The city is cut into two distinctive halves by the Nile, which is broad and beautiful here. At the time of the pharaohs, the east bank was busy, a place for the living, while the west side was as quiet as the occupants of the tombs hidden in its Theban hills. And that’s the way it is today: the city, the airport, the train station and two big temples on one side; the tombs and temples, the Theban hills, some villages and farmland on the other.

Yet, in the couple of years since Dr Samir Farag became governor, Luxor has gone through enormous change. On the eastern side of the river, he has renovated the train station, demolished the restaurants and souvenir stalls that blocked the view of Luxor and Karnak temples, and rebuilt the souk. He is enlarging the airport and moving all “floating hotels” several miles upstream; he has opened a Nubian cultural centre, a branch of Cairo’s Mubarak Public Library ... and all this is just the beginning. No wonder some inhabitants are quaking at the thought of what is to come...

The pharaohs get a face-lift, Anthony Sattin, The Times, UK, July 08, 2007.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni has unveiled plans to construct a new building to display Egypt's historical documents and papers.

Hosni said the building will cost LE30 million donated by Sheikh Al-Qasimi, the ruler of the United Arab Emirates of Al-Sharjah.

The new building will be constructed on 5,000 square metres in Old Cairo's district of Al-Fustat...

Culture Minister unveils new building for Egypt's historical, rare documents, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, July 04, 2007.

The Supreme Council of Antiquities will finish during the coming period a project for developing "El-Lisht" monuments, Middle Kingdom's capital including features of its history. The history of El-Lisht remains a mystery as most of its secrets and treasures are still buried under the earth in an area called "Bakr Area".

An antiquity resource said that "El-Lisht" village was called in the Pharaonic Era "Itj-Tawi" which means holding territerians [sic] [It actually means "the one that seizes the Two Lands"]. The village was the capital of Egypt in the Dynasties era. The area is considered to be an extension to Manf cemetery located in south Dashur area.

The saving project includes important points as decreasing the underwater as it affects the two royal burial rooms in the pyramids. The project also aims to restore the engravings of Senwosret Ankh including hundreds of the pyramids texts. The pyramids texts included the history of the Egyptian religion. The project also aims to dig holes to explore the new cemeteries as "An Gar Hotob" cemetery...

Project for saving Egypt Capital's monuments in the Middle Pharaonic Kingdom, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, July 08, 2007.

The UN body for culture on Sunday blasted a private initiative that drew nearly 100 million internet and telephone voters to choose seven "new" wonders of the world.

"This campaign responds to other criteria and objectives than that of UNESCO in the field of heritage," said Sue Williams, the spokesperson for UNESCO, the UN cultural body that designates world heritage sites.

"We have a much broader vision," she told AFP.

Voters chose the Great Wall of China; India's Taj Mahal; the centuries-old pink ruins of Petra in Jordan; the Colosseum in Rome; the statue of Christ overlooking Rio de Janeiro; the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru; and the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico...

UNESCO slams new 7 wonders, Sapa-AFP via News 24, South Africa, July 09, 2007.

UNESCO slams seven 'new' wonders of the world, AFP via The Age, Australia, July 09, 2007.

7 'new' wonders of the world leave sour taste, Sapa-AFP via The Star, South Africa, July 09, 2007.

Egypt says pyramids still 'only wonder of the world', AFP via Middle East Times, Cyprus, July 08, 2007.