At first, I wondered. We promptly arrived over on the East Bank at our travel agent at 11:00 am as requested. Our guy walked us back to the ship which was parked in front of the Winter Palace. We sat for a few minutes as a quiet argument at the reception ensured. He came to us saying that we paid at the offical exchange rate but the cruise company wanted to recalculate. Of course that meant we had to pay a little more. Aware that our dates were flexible, we said, "No." We offered to go back to the agency and get a refund. So we walked the short distance and waited in the office for the details to get straightened out by phone between the agency and the cruise ship company. They did. After five minutes, we were able to go back to the boat and officially check in.
It was a rather fun way to start the trip by providing something to remember. I have always maintained that when a journey goes exactly as planned, there's nothing special to recall!
We had our first exposure to the food and I was impressed. Lunch was served as soon as we had unpacked and walked around the boat and up to the sun deck. The boat had to re-position a few times before we departed.
We actually got underway at around 2:00 PM. It was fun to watch our familiar Luxor city fade into the distance. The views were then filled with the amazing Egyptian landscapes. Tea time was between 3:30 to 4:30.
After the sun set, we approached the Esna Locks. At one point in time, before the construction of the Aswan dams, this area had rapids. In order to make the Nile navigable, locks had to be built. Many cruise ships were waiting to get up to the higher level. More sellers, who were previously running beside the ships trying to sell goods, were waiting for us. They would throw items up for inspection and the potential buyer had to haggle. If the deal was successful money was thrown down; if not, then the item was returned that way.
At around 7:30 we also had dinner although I'd eaten much too much for lunch. We spent even more time on the sundeck although the sun had set hours before. We are lucky that the weather had turned very warm. During the day it was about 35C but at night it was a very comfortable 18C.
We are still moving! Our boat is supposed to dock at Edfu during the night and that is where we will wake up tomorrow morning.