No crisis in Suez!

Quote of the day: “Children are a waste of time. I never knew my children. They weren’t awake when I went to work in the morning, and they were in bed by the time I got home at night. I built an empire – I was a workaholic – the only way to succeed is to take the lion by the tail.” Australian on our table at breakfast.

Today was spent traversing the Suez Canal. I’d read about it and heard about it, but it wasn’t until I’d seen the real thing that I realized just what a great engineering feat it is. About 100 miles long, it’s a huge water-filled ditch linking the Red Sea with the Mediterranean. No locks needed as there is no difference in water level between the two ends. Many small towns and settlements along the way, which are more affluent than I would have expected, with long stretches of desert in between.

We started the traverse about 6am and will reach Port Said by 4pm this afternoon. This is earlier than was originally planned, so we get the chance to go ashore this evening. That will be the first time off the ship in 8 days, so a lot of people are looking forward to that!

Tomorrow is our visit to Cairo – Pyramids, Sphinx and King Tut’s loot in the Cairo Museum. Downside is that we have to be ready to leave by 6.30am, and it’s a 3 hour bus trip to get there. Still, this port is probably the biggest highlight of the entire cruise for me, so I’m thrilled to be here…

Still getting to the gym daily. JB has discovered the cross trainer, and is churning out her time on that and the cycle. I can do most of the things I want to with a bit of lateral thinking. Have to be careful not to bump into slow moving OAPs though!