From: Bertha Tsang <tsang@forty2.enet.dec.com>
Subject: Queen Nefertari's Tomb

I'd just like to make you all jealous by reporting that I managed to
get into this fabulous tomb on the week of it's opening.

Thursday 9th November found us on the 8am Ferry to the West Bank and
then a short drive to the Antiquities Ticket Office (not the one by
the Nile shore) only to realise that all the 150 tickets per day had
already been sold.

Friday 10th November found us on the 6am Ferry and we found a massive
argument going on at the Ticket Office.  Some Tour Leaders wanted in
the region of 55 tickets each.  Unfortunately the tickets hadn't
arrived yet, so they couldn't be sold yet and everybody was worried
that they'd lose their place in the queue, especially with the
non-existant Egyptian queueing system.  Eventually a list was drawn up
(the initiative of a Japanese lady who spoke Arabic) and we realised
that being 11th in the queue we would be getting tickets number 136
and 137.

The tickets arrived at 7am with the Chief of Tourist Police who
announced that individual tourists could purchase tickets, but Tour
Leaders would have to wait.  We hurriedly bought our tickets for LE100
each and rushed off to wait at the entrance to the Tomb of Nefertari
which didn't open until 8.30am.  Later, we discovered that the Tour
Leaders had only been allowed to purchase 4 tickets each.

Eventually we managed to get into the Tomb.  People were only allowed
in in groups of 10 and for only 10 minutes.  But the 10 minutes was
superb.  It's by far the best decorated, well preserved (in terms of
brightness of colour; and the amount of coverage of wall-paintings
that still existed) and best restored tomb of all the ones that we had
seen.  The Tomb itself was quite large with several chambers all of
which were well decorated; the ante-chamber had one wall that had a
decorated shelf built in, as if it were for an altar; stairs led from
this room into the burial chamber which was unusual in that it had 4
columns in it.  I can't do it justice - you'll just have to go and see
for yourselves!

Unfortunately cameras were prohibited and the postcards that I bought
were of a shamefully low quality.

Bertha.