I was supposed to depart Toronto en route to Amsterdam, but instead I battled out confusion at the airport and hung around my parents' place for a while.

I caught my rescheduled flight out of Toronto for a short stop in London before continuing on to Cairo. Arriving in the evening, I got a quick lesson on Cairene traffic and noise.

The Nile Valley has been populated since about the 6th century BC. Though best known for 3000 years of Pharaonic rule, the land of Egypt has since been ruled by Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Ottomans, and the British until the current Republic was established in 1952.

The tour would begin in the evening, so I had much of the day to myself. I spent the time on a random walkabout of the city before meeting my tour group for dinner.

Cairo is largest city in Africa and in the Middle East, housing over 17 million people. Though officially founded in 969 AD, a city has flourished at or near what is now Cairo since the site was the Pharaonic capital of Memphis around 3500 BC.

Today we made the short trip to Giza to see the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx. We then visited the Egyptian Museum to witness its countless treasures, including those of King Tut. In the evening, we boarded an overnight sleeper train to take us up the Nile to the southern city of Aswan.

The Great Pyramid is the largest of the three pyramids at Giza, built as the tomb for 4th-dynasty Pharaoh Khufu, and is the only remaining structure of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Completed around 2560 BC, it stood as the world's tallest building for over 3,800 years. Built to such precise specifications, the means and methods of the construction of the pyramids has been under such great debate that it has spawned countless legends and tales of supernatural or extra-terrestrial origin.

We arrived in Aswan in the morning, and visited the 3000-year old Nobles' Tombs across the river. On Elephantine Island, we visited a Nubian village and experienced some of their home life and island history. Following a camel ride into the desert, we enjoyed a Nubian dinner, including crafts, song, and dance.

Aswan is best known internationally for the High Dam completed in 1970. It prevents devastating floods in high-water years, provides a water reservoir during drought, and generates 2.1 gigawatts of electricity. However, its construction also flooded numerous ancient temples and villages, displacing 90,000 people, and prevents the flow of nutrient-rich soil from up-river, causing the erosion of farmland, loss of fertility in the Delta, and erosion of coastlines as far as the Eastern Mediterranean.