The hotel in Luxor

The outing to Luxor consisted of a four-hour bus ride across the Eastern Desert during the afternoon and evening of the first day, an overnight at a hotel in Luxor, then, the second day, tours of the Valley of the Kings and miscellaneous temples, followed in the late afternoon by the return bus trip.

The hotel in Luxor, the Sonesta St. George, deserves its own commentary. Specifically, the bathroom. I mean, sure, marble floors, a life sized etching of Queen Nefertiti in the elevator, luscious Egyptian cotton bed linens, bathrobes, and towels, staff clearly more oriented to serving oil-rich sheiks than plebian tourists, Holland America doesn't do Econolodges.

But that bathroom! Jiminy! Radios inside and outside the shower enclosure, jacuzzi outlets in the tub, six little rotating shower heads at shoulder-to-hip level in addition to the big overhead one and the other one on the flexible hose. One woman on our tour turned on her shower, only to discover that the last user had left the water flow directed to the six small heads, which promptly sent water out the door of the enclosure all over the floor. One needs to acclimate to a sybaritic lifestyle.

The. Toilet. Had. A. Control. Panel. The settings weren't activated until you sat down, at which point there was this low hum as it prepared to do your bidding. Wait a minute, I may have a photo. Yes. I have no idea what most of the advanced functionality does. Bidet I understand, but that one on the far right looks like it will paddle your bottom for you. And the second option may be an enema. There's a  white sign partly visible to the right that is an introductory guide, I think. I know you can set the water temperature.

I was sufficiently intimidated that I just used it in its most rudimentary sense, at which point I noticed another sign indicating that toilet paper should not be discarded in the bowl. I guess maybe the water treatment facilities in Luxor are not as sophisticated as the Sonesta's plumbing.