Aswan - Abu Simbel

Well today was a blast, but i am totally shattered. It was so noisy outside my room last night that I didn't get to sleep until after midnight - there were still people yelling and kids playing in the street when I finally went out to it. Then at 2.35 I woke up, showered and got ready to go to Abu Simbel.
Security is certainly a lot tighter here than it was in Luxor for people venturing down near the Sudan border. All the vehicles in the convoy to Abu Simbel assembled at around 3.30 to be inspected by police, including under vehicle checks, then we all set off together.
Driving through the desert at night was amazing, all you could see was stars from one horizon to the other, and looking very different to our own night sky. I was teacher's pet, and got to sit up front with the driver, which I thought would be ok but my knees are caning now from being bent in one position for so long.
I slept part of the way, surprise surprise, and woke just as the stars were disappearing from the sky with the early rays of dawn. This also lit up the Sahara desert, through which we were probably driving for 3 hours - about 250km of it.
We arrived at Abu Simbel at dawn and it is just as spectacular as I thought it would be.

The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside during the reign of Pharoah Ramesses II in the 13th century BC, as a lasting monument to himself and his queen Nefertari, to commemorate his victory at the Battle of Kadesh, and to intimidate his Nubian neighbors.
The massive facade of the main temple is dominated by the four seated colossal statues of Ramesses. These familiar representations are of Ramesses II himself. Each statue, 20m high, is seated on a throne and wears the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. The whole temple is sculpted directly from the rock face, including all of the interior. The thrones are decorated on their sides with Nile gods symbolically uniting Egypt. Between the legs and on each of their sides stand smaller statues of members of the royal family, and beneath the giant sculptures are carved figures of bound captives.
The first hall inside the temple contains eight large statues of the king as Osiris, four on each side, which also serve as pillars to support the roof. The walls are decorated in relief with scenes showing the king in battle, including the Battle of Kalesh on the north, and Syrian, Libyan and Nubian wars on the south wall, and also presenting prisoners to the gods.
The sanctuary contains a small altar and in its rear niche are four statues. These cult images represent Ramesses II himself, and the three state gods of the New Kingdom: Ra-Horakhty, Ptah, and Amun-Ra. Before the statues rests a block upon which would have rested the sacred barque itself. The axis of the temple is arranged so that on two days of the year, February 22 and October 22, the rising sun shoots its rays through the entrance and halls until it finally illuminates the sanctuary statues.
To the north of the main temple a smaller temple was built in honor of Ramesses’ great wife, Nefertari, and the goddess Hathor. As with Ramesses’ own temple, the cliff face was cut back to resemble sloping walls of a pylon. Six colossal standing figures 11m high, four of Ramesses and two of Nefertari, were cut from the rock face, along with smaller figures of the royal family. An inscription over the entrance reads "Ramesses II, he has made a temple, excavated in the mountain, of eternal workmanship, for the chief queen Nefertari, beloved of Mu, in Nubia, forever and ever, Nefertari for whose sake the very sun does shine."

As a side note: Ramses II had a harem of wives, although his special wife was Nefertari, and more than 150 children have been identified by name as his - presumably there are more!

So totally stuffed, I have no energy left to look at anything else. I am resting for the afternoon before braving the souk tonight.