The Honeymoon (part 1)

It had been a beautiful wedding.  The Basilica was gorgeous and all their closest friends had been there.  Carl was sad that none of his family were able to make it but he knew that his sister, Cleo, was coping with the sudden loss of her husband, Pascal, and couldn't face the long journey.

But their special day was nearly over.  Leaving the church they discovered that what had begun as a crisp early winters day had turned into a fully fledged snow storm!



They had clearly chosen their honeymoon destination wisely; farewell to the cold of a Hidden Springs winter, hello to enjoy some glorious sunshine!



Most of all though, they were together, sharing another adventure; this time as husband and wife. 



They had never managed to make it to North Africa on their previous trips, so this visit to Al Simhara was going to be especially memorable.


The guidebook recommended that their first visit should be to the market to pick up essential supplies for any excursions into the desert and tombs around the small town.

He was quite an experienced traveller but Carl had no knack for languages and Malia loved to watch him play the "little boy lost", the "innocent abroad" as he struggled to describe what he wanted to the various shop-keepers.  He was just so darned cute!

Not only acquiring some useful local necessities Carl also managed to get an excellent deal on two rental scooters that would make getting around so much easier, and fun!



For their first visit, however, they didn't actually need to travel very far.

The "Tomb of Discovery" was close to the camp site and promised an easy introduction to tomb exploration - they hoped to be able to visit at least one of the historic pyramids during their stay.



Carl was really pleased to see how keen Malia was to start exploring the sites; she was normally quite a timid person.  Perhaps it was that they were somewhere so completely different.



It was quite a simple tomb, it didn't have much in the way of decoration but there were still plenty of unusual and exotic art to enjoy.



Though Carl could have done without some of the strange creatures to which the tomb was home. Ground crawling creepies he could cope with, but seeing some weird little beasties scuttling across the ceilings did make him a little nervous!



Some of the treasures in the tombs were quite fragile so would be housed in special caskets. In one of the caskets Malia found a strangely shaped key with a card attached: "The Treasures of History trail starts here ..."

"Ah-ha," Carl observed, "the guide book said that some of the museums and tombs have a sort of interactive trail; so you're like exploring the history of Al Simhara for real.  Cool."

In this case it wasn't an especially exciting trail, just a key into a room with some more of the large blocky statues they had seen near the entrance, but it was a start.

Beside which, time was drawing on, it was getting late and they were tired from the flight anyway so the couple returned to the camp site for the night.



A simple meal of chilled local vegetables mixed in a fresh yoghurt was enough for them and was remarkably refreshing in the warmth of the African evening.

And, so, fed and showered, they retired to the comfort of their small tent, exhausted but full of excitement for the rest of their honeymoon trip.