Balloon ride

daddy brought Thomas his own camera as a present from Libya before we went to Luxor so we have a treasure trove of photos.  Before we get to that, here is just a taste of our derring-do: a sunrise balloon ride over the ancient temples:

Thomas was ok with the height, but the enormous flame in the middle of the basket was unnerving.  The other Kirkpatrick men are awed, not scared, just fyi. 

Here are some more shots:

What is perhaps most surprising about this ride is that they encouraged us to bring Emmett.  We did not- he and Grandma Nancy had a snuggly morning back at the hotel.  He is not happy about that when he looks at these pictures, but one thing I am thankful for today is that we did not have wiggly, screaming Emmett on this ride.

 This colorful young lady greeted us when we landed in a random field behind some houses:

Tear-gassed!

poor Dave!







But actually he says he is fine, and all is mellow, even festive, downtown.

Update: Man with bottle is protester helping teargas victims by offering eye drops.  Photo was taken by a NYT photographer, I think.  Boys and I have not been to Tahrir-- dont worry. (well actually I did stop by with two friends on the way home the other night.  It smelled terrible- we all got sore throats immediatly.  The rumor is that they are dropping extra-strong new chemical gas-- I am getting lots of outraged messages from friends telling me to tell Dave to make the NYT report this.  As if I could.

protests seemed to be thousands of young men sitting around- most looking like Williamsburg hipsters, but some with beards and jalibayas.  Seemed to be teams devoted to ferrying supplies, patrolling perimeter, controlling traffic, organizing buses, and the like.  Other than that, not clear what the focus was, but they are doing good things, and very brave.)

Posted by Laura

Protests

yesterday, on my birthday, I saw that Dave had taken the time to write a front page story on Libya during the few hours of calm between violent protests in Tahrir.  I had had the boys most of the day and all of the day before.  Left the house for milk, then sent Dave a text, "be back in a few hours, good luck with the boys.".

I am the 99%.


- Posted by Laura