13. March 2005 07:33
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments
At the end of 2005 my Mum and Dad escaped the winter in Denmark by travelling to Sydney for a couple of weeks.
They stayed here over Christmas and New Years Eve. While they were here we went for a drive up to Graemes house at Taylors Lake near Port Macquarie where we Christmas Eve cooking traditional danish Roast Duck, and Ris-a-la-mande.
New years even we celebrated at Graemes place at McMahons Point here in Sydney.
New Years day was the hottest on record...48 degrees.
Click here to see more photos from:
Christmas and New Years Eve 2005/
Slideshow
huske turen rundt i dette museum, hvor jeg kiggede ind i smudsige glas
montre og stirrede på de rynkede ansigter af nogle engang kendte
faroer som Ramses II og undrede mig over, om disse gamle Ægyptere
var giganter i deres store kister.
20
år senere var det næsten umuligt at skubbe sig gennem mængderne
af turister - kun nyttigt fordi deres guider gav flere informationer
end vores. Med kun to timer var det umulig at se hele museet og slet
ikke de kongelige mumier.
Museet
fejrede sit hundred år med en speciel udstilling omkring TutAnkhAmun
- det mest berømte fund. Med rejseguiden i hånden "aaaede"
og "åååede" vi over guldskattene fundet
i hans grav - en guldtrone med den berømte scene med TutAnkhAmons
dronning, der tilbeder ham, kister af ibenholt og elfenben, jagtskjolde
beklædt med gepardskin, buer og pile, alabaster krukker med kong
Tuts mummificerede organer, guld sarkofager - da Howard Carter havde
fundet sådanne skatte for en lille kendt drenge-konge, forestil
jer, hvad Ramses II´s grav har indeholdt. Kong Tuts inderste kiste
af rent guld og og den berømte maske af guld, som alle gerne
vil se, er trykt i mange Ægyptiske billedmaterialer.
Museet
er blevet en ny pengemaskine for Ægypterne med yderligere en entre
for at se de kongelige mumier. Vi måtte være tilfreds med
at se dyremumierne - katte, hunde, fugle, geder, Nile Perch (ja, også
fisk!) og mest fantastisk var en 7 meter krokodillemumie.
Udstillingerne
var på øverste etage opsat efter emne og på underste
etage i kronologisk orden uret rundt fra det Gamle Kongerige, til det
midterste og sluttende med de Nye og Sidste Kongedømmer. Der
var værelser fyldt med kæmpe sarkofager (kister), som hver
ville veje en tons, et værelse fyldt med miniaturer, der viste
daglig liv i Ægypten, et værelse fuld af falmede gamle papyrusskrifter
og værelser fulde af brokker og stykker fra ruiner, statuer, palads
gulve - et sted, man kan tilbringe dage med en ordentlig rejse guide.
Khan Al-Khalili
 Efter
et stop på en Ægyptisk parfumefabrik og en frokostpause,
kom vi til Khan Al-Khalili, det ældste basar i Ægypten,
som går tilbage til 1300-tallet. Gamle tiders købere besøgte
Khanen for at kigge på varerne bragt dertil af handelskaravanerne.
Vi finder ikke længere slaver, silke, juveler eller diamanter,
men træ guitarer, skønne klude tæpper, klæder,
t-shirts, papyrustryk, vandpiber, bunker af tøj, aromaen af krydderier
breder sig og boder med stakke af rødt, guld og blå pulver
og sække med frø og bønner. Kobbersmede udhamrer
fade, terriner, kaffekander og enorme halvmåneformede toppe til
minareter. Det er et ritual i basarer at tinge om priserne, lokale såvel
som gæster - almindeligvis til en tiendedel af den budte pris
- har du betalt en tredjedel, har du betalt for meget. Vi havde kun
en time til vores rådighed, men mange af boderne var lukkede for
siesta og for ramadanen. Ulla og jeg pegede på nogle sække
af mangefarvede krydderier. Han ville have 50£ (50 kr.), men efter
jeg sagde "da ketir awi" (det koster for meget) og gik, fulgte
sælgeren efter os en kilometer mens han reducerede prisen fra
40£ til 30£, 25£, 20£, og efter vi i spøg
råbte 10£, tilbød han 15£, 10£ og endelig
5£ før han opgav os. Efter megen tingen lykkedes det os
få to udsmykkede parfumeglas flasker for 20£ (20 kr.).
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Bedstemor's fødselsdagfest
 Irene
og Ole havde sørget for et privat værelse til Bedstemors
fødselsdagsfest. Et enkelt langt bord i et værelse i Ægyptisk
stil. Sølv fade i to rækker midt på bordet med ild
under holdt maden varm.
Vi fik kommen-panneret stegt fisk, kyllinge
filleter på Ægyptisk stil, kanel-krydret ravioli, ris, kartoffelmos
og steg i pebbersauce, "sang" og brød med Ægyptisk
vin og øl til Bedstemor.
Mens børnene legede i et hjørne,
var der meget snak bordet rundt, og aftenen sluttede med chokolade og
frugt kage pyntet med "Happy Pirthday" (det er ikke en fejl)
og vi morede os over os over overfloden af Ægyptiske kager - bagværk,
semulje tærte, rosenvands krydrede tærter og tærter,
der smagte af flydende honning… Ulla ville gerne have resten af
desserten med sig (undtagen den rosenvands krydrede - det var morsomt
at se hendes udtryk - rosenvand dufter næsten som parfume). Tjenerne
var hele tiden meget opmærksomme, passerede hver andet minut for
at opvarte os.
Det bedste var, at Bedstemor blev som to
årig, da hun skulle puste lysene på kagerne ud. Som danskerne
ville sige, "det var meget hyggeligt!"
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Mandag 15. november 2004 (start 7:30)
Fra de grå bygninger og gader I Cairo
kørte vi 24 km mod sydøst til Saqqara, skiftende fra ensartet
brun til frodige grøne marker med grøntsager og hundrede
af dadelpalmer. Det var som en oase, hvor et fint slør gav en
uvirkelig følelse af de frodige områder i det gamle Ægypten.
Kvinder i hellange sorte "abeeyas" fordelt i markerne, den
gamle mand, der vandrede omkring - en stor kontrast til mylderet i Cairos
centrum.
Saqqara's Trin Pyramide
Grundlagt som et nekropolis (begravelses
by) for det gamle Kongedømme og et af de rigeste arkæologiske
områder i Ægypten.
Trin pyramiden er mindre end halv så
høj, som den største pyramide ved Giza, men dette monument
var en forløber for de glatte pyramider. Tidligere var gravene
bygget af soltørrede muddersten, rektangulære byggesten,
der dækkede gravstedet. Men arkitekten Imhotep havde  den
lyse ide at bygge med sten og bygge den trinagtige struktur fen gange
ovenpå hinanden, og skabte den første pyramide.
Vi kom ind gennem den store sydlige gård
- på størelse med en fodboldbane - gennem en koridor af
40 søjler inspireret af bundter af bundne rør. Mens Adam
holdt endnu en af sine taler, blev jeg antastet af en klæde og
turbanklædt Ægypter, som førte mig op til toppen,
hvor jeg fik et godt skud af de fantastiske søjlers top, før
jeg blev skældt ud af Adam og tigget for "baksheesh".
Jeg var taknemmelig for at blive reddet fra Ægypteren, som ikke
ville lade mig gå uden baksheesh, af et par Italienere. Da jeg
kom ud fra koridoren blev jeg imidlertid blændet af det hvide
sand og den enorme pyramide alene omgivet af sten fra andre ruiner og
en meget mindre trekantet høj af sten i baggrunden. Selv om morgenen
var køkig, så varmede solen os, mens vi vandrede nord omkring
pyramiden.
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Memphis
 Engang
hovedstaden i det gamle Ægypten, uudgravet på grund af landsbyen,
bygget over den gamle by, og det hævede grundvandsspejl på
grund at Asuan-dæmningen. Der er en lille park med nogle få
fund, brokker og stykker, men den mest spændende ting at se er
en kolos af Ramses II, der ligger på ryggen og mangler den nederste
del af benene. Kolossen ville have været 5 etager høj,
hvis den havde været hel. Midt i parken ligger den største
alabaststatue, der er fundet - en sphinx på 80 tons - tænk
hvilke skatte, der kunne have været fundet, hvis Memphis kunne
udgraves, især da denne gamle by lå på halvvejen mellem
Øvre og Nedre Ægypten.
Vores sidste stop før frokost var
ved en papyrus butik - endnu et sted med kommission til Adam. Bedstemor
købte en papyrus med det Ægyptiske alfabet i heroglypher.
Nogle af papyrusbillederne kostede 3500£ (3500 kr). Til frokost
fik vi et udmærket Ægyptisk måltid ude midt i ingenting.
Vi fik glimrende mezza (ægyptiske tapas) af baba ghanoush (ristet
aubergine dip), tzatziki (agurke dip), hummus (kikærte dip), fuul
(bønner) serveret med friskbagte pitabrød, varme vinblade
ruller, lamme kofta og ny grillet kylling med timian. Det var et måltid
for konger og det bedste Ægyptiske måltid, vi fik på
hele turen.
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Pyramider af Giza
 Fra
luften ligger ørkenen og pyramiderne lige op til byen, 16 km
fra Cairo.
Jeg husker svagt at blive puklet op ad
en overraskende varm skakt, oplyst af en enkelt lyspære, og komme
ind i et meget køligt, mørk rum, hvor der stod en enkel
stensarkofag; rummet var tomt, men med tilfældige firkantede huller
i væggen til mad til livet hinsides.
Jeg var inde i Dronningerummet i den største
pyramide og nu 20 år senere kan kun de første 300 gæster
daglig komme ind i disse pyramider - for en anseelig entre. |
Den største af de tre, Kheops pyramide, er 146 meter høj,
920 meter i omkreds og består af 2,3 millioner stenblokke! Hver
blok var mindst en meter høj, så man kan forestille sig
hvor massive disse pyramider var.
Den næststørste Khefrens (Kheops søn) pyramide har
stadig noget af de glatte skinnende kalkstens dækning, som engang
dækkede alle pyramiderne.==>
Den massive solbåd, som engang bragte
faraos krop fra Memphis til Giza og de tre mindre Dronninge pyramider
står ved foden af den massive Kheops pyramide. Vi havde ikke mulighed
for at komme ind i gravkammeret denne gang, men jeg føler mig
privilegeret over at jeg var derinde, og stadig har nogle minder fra
begivenheden.
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Sphinxen
 Pyramiderne
rejser sig i baggrunden, mens den sider stille på det varme sand
under den bagende sol i 4000 år. Napoleons tropper brugte den
som målskive, så næsen og faraos skæg er for
længst faldet af og findes i British museum. Grækerne kaldte
den "Sphinx", som var basseret på en mærkelig
skikkelse med hovedet af et menneske og kroppen af en løve, som
ville stoppe enhver rejsende langs vejen med en gåde - hvis gåden
ikke blev gættet, blev man måltid for Sphinxen. Trængslen
af skarerne omringede Sphinxen og vi kunne kun bevæge os i gåsegang.
Gennem tiden ser det ud til, at turisterne må se Sphinxen på
længere og længere afstand. For 50 år siden kunne
Bedstefar røre ved Sphinxen og også klatre op på
toppen af pyramiden; for 20 år siden var Sphinxen hegnet inde
med et lille trådhegn, men jeg kunne stå tæt ved den;
nu ligger den i et stort hul, hvor besøgende kun kan se den tæt
på gennem zoomen på deres kameraer. 4 tusind år senere
bjergtager den stadig os alle.
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Tirsdag 16. november 2004 (start 2:30)
Ja, du læste rigtig - vi ventede
alle I receptionen kl. 2.30. I aftes diskede Bedstemors børnebørn
op med Spansk-Ægyptisk-Italiensk middag til hele familien. Dette
fulgtes op af end back home for a nice warm shower.
Mostly a non-climbing day really...but Andy did get his sugar-hit with the pancakes.
12. October 2009 11:37
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments
Saturday evening Kim and I went with a couple of friends to the Capitol Theatre to see the Broadway play called Wicked. The play is about how the Wicked witch became wicked in 'The Wizard of Oz'.  The play very cleverly provides the background for the Wizard of Oz. This was Kims birthday present to me earlier in the year...satisfied the criteria for presents: Must be an experience or a consumable. It was a really nice evening and the play was very funny...especially the Wizard of Goodness (a real blonde)
23. September 2009 04:35
by Rene Pallesen
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The last 24 hours has been the most freak weather I've (and anyone else) has experienced in Sydney. Yesterday we had 30 degrees during the day and in the evening a huge thunderstorm descended upon Sydney with massive rainfalls and very high winds. Kim found that water was dripping through ceiling and my first though was "This ain't good" and rushed up to check if there was a hole in the roof tiles or in the plumbing (if you see one of the previous posts then you'll notice that we've installed Solar hot water and this system is positioned above that same bathroom). I could clearly see where the water had come in, but it wasn't through any gaps and it seemed that the strong winds had pushed the water backwards and upwards under the tiles...whew...but I'll have another look next time it rains. Then this morning I woke up and looked out the window and everything was covered in a bright red and yellow haze and it was blowing a gale. I had a look at the forecast and stuck my head outside the window and it turned out that all of NSW was encapsulated in a massive dust storm with fine red dust coming from the Australian outback.  Everything outside is now covered in this fine dust, cars, windows...everything. One of out friends too the following photo from his balcony:  The area covered by the dust is huge and apparently it may even reach New Zealand. 
14. September 2009 12:55
by Rene Pallesen
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This weekend we invited a group of my friends over for BBQ. The official excuse was for my recovery after my Hernia surgery (which is still causing me some grief some days). It was a beautiful spring day with 31 degrees in the shade and luckily I had put up a gazebo outside to cover the area and provide a bit of shade. Most of the day I was attending the BBQ cooking Lamb Cutlets, Fish, Prawns, Vietnamese Sausages and Chicken skewers. The last batch of chicken skewers I forgot on the BBQ with a very predictable result.  In the evening we had Kim's family over for dinner/BBQ, so a repetition of the afternoon.
6. September 2009 10:44
by Rene Pallesen
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This weekend we went to Sasha's and Mavis's wedding.
Family and friends were invited to attend the ceremony at Greenwich at 10am. The location they had chosen had a stunning view of Sydney Harvour and skyline.
When we arrived neither the groom or the bride were there. Approximately 20 minutes later the bride arrived, but still no groom, so she did another round in the car.
Finally at 10.30 Sasha arrived with his dad after having been stuck in traffic, shortly after Mavis arrived in her beautiful wedding dress and the ceremony could get under way.
It was a beautiful ceremony, beautiful location and beautiful weather.
After the ceremony it was photo time.
The reception was at a restaurant called Occilate Wildly in Newtown. The food was nice and at the end of the afternoon everyone went on their way.
27. August 2009 12:18
by Rene Pallesen
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27. August 2009 10:27
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments
The week before we went away on holiday I experienced pain in the pelvic area. I quickly got it diagnosed with ultrasound to be a hernia. Furtunately it could wait until we came back from holiday to be fixed although it was giving me some problems along the way carrying suitcases etc. As soon as we came back I went to see the specialist and he told he that it would have to be fixed with surgery and that he could schedule it for the following week. In the morning of the surgery I had to be at the hospital at 6.30am in the morning. Surgery started at 9am and by 11am I was awake again released at 1pm. So it terms of the surgery it was very smooth...but it was very painful afterwards. I had problems standing up and sitting down. This photo was taken two days after the surgery:  The cut is 13cm long and at this point I am still very much in pain. The feedback from the doctor was that this was an Indirect Inaugural hernia and apparently the type that can cause a lot of problems later on if not fixed. Unfortunately part of hernia surgery is that they have to cut some of the nerves so that they don't get caught in the mesh they use to repair it with. This means that now two and a half weeks after the surgery there is still a large area around the cut that has got no sensation to touch or pain and some areas are hyper sensitive with the result that even the lightest touch is painful. I hope the eventually all the sensation returns to normal (apparently in 25% of the cases this doesn't happen). I also hope that the scar won't be too bad and will mostly disappear long term.
27. August 2009 10:07
by Rene Pallesen
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When we came back from our holiday our watertank had started leaking significantly. Actually it had started leaking slightly back in May where at the same time the government was introducing the stimulus package as part of their rescue plan for the financial crisis. Part of this package was an increased rebate on Solar hot water which provided a total $3400 government funding. Back then I got a couple of quotes, but never proceeded hoping that the tank would last a little longer. When we came back the leak had become a lot worse and could burst any time. It therefore had to be replaced very fast. It seemed that just replacing the existing electric tank would cost almost the same as installing Solar hot water and would be more expensive in electricity. Besides we have already installed extra insulation and energy efficient appliances so it only made sense to use Solar hot water as well.  It took them 3 hours to pull down the old 160 litre tank and install a new 300 litre tank on the roof. So far we are happy with the system. We have more hot water than before, it is not nearly as hot as the old system, but plenty hot for what is needed (The old system had water which was close to 90 degrees Celcius and the new is appx 60 degrees). It has an electric booster installed for cloudy days, but once summer is here I should be able to turn that off completely. And an extra advantage is that it has cleared out some space on the side of the house.
27. August 2009 02:00
by Rene Pallesen
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17. August 2009 10:30
by Rene Pallesen
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After Lake Como it was our last day and Italy and was time to go home. We had to return to Milan that evening to fly back to Sydney next morning.
We decided to detour around the lake and possibly stop at some of the villages along the way. At the top end of the lake we came to a T intersection. I told kim that Switzerland was one hour if we turned left and Milan was 2 hours to the right. I asked her if she felt like a quick dash across the border before returning.
Most of the borders to Switzerland (and Austria) are located on the top of the mountain passes since the Mountains was what defined the borders the old days. The road up to this mountain pass was very narrow and full of blind corners. Kim developed stomach cramps on a number of occations on the trip and we eventually came to the conclusion that it was the tension when driving on these roads.
The scenery on the way up there was stunning. It was nice and cool climate and we were soon above the tree line and could see patches of snow on the mountains surrounding up.
The style of houses changed from being traditional italian to be more swiss looking.
Eventually we got to the border. Unfortunately the officer at the post didn't have a stamp to stamp Kims passport.
We had lunch at the border and then returned toward Milan. We had dinner at the southern end of Lake Como and arrived at our airport hotel at 10pm.
I had to return the car to the rental company at the Airport. Fortunately the hotel had an efficient shuttle bus service that made it easy to come back to the hotel. Unfortunately I forgot the cover for my phone in the car so I had to make the trip twice and was pretty knackered (and grumpy) when I eventually got back.
At 6am next morning we were back at the airport returning to Sydney.
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