14. November 2004 11:03
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments
Egypt - Pallesen Family Holiday
2004 |
|
~
Travel Journal ~
Read about our journey with links to an
amazing photo gallery |
|
|
~ Photo Gallery ~ |
|
What We are All in Egypt for |
|
| | |
The Sphinx
~ Half Man Half Lion ~ | Saqqara's Step Pyramid | Valley of the Kings |
| | |
Pyramids of Giza | Kheop's Pyramid
~ the Largest Pyramid ~ | Khefren's Pyramid |
| | |
Aswan Dam | Memphis
~ Capital of Ancient Egypt ~ | The Unfinished Obelisk |
|
|
Temples |
|
| | |
Karnak
~ 120-metre Columns ~ | Hatshepsut in a Cliff | Horus
~ Greek "Egyptian" Temple ~ |
| | |
Philae - the Island Temple | Kom Ombo
Crocodile Mummies | Luxor |
|
|
The People Way of Life |
|
| | |
Streets of Luxor | Khan Al-Khalili
~ an Egyptian Bazaar ~ | Horses |
|
|
The Pallesen Family |
|
| | |
Bedstemor's Fest | Egyptian "Italian" Dinner | Coffee-shop |
|
| |
On the Roof-top |
| In Cairo |
|
|
The Nile |
|
| | |
On the Boat | Felucca on the Nile | Tomb of Nobles |
| |
|
| Egyptian Sunset |
|
|
|
Things to Buy |
|
| | |
Papyrus | Perfumery | Alabaster |
|
|
Other Places We Saw |
|
|
| |
The Citadel in Cairo |
| Lunch on the Nile |
|
Created: 8 Jan 2005Last Updated:
24-Jan-2005
14. November 2004 11:02
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments
Bedstemor's 85th Birthday ( 13
- 20 Nov 2004 ) |
|
|
Ancient Egyptian stories and legends have
long made their mark through movies such as "Cleopatra", "The
Mummy" and wowed us women with Omar Sharif's performance in "Lawrence
of Arabia" and "Doctor Zhivago" and more recently in
cartoons such as "The Prince of Egypt". There is a certain
mystic about middle east portrayed to us from a very young age when
we hear bedtime tales like "Ali Baba the 40 Thieves"
or "Sinbad the Sailor" - most of us have a dream of seeing
the pyramids.
I was very lucky to have the opportunity
20 years ago to come to Egypt with my parents and at 10 years old, there's
only so much a child can remember. But this year, the Pallesen Family
once again get together for the Matriach's 85th birthday. It is tradition
for the family to come together and travel to an exotic country - in
the past Tunisia, Morocco, Gambia and for Grandmother's last wish, to
see the pyramids of Egypt, that her husband saw 45 years earlier.
The Matriach's three children, six grandchildren
(Nikolai could not make it), four greatgrandchildren and respective
spouses all came together for a week in magical Egypt. It is autumn
with warm days and cool nights - a contrast to the approaching winter
in Denmark.
|
Saturday 13 November 2004
Departure for Egypt
Our family had to leave Falster at 2:30am
to catch a 6:30 flight, 4½hr later we arrived at Cairo Airport.
I have dim memories of a very warm airport in complete chaos, with people
pushing to get their luggage through, shouting over a mad din. Instead
we found a rather clean and uncrowded airport. We were met by the AB
Travel Agency representative, taken to a Hotel Pyramisa, left in a closed
piano bar
and promptly forgotten until one of us had the bright idea to ask for
our keys.
Our family shared a two-bedroom hotel room
with a large living area. Our first afternoon was spent walking around
the streets of Cairo trying to find a place for the family to have dinner.
Our hotel was located across the river from downtown
Cairo, so there was not a lot to see, combined with the fact that
many shops were closed during the day over Ramadan, the Islamic period
of fasting from dawn to dusk. Sunday heralded the last day of Ramadan,
so many were preparing for the final feast.
In the end, the whole family had dinner
in the hotel's "Oriental" restaurant of Egyptian style. We
figured we would get some decent Egyptian food but were disappointed
to find most of our food luke-warm. The rice was very dry, little meat
on the lamb and rather bland food. To our surprise, after our comment
about this, we were presented with a complimentary platter of fruits
native to Egypt such as fresh dates and guava. To our amusement, no
matter what kind of Egyptian wine we ordered, they all tasted the same.
There was plenty of Egyptian beer and of course the danes lived up to
their drinking prowess and Bedstemor ("grandmother") treated
us all dinner.
|
Sunday 14. november 2004
On the first night we didn't sleep very
well - sleeping in a different bed combined with quranic prayers coming
from a nearby mosque didn't exactly leave us with a peaceful sleep.
However we were all up early to get together in Bedstemor's room for
a "surprise" get-together - to sing the danish birthday song
amongst a flutter of red white flags, and present her with a small
gift. This family "surprises" the birthdayee and all sing
in unison this rather cute birthday song.
The Citadel Muhammad Ali Mosque
 Our
first destination was the Citadel. It is the
city's fortress that once housed the royal family and although most
of the complex is open to visitors, the military still have a foothold
and some areas are out of bounds. It takes a half day to explore all
areas of the Citadel but we didn't have the opportunity to do so, and
instead spent most of our time in the Muhammad
Ali Mosque.
<== There is a magnificent view of the
city from the Western Terraces - magnificent had most of Cairo not been
filled with the same shade of mud-bricked buildings. What
was most notable about Cairo was its lack of colour or rather its ability
to blend into the desert.
 Our
guide Adam/Mohammed provided little insight to the function or history
of the Citadel, and instead sat the group in one corner of the Muhammad
Ali Mosque like a bunch of school children, and gave a lecture on Islamic
laws and behaviour.
When René ventured to ask more about
the Citadel, he was scolded for interrupting and told to listen. We
never got the opportunity to find the number 7 Napoleon's troops had
painted above one doorway to avoid using the unfamiliar Arabic names
or the twin half-round towers because our guide simply didn't know where
they were.
During this time, I had the opportunity
to wander off and walk the beautiful alabaster-lined arcades of the
mosque. the soaring central prayer hall was a glimmer of hundreds of
lights hanging in concentric circles. Arabic inscriptions in gold were
painted on the ceiling. Women had to be suitably attired and could not
wear sleeveless tops or short skirts or shorts. In one corner lay the
sarcophagus of Muhammad Ali - the builder of the mosque and an albanian
mercenary who was the founder of the dynasty that ruled till the revolution
in 1952.
Cairo Egyptian Museum
I
have memories of wandering around this museum, peering into smudged
glass cases, staring into the shrivelled faces of some once well-known
pharaoh like Ramses II and wondering if the ancient Egyptians were giants
in their large coffins.
20
years later, it was almost impossible to push through the crowds of
tourists - only useful because their guides provided more information
than ours. With only two hours, there was no way that we could view
the whole museum or see the royal mummies.
The museum
was celebrating its centenary and there was a special exhibition dedicated
to TutAnkhAmun - the most famous archaeological find. With travel guide
in hand, we oohed and ahhed over the gold treasures found in his tomb
- a gold throne featuring the famous scene of TutAnkhAmun's queen anointing
him, chests made out of ebony ivory, cheetah-skinned hunting shields,
bows, arrows, alabaster canopic jars holding King Tut's mummified organs,
gold sarcophagus - if Howard Carter had found such treasures for a little
known boy-king, imagine what the tomb of a pharaoh like Ramses II would
have been like? King Tut's inner coffin of solid gold and the famous
mask of gold that everyone wants to see and is portrayed in many egyptian
images.
The museum
has become another money-making expedition for the Egyptians with an
exhorbitant price to view the royal mummies. We had to content ourselves
with the animal mummies - cats, dogs, birds, goats, Nile perch (yes,
fish as well!) and most amazing was a 7-metre crocodile mummy.
The exhibitions
were arranged by themes on the upper floor and chronological on the
lower floor, going clockwise from the Old Kingdom, to the Middle and
finally to the New and later kingdoms. There were rooms full of giant
sarcophagi that would've weighed a tonne each, a room full of miniatures
showing the egyptians
Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal
|
|
|
|
  
|
 After
our last dinner, we were entertained by a young boring bellydancer and
what I've been waiting to see... a Whirling Dervish - a display of Sufi
dancing.
Sufism a semi-mystical branch of Islam
with an unorthodox approach to prayer ie dancing to attain a trancelike
union with God.
Urged on by the pulse of drums, strings
and pipes, the dancer spun in a blur of multicoloured skirts - reds,
yellows blue until he looked like a spinning top.
Photo Courtesy of Tour
Egypt Photos
|
Saturday 20 November 2004 (4:45am start)
Most of the family enjoyed the cruise and
the sights they saw. They were not very happy with the organisation
of the tour, with ridiculous early-morning starts, packed days on some
and almost nothing on others. Most of all, many of the family were unhappy
with Adam - we vented on our questionnaires and Ulla gave the AB Travel
Agent representative an earful, about how rude Adam had been, how unintelligible
his heavily-accented danish had been, he picked on some of us, glared
at the children for chattering at the back of the bus, he avoided questions
and scolded anyone who interrupted him with a question. Worst of all
were all these unneccesary "commission-based" trips that cut
into our sightseeing time. He was the typical Egyptian that could've
made our trip much more enjoyable.
From an early flight to Cairo, a mad-scramble
for our baggage, a three-hour wait in the coffeeshop of a nearby hotel
to a 4½hr flight back to København, it was 5pm by the
time we all retrieved our luggage and bade our final farewells to each
member of the family. Despite a 4:45am start, it took us a whole day
to return home.
There is a certain amount of sadness that
it may be last time the family is united as Bedstemor is getting on
in her years. René has been on approx ten reunions, organised
by Bedstemor's children but paid for the grandparents - as a legacy
to the family. I have been lucky and privileged to be invited to one
of these family gatherings - four generations in all. It allowed me
to visit another exotic part of the world and to get to know this very
special Matriach. |
§ The End § |
|
Created: 8 Dec 2004Last Updated:
16-Jan-2005
14. November 2004 11:02
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments
Bedstemor's 85 års fødselsdag
( 13 - 20 Nov 2004 ) |
Oversættelse Freddy Pallesen
© 2004 |
|
Det gamle Ægyptens historier og legender
har længe markeret sig gennem film som "Kleopatra",
"Mumien" og begejstret os kvinder med Omar Sharifs optræden
i "Lawrence of Arabia" og "Doctor Zhivago og senere i
tegnefilm som "The Prince of Egypt". Der er en vis mystik
omkring mellemøsten skildret for os i en meget ung alder, når
vi hørte godnathistorier som "Ali Baba og de 40 røvere"
eller "Sinbad Søfareren" - de fleste af os har en drøm
om at se pyramiderne.
Jeg var meget heldig at få muligheden
for 20 år siden sammen med mine forældre at komme til Ægypten,
men som 10 årig er der ikke så meget et barn kan huske.
Men dette år samles Familien Pallesen igen engang for "Matriarkens"
85 års fødselsdag. Det er tradition for familien at samles
og rejse til et eksotisk land - tidligere har det været Tunesien,
Marokko, Tyrkiet og Gambia - og nu for Bedstemors ønske om at
se Ægyptens pyramider, som hendes mand så for 50 år
siden.
Bedstemors tre børn, seks børnebørn
(Nikolai kunne ikke komme med), fire oldebørn og respektive ægtefæller,
alle tog sammen til det magiske Ægypten. Det er efterår
med varme dage og kølige nætter - en kontrast til den kommende
vinter i Danmark.
|
Lørdag 13. November 2004
Afrejse til Ægypten
Vores familie måtte af sted kl. 3.30
for at nå flyet kl. 6.55; 4½ time senere ankom vi til Cairo
lufthavn. Jeg har en svag hukommelse om en meget varm lufthavn med komplet
kaos, med mennesker, der skubber for at få deres kufferter igennem,
råbende gennem en masse larm. Nu fandt vi en næsten ren
og ikke tætpakket lufthavn.Vi mødte AP-Travels repræsentant,
som tog os til Hotel Pyramissa, hvor vi tilsyneladende blev glemt i
Pianobaren, til en af os fik den lyse ide,
at bede om vores værelsesnøgler.
Vores familie deltes om en toværelses
suite med et stort fællesrum. Vores første eftermiddag
blev brugt til en spadseretur rundt i kvarteret
for evt. at finde et sted for familien at spise. Vores hotel lå
på den anden side af floden i forhold til centrum, så der
var ikke meget at se på sammen med, at mange butikker var lukket
p.g.a. Ramadanen, den Islamiske fasteper |