23. June 2015 11:07
by Rene Pallesen
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They also had a snake show at the elephant place.
Some of the snakes were very poisonous such as this monocled cobra.
And the huge king cobra (which kept coming over the safety barrier).
Chong and I volunteered to hold the python.
I wonder how often the snake guy has been bitten by his snakes.
22. June 2015 11:07
by Rene Pallesen
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21. June 2015 11:07
by Rene Pallesen
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20. June 2015 08:07
by Rene Pallesen
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After my stay in Athens Greece I am now in Vianen in Holland where our European office is. The purpose with my stay here is to do a bit or coordination and do some planning.
Vianen is about 45 minutes drive south of Amsterdam not too far from Utrect. I am staying at the only hotel in Vianen which is located 3-4 kilometers from the office, but fortunately I have been able to borrow one of the company cars.
Vianen really is in the middle of no-where. It is a sleepy little town with no major attractions.
The hotel here is really weird. None of the floors meet and the numbering system of the rooms is all over the place. It is generally faster to get from one room in the hotel to another by always taking the lift to the ground floor, exit the hotel, enter it elsewhere and then take the lift up again...at least the ground floor is always on the same level.
The room itself is nice enough. When I wake up in the morning i wake up looking at a cow paddock with a couple of horses wandering around...did I say that this is out in the sticks?
People in holland steal with their arms and legs. Yesterday I asked to get an ironing board and an iron brought to my room.They told me that they could not do that (could be because of the mile long walk from the reception but I don't think so, because the room also don't have an alarm clock and the tv is bolted to the table) and they told me that they now had a special ironing room. The iron and ironing board was bolted with a big chain to the wall.
The only positive thing about the hotel is that the breakfast is pretty nice (dinner isn't) and the internet is reasonably priced at 25 Euros for a week.
Its is nice to catch up with colleagues although the schedule is pretty busy here. I interviewed a couple of people for the office here and we are going to give an offer to one of the guys.
Also a couple of the restaurants in Vianen itself are fairly decent and the fact that I could borrow a car meant that I could get around a bit.
12. June 2007 07:35
by Rene Pallesen
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Here in mid June I am in Greece assisting one of our partners on a project involving our software.
I arrived Sunday evening and started working Monday morning with the partner. One of my colleagues Karsten is also here and last night we went to this fantastic restaurant called moorings.
It is the most fantastic setting right next to the sea, and the food was fantastic. My starter was goats cheese wrapped in prosciutto ham baked in the oven and then served on a bed of wild mushrooms. For mains I had Grober (a fish) and it was really nice. The servings were massive so no chance of leaving hungry. It was a pity that Kim wasn't there joining me...she would have loved the place. The whole dinner including a bottle of wine, pre-dinner drinks for two people amounted to approximately 135 Euros which is really cheap considering the food and the setting.
During the week Karsten and I have been pretty busy assisting the partner on the project. Later in the week they requested to get some more of my time to assist them. Since Athens is a nice place to be (more interesting than Vianen anyway) I as happy to stay. This means that my stay will ten days in total before continuing to Holland.
During the weekend I had time to do some windows shopping along Ermou street and in the Athens Flea markets as well as visit the Unknown soldiers grave.
After that I continued up to see the Acropolis.
I was in Greece and Athens about 15 years ago and managed to see a lot of things, but it was nice with a bit of a refresher. One of the things I particularly remember from Acropolis is the Porch of the Maidens.
One evening around sunset on the weekend I walked up this hill close to the hotel that has a small chapel on top. There were also a couple of restaurants up there so I decided to sit down and have dinner. The evening view from the hill was fantastic with a view of Acropolis lit up as well as all of the lights of Athens all the way to Pireus.
Click here to see more photos from:
Athens /
Slideshow
21. May 2007 12:12
by Rene Pallesen
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It is time to renew Aiden passport and like last time there were a lot of outtakes that we could not use, but which were quite funny.
20. May 2015 11:05
by Rene Pallesen
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Here is some more photos of my grandma and grandpa on my mothers side.
Here she is with her sisters (my grandma on the far right)
Here is some of her when she was young.
Here is one that I assume was taken in 1969 based on the date of the photo.
I think this one if my grandpa when he was young.
And here is some more.
And here is some family gathering photos.
I think it is her brother on the left. And my cousin Mette on the right.
And this is with my grandparents on my fathers side (left to right bedstefar, mormor, morfar, bedstemor, mum and Claus).
12. May 2015 11:05
by Rene Pallesen
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Going through some old photos I came across these of my great grand parents (on my mothers side).
I am pretty sure that the little girl on the left is my Mum (So the photos must have been taken around 1943-1944) and the other two girls are her sisters (My Aunties) Eli on the right and Yrsa in the middle.
I assume that the women in the back are their grand parents (my great grands) with the woman on the right being my grandmothers (mormor's) mum and the one on the right being grandad's (morfar'd) mum.
Here is a family photo of what I assume is my grandmothers (mormor's) family. I think it is my grandma in the middle right behind my great grandmother.
I assume this is my great grandparents, but I cannot be certain.
This must be a birthday for my grandmother.
This was taken outside the farm where my mum grew up. It is my grandad (morfar) in the middle on the right and it could be my grandmother (mormor) on the stairs with her mum. The farm is still there today owned by my uncle.
This must be some of the family on my grandads (morfar's) side, so possibly some of his siblings.
A friend asked if I would do a commissioned corporate portrait for professional usage.
I said I was happy to help and on a very rainy day we managed to get the the shoot done. This is the most corporatey of the lot.
I purchased a cheap ring flash and had a bit of a play with it one evening and took the following happy snap photo of Kim.
We are planning a holiday and I am thinking that I might bring it along.