Egyptian Museums, Tapestry and Travel

Wedding

2011-12-01T11:40:00.001+11:00

We all did the tea ceremony again and the banquet had similar yet subtly different food as it is all symbolic of wishes for the couples future and it was the effect of local produce, customs and traditions that made for variation. The preliminaries were long but the banquet surprisingly swift and then everyone but direct family left with a reverse receiving line to say goodbye

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Location:PP

2011-12-01T11:31:00.001+11:00

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Hundreds of photos

2011-12-01T11:30:00.001+11:00

From 6 until 9 the slightly jet lagged couple were photographed with an endless stream of family, family friends and work colleagues.

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Wedding in hong kong

2011-12-01T11:25:00.001+11:00

The Pleasant palace was the venue for the reception. Laurence's parents arranged from Australia for all the HK side of the family to gather and have the wedding feast again for those unable to be in Sydney for the wedding

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2011-05-15T18:59:00.001+10:00

Back in London having a last taste of amazing museums, and shops.

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2011-05-14T04:07:00.001+10:00

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Travelled into the mountains on Tuesday to visit the monastery of St Anthony the Great. There is a cave there where the mad were chained to cure them. Brother Michael, a very charismatic monk, told us all about it. The place was like Jenolan caves with a monastery. We then went further up the mountains to visit the tiny remaining cedar forest, preserved thanks to Queen Victoria who had a wall built around it to keep out goats. The mist came down and it was quite eerie.
Wednesday we walked around the old town, medieval, the citadel,Ottoman, and the archaeological site, Neolithic to Persian.

Lebanon

2011-05-14T03:57:00.001+10:00

Blog acting a little odd today

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2011-05-10T06:00:00.001+10:00

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2011-05-10T05:59:00.001+10:00

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2011-05-10T05:58:00.001+10:00

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2011-05-10T05:57:00.001+10:00

In Tripoli today and I was surprised at how much more conservative and religious it was. We went to the Great Mosque and the citadel as well as wandering through the souk seeing the various khans that were the produce markets. We also were able to visit a disused ottoman hamman. It was in remarkable condition though it was a long time since it had been years for baths, very original in it's condition.

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2011-05-07T05:34:00.001+10:00

Lebanons ancient sights have been less than spectacular so far and today was 19thcentury churches and palaces so there is some disaffection in the ranks especially since the hotel tonight is rather ordinary

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2011-05-07T05:30:00.001+10:00

Inland today, away from the coast towards the hills and mountains, not surprisingly a more conservative and religious society. We went to a Druze village and saw a palace from the 19th century

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Lebanon

2011-05-06T05:58:00.001+10:00

Today we went to Sidon which although it was a Phoenician city doesnot have much left of that period, the crusader castle was good and the traces of an Ottoman past are very clear

We also visited the soap museum which is mostly an excuse to sell u stuff. They did actually show you the process here are some columns of soap drying.

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2011-05-02T03:49:00.001+10:00

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2011-05-02T03:48:00.001+10:00

Whole day in Colchester was not actually enough, the museum in the castle on the site of Claudius' temple that Boudicca burnt was excellent. Great collection on the rebellion unsurprisingly. Some really good examples of roman pottery and quite a lot of metal as well. The heritage trail mostly followed the Roman wall diverting to churches frequently built with roman remains. I didn't get to the other 2 museums in the town or explore the extent of the park not to mention the zoo.

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2011-05-01T05:27:00.001+10:00

Simple one hour journey morphed into a major exercise as some dimwit stuffed his truck under a railway bridge at Diss and screwed the network. Finally arrived to find some other fuckwit had put the town at the top of a hill with the railway station at the bottom. Who is in charge and how come they are so disorganized?
Colchester is the oldest recorded town in England and mightily into myth building, the town hall has St Helena on it facing Jerusalem and holding a sword. This is supposedly her birth place as the daughter of the local king, Old King Cole that is.

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2011-04-30T02:51:00.001+10:00

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2011-04-30T02:50:00.003+10:00

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2011-04-30T02:50:00.001+10:00

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2011-04-30T02:49:00.001+10:00

Cathedral, castle and medieval towns scapes

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2011-04-29T22:58:00.001+10:00

Norwich has a variety of historic offerings, rather quiet with the royal wedding causing unpredicted bank holidays

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2011-04-28T06:40:00.001+10:00

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Fossil of a giant spider 50cm across, so glad this not still with us!

2011-04-28T06:38:00.001+10:00

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2011-04-28T06:37:00.001+10:00

Tour around bits of kings College and Pembroke today. The chapel at kings is amazing, the ratio of glass to wall is very high. It has graffito from Cromwell's visit still visible and Ann Boleyn's initials in the carving. Pembroke had nicer gardens and it's chapel tho small is a Christopher Wren. All the

flags flying today as the Queen was visiting

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2011-04-27T02:54:00.001+10:00

Cambridge was humming today compared to the public holiday I arrived on. It's a real bicycle town and they swoop and whiz everywhere. Tourists were out in some numbers as well although they tend not to whiz. As part of a crowd I wandered along the streets and backs of the town the petals falling are so thick they coat the water in places. Narrow streets and tall stone and brick buildings bounce the noise of confident youth proclaiming itself down the footpath. I really can't imagine studying amidst all this glorious tradition and beauty
You would have to ignore it completely or be overwhelmed. How to be both envious and yet horrified at the thought of being presented with this as a fresher

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2011-04-26T02:09:00.001+10:00

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2011-04-26T02:08:00.001+10:00

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2011-04-26T02:07:00.001+10:00

Colder and quite windy

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2011-04-26T01:55:00.001+10:00

Ely today, wonderful cathedral but our friends the Victorians were very busy there so all is not quite as it seems, still it's absolutely fabulous and great fun. Went down to the river where masses of long boats were mores at the pubs by the side of the Great Ouse.

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2011-04-25T06:13:00.001+10:00

Cambridge is a little cooler, smells a bit and seems like a nice town. I think I am in the Turkish end of things if the restaurants are anything to go by

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2011-04-24T17:49:00.001+10:00

Faeries and the Goddess Pagan Pride parade in the high street

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2011-04-24T17:48:00.001+10:00

I love Canterbury such a tourist town, wandering around in the half light at 8.30 at night with everything humming. Gulls wheel over the town and although the Cathedral is prominent it doesn't rule the town as the Pagan Pride parade yesterday proved. Commercialism is the true god I think. So many coffee and cake shops and ones selling really comfortable shoes in attractive designs and colours. Lots of charity shops as well as churches. There are Anglicans, Catholics, Anglican-Cathlics, Quakers, Methodists and Uniting as well as all the churches now used for something else, fun.

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2011-04-22T06:16:00.001+10:00

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2011-04-22T04:34:00.003+10:00

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2011-04-22T04:34:00.001+10:00

Today was Dover Castle. I climbed the hill from the town, bad idea, even walking down was a bad idea. But the castle was pretty amazing and covered all periods. There seems little trace of the iron age fort but the Roman, Anglo Saxon, medieval, early modern etc are all there to enjoy. I did the secret war tunnels tour the medieval and napoleonic spur trip and climbed the great hall, then visited the roman light hose and the Anglo church, restored by Victorians who you can't trust with a pile of bricks. My brain is full and my knees hurt, so I must have had a really satisfactory day.

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2011-04-22T04:27:00.001+10:00

There is also a fairly

educational Roman museum I particularly liked the unnamed but popular Celtic hood wearing guy who apparently was around quite a bit. You can see he looks really unreliable for a god

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2011-04-22T04:23:00.001+10:00

The museum has a section on Joseph Conrad as well as Rupert Bear and covers the history of the town from Neolithic to modern times

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2011-04-22T04:21:00.001+10:00

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2011-04-22T04:20:00.001+10:00

Canterbury is a cheerful touristy town with a fine cathedral and a small but intelligent museum

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2011-04-14T07:07:00.001+10:00

Syracuse, the scene of the tragic end of Athenian ambition. We passed Etna on the way , vast and seemingly peaceful after the violent Roman mosaics

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Location:Floridia,Italy

2011-04-13T02:18:00.001+10:00

The museum in agrigento has some good pieces but from the phone I can post only pics I got on the phone

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2011-04-13T02:16:00.001+10:00

More Greek temples today, getting a bit over crappy stone Doric no matter how large, i

prefer the later ones on the whole.

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2011-04-12T02:04:00.001+10:00

Selinunte by the beach had a mass of temples which didn't stop it being destroyed by man and the gods. War, earthquakes and the harbor silting up took their toll. Today it was a mass of flowers both local and introduced

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2011-04-11T01:29:00.001+10:00

Motya is a really interesting Punic settlement

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2011-04-10T06:11:00.002+10:00

Sicily is very easy when you are on a tour everything organized mind you in many ways it's only a taster

2011-04-10T02:02:00.001+10:00

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2011-04-10T02:01:00.001+10:00

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2011-04-10T02:00:00.001+10:00

The cathedral is Norman Byzantine and very spectacular

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2011-04-10T01:58:00.001+10:00

Beautiful sunny day at Monreale for the cathedral and the ancient town of Solunto

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2011-04-09T03:02:00.001+10:00

Palermo is quite amazing, such a mixture of crumbling and restored, Norman and everything else

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2011-04-07T02:24:00.001+10:00

Wellington sort of day the arch and his house.

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Hampton Court

2011-04-06T02:08:00.002+10:00

They were filming Jack the Giantkiller there today so the main court was full of sheep and goats while by the river horses lurked. Its a funny mixture of Tudor meets Stuart then Georgian. The gardens are fullof strange flowers and the whole place was subject to waves of school kids screaming through rather like demonic posession

2011-04-06T01:45:00.001+10:00

Hampton Court today

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2011-04-05T17:30:00.001+10:00

I think of Nivea as pretty staid but os they seem to be more adventurous, perhaps I go to the wrong shops. This lipstick is attractively green in all senses

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London

2011-04-05T16:59:00.003+10:00

Clear but chilly when I arrived. In to town achieving oyster card on the way, comes without instructions but the locals are tolerant of the fumbling. Hard to look like the sophisticated traveller as you activate the gates next door and fail to get your own gates to open. I am always so pleased to be a stranger in town. None of these folk know or care if I make a complete cake of myself. It was far too early for the hotel to be ready tho they happily took my luggage, lucky luggage it was very comfy in that office. Aching with the trip and pretty groggy despite at least six hours of broken awkward dozing I lurched out into the day. Vodafone does not get up early so off to St Giles in the Fields, cmpletely surrounded by highrise, some interesting Australian connections Balmain buried there. Also poets Chapman and Marvell. Had to buy a scarf as the wind was sharp. Phone was set up by the nice people and off I went. Decided to look at the National Gallery, so wonderful, pity they don't allow photos, even the interiors are worth a shot, richly grand but sufficiently austere to let you enjoy the art.

2011-04-05T08:05:00.001+10:00

Singapore has refurbished it's terminals, still looked ok to me but fancier now and you can comment on the toilets seemingly a permanent feature

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New apps for fun but why does it think I am in Putney?

2011-03-27T20:21:00.001+11:00

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Location:Riverside Ave,Putney,Australia

2011-03-27T16:30:00.001+11:00

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Getting close

2011-03-27T16:25:00.002+11:00

Time is just about here to get on the road again. One week to go.

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Location:Riverside Meadowbank,Australia

Democracy

2011-01-12T21:33:00.003+11:00

Enormous amount here to comprehend and an entire building to explore, pity I was pretty pooped from the zoo and wandered around in a rather haphazard fashion. The display of political cartoons I enjoyed and the speakers rooms, the press gallery was fun but most of the rest I glossed over except for a few personal favourites.

The Zoo

2011-01-12T21:20:00.004+11:00

Really enjoyed this, my first visit despite having been to Canberra over a score of times. Lots of big cats and a pleasant diversity of others. It rained at first, then cleared and became very steamy, then it teemed but after we had finished. Its quite small but a very interesting selection.

Watching the floods

2011-01-12T21:11:00.002+11:00

In between sightseeing we watched the progressive submerging of Brisbane and surrounds. Amazing sights, surprising what can float down the river, cars, bins, sofas, restaurants, just everything.
The National Museum was its usual baffling self. It really should explain what it is on about not just throw non-traditional exhibitions at you and hope you will get whatever their point was supposed to be. Really wet too.

Canberra in January

2011-01-12T20:52:00.004+11:00

Traditionally, well a couple of times, we have travelled to canberra in Jan. Richard wanted to check a couple of things for the yr 10 excursion in May and hell we all like to get away. This time I got a suite which is pleasantly spacious, larger than our flat I suspect. We looked at the War Memorial, the National Museum, the Museum of Democracy and the Zoo.
First the war memorial. Saw the revamped Hall of Valour which was good but might get a bit packed in the peak periods and enjoyed some of the rearranged exhibitions.Saw a memorial outside to Dads mob, water transport. The red anchor on a purple background is something I grew up with as Dad used his army greatcoat for years. The cafe has been rebuilt as well and looks good.

2010-11-23T19:59:00.001+11:00

Just to give my friends a laugh, Robyn and I dressed as the sultan's mothers-in-law in the cisterns in Istanbul

2010-11-01T18:04:00.000+11:00

Tunisian Treat

2010-11-01T17:59:00.002+11:00

The brik is a delicious deep fried fast food that is a specialty in Tunisia, the most common is the tuna brik - a brik au thon. It has an egg in it and in a good one the egg is runny. They taste so much better than I can describe, the sort of thing one would never eat at home but with the freedom of a holiday far far away can become a daily taste sensation.

Rome

2010-10-25T02:17:00.004+11:00

A lovely mild day in Rome, I walked beside the Tiber which is a pretty jade green not the muddy brown of January. I saw a man catch a large fish before I dived into a church then a museum and then the endless laneways of little shops to get Johnny's birthday present. There are more tourists here than I usual, it is a positive town of babel but always fun, well mostly. I am really enjoying the freedom of doing exactly what I want after the inevitable restrictions of being in a tour. One of the others from the group is still here and we meet for dinner but go our own way in the day, best of both worlds.
I have very specific things I want to see but if they are shut, on tour, swathed in scaffolding or just plain disappeared its not a tragedy. There are always other things to see. Today it was Caravaggio, one of his sullen, sexy, touselled and very tactile John the Baptist representations. Not terribly religious but very appealing. Unfortunately no photographs in the museum

So many things

2010-10-19T01:38:00.002+11:00

One minute its a deserted synagogue the next an enormous arch in the middle of nowhere or an entire city perched on the edge of a cliff or the sea. Some of the cities are purely Roman but others developed out of Punic or Numidian roots; its interesting to see the differences and similarities:

Tunisia

2010-10-19T01:29:00.001+11:00

I have so many photos its quite haed to find the ones I want; I am sitting in an internet cafe desperately trying to give a coherent view before 4 when the bus is coming back this way; I think it is a hopeless task.

Tunis

2010-10-19T01:17:00.003+11:00

There is such a lot here to see; The amazing mosaics of the Bardo Museum; the cheesy Kasbah; the beauty of the wealthy suburbs painted all blue and white by law which were relentlessly cute. Then we went out to the cities around; each one with something unique to offer<;

Sabratha

2010-10-11T02:45:00.004+11:00

Hottest day so far and site with the least cover. However best theatre ever. Tomorrow we leave at 4.30am for Tunis. The hotel has managed to lose my blue shirt in the wash but I will miss the computer in the room and the massage chair, even if the instuctions are in Japanese. No opportunities to really go shopping which is a shame

More Leptis

2010-10-10T06:50:00.003+11:00

Leptis Magna

2010-10-10T06:04:00.003+11:00

What can you say about Leptis Magna, it takes the cake. Only rivalled by something like Pompeii everything else dwindles by comparison. Gradually deserted as urbanisation failed it was preserved by being buried in the dunes. Much is still unexcavated.

Ptolemais and Apollonia

2010-10-10T05:10:00.005+11:00

Ptoemais is very dry and was well supplied with cisterns in ancient times. The enormous govenors house supplied the museum with some interesting finds but much of what is there is from the Byzantine period.
Apollonia is, especially since Africa dropped two meters, by the sea. A Greek city it was the port for Cyrenia

Cyrenia

2010-10-10T04:51:00.004+11:00

This town, a few miles inland on the top of the escarpment, has some incredible views and a divided heritage, also now a lot of gum trees. The hellenistic baths are still there beside the far more elaborate Roman ones. You can see us sitting in the separate hip type baths of the helenistic period.The temple of Zeus was rebuilt by the Romans but is still pretty impressive. They have a strange funerary cult with blank faced statues of Persephone

Tripoli

2010-10-10T02:48:00.005+11:00

Fun today in Tripoli, we started by going to the museum which is in the Red Fort at the edge of the old town. with so many Roman cities they had a good collection. Gadaffi's car from the revolutionary days was there with Drusus and Germanicus, neither of whom I can remember seeing giant heads of before. There were excellent mosaics and then we went into the medina. Scattered around amidst more modern buildings were pieces of ancient roman architecture. We finished up at a very pretty mosque.

Libya

2010-10-09T08:49:00.004+11:00

Finally modern civilisation or at least true internet access. It has been an amazing tour so far. We started with Cyrenia and once you got over the shock of ruins among the gum trees it was lovely.Very much a Greek town that got taken over by the Romans. You can see them striving to hang onto their Greek roots with bilingual inscriptions but when you see the theatre converted to an amphhitheatre you know who won. Theyy have a small but very fine collection of statues from the site. A large site, they all seem to be, and its hot and dusty but we finished up with dinner at a cave restaurant. The meals tend to all be the same. Libyan soup which ranges from tasty to fiery, how they love chili here, a sort of salad, usually lettuce or cabbage withh tomato, olives and chili, couscous, meat and harissa, a chili sauuce.
Ptolemais was next, its late but has an 80 room governors house and because of Africa dropping by two meters is very much on the beach. Apollonia which our hotel was next to is also half in the sea. Its mostly Byzantine stuff that survives there.
The hotel we are in in Tripoli has computors in the rooms. Just as well at this speed a simple message will take all night.

Spıce Market and Rustem Pasha Mosque

2010-10-01T03:08:00.003+10:00

Today was the Spıce Market and a small but very hard to locate mosque, the Rustem Pasha. It has beautıful tıles and ıs set hıgh above the street. I have also ıncluded a shot from the Topkapı palace just because the roses were so cheerful. Roses clearly do well here and are planted all around.

2010-10-01T02:48:00.003+10:00

Seeıng the Hıttıte versıon of the Treaty of Kadesh ın the Orıent Museum was the hıghlıght there. The Mosaıc Museum, whıch ıs really just one passageway of the old Byzantıum Palace was quıte ıncredıble, the qualıty of the ımages ıs really outstandıng. Around the great monuments are scattered really lovely tradıtıonal wooden houses, mostly beautıfully kept.

Sultanemet

2010-10-01T02:36:00.003+10:00

We have been mostly around the Sultanemet area, Blue Mosque, Topkapı Palace and Archaeologıcal Museum. Also the multıtude of lıttle shops that abound. The fırst two were very crowded but the Museum was very quıet. It has an amazıng collectıon of sarcophagı and a large sectıon on Troy whıch I thınk I wıll revısıt tomorrow as on the fırst go my braın was full. Most of the palace you can`t take pıctures ın whıch ıs a shame as the treasures are purely mındbogglıngly ott.

Shoppıng

2010-09-28T05:01:00.002+10:00

Frustrated ın our attemps to see the sulemanıye mosque we retreated to the bazaar for some hours of hagglıng therapy. It does get old very quıckly tho and I`m so pleased ıts not a local feature for us. Took some tıme to get onto these sıtes as had to work out the keyboard. The Turkısh ı is not standard and sınce my logons tend to fearure i ıt took some tıme. We went down to the statıon where the Orıent Express came ın and the waterfront whıch ıs frantıcally busy.

2010-09-28T04:51:00.001+10:00

Always scaffoldıng

Istanbul

2010-09-28T04:38:00.004+10:00

Arrıves safely after the usual gruellıng 24 hour trıp, I recover more slowly each tıme I thınk. It was a joy beıng drıven ınto the cıty along the coast wıth the ancıent sea walls alongsıde. Our hotel ıs close to most that we want to see and the fırst thıng was of course Hagıa Sophıa. Place ıs crawlıng wıth tourısts but ıt was all good humoured and the crowds cannot detract from the total awesomeness of the buıldıng

2010-09-22T22:14:00.000+10:00

New Camera testing

2010-09-22T20:44:00.002+10:00

Beam me up Scotty

2010-09-14T21:50:00.001+10:00

Always too much to do before getting away, makes you long for either an easier life or a way of hasty exit.

2010-06-25T18:09:00.004+10:00

Having over a year to plan this next trip has caused a certain degree of elaboration. It is still three months away, time can go slowly. BC Archaeology is providing the central three weeks of Libya and Tunisia, Roman North Africa is the tour label. Robyn, a friend from uni who I travelled to Rome with, could also make it although she does have to get back before I do. The tour is one week of the school hols and two weeks after. She suggested, its all her fault naturally, that we make good use of the first week and after multo consultations we settled on Istanbul. Malta was on the cards but vagaries of airtravel timetables would have given us just 4 days there. Not quite enough. As it is we will have 6 nights in Constantinopal. There is a mass of stuff to see but I think we can get a good coverage in that time without killing ourselves before the tour. After we finish in Tunisia the tour returns to Australia from Rome which made it easy to extend and stay on for a bit. I will miss three weeks of school but as YR 12 will have finished that does not cause too much of a problem. I probably would not have considered the last week if I had known I would pick up the job at Marist but they were a bit desperate to find someone to fit in with their timetable and accepted me despite the missing three weeks.

All things bright and beautiful

2010-04-14T19:39:00.002+10:00

Normally this blog is for travelling but life's journey sometimes gets a mention. Sunday 11th April 15.58 I became a grandmother which seems to deserve a note. Felix Raymond Mansfield Stone welcome to the world with all its wonders and woes.

The Tour

2009-11-01T15:54:00.002+11:00

Looking back on the trip I think Petra and Krak get the prize for being even more stupendous than imagined, Ugarit for being more interesting and Saladin's tomb for being unexpectedly moving. The real bonus though was the quality of the group I was with. I have never travelled with such a friendly, intelligent, amusing and interesting bunch, it was a very great pleasure.

Last visit to the BM

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Islamic, Anglo-Saxon and before both

Back in London

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Quite a contrast to Syria

2009-10-31T11:28:00.001+11:00

Last night with some of the gang in the revolving restaurant on top of the hotel

The souk and the Mosque

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In the souk

Damascus

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Carpets in the souk and in the traffic, a memorial in Martyr Square

Damascus

2009-10-31T10:40:00.001+11:00

The traditional and the new, approaches to just hanging around

Crusader Castles

2009-10-31T00:27:00.006+11:00

Saladin's Castle, the gate where Raymond of Tripoli was taken out by the Assassins Cult and the town and crusader tower interior in Safita. Plus Krak des Chevaliers and the pass through from the coastal plain towards Damascus, the Homs gap, which gives Krak both its importance and its wild weather.

Ebla, Apamea and Ugarit

2009-10-31T00:10:00.007+11:00

Ebla as a working site was still very nuch in action with excavators finishing off their season. You can see above the kitchen with its grinding stones looking towards the main gate and the destruction layers in the walls. Apamea was a cavalry base with both 300 elephants, that didn't work out as the climate was wrong for them and later 33,ooo horses. The very long and elaborate colonade was unsurprisingly the victim of the frequent earthquakes in the region.
Ugarit, as a part of the Empire that Akhenaten lost to the Hittites despite extreme diplomatic efforts to save it, is very interesting to me. There was more to see than I thought as the guide books were unfairly scathing about it. From the strangely Mycenean front gate to the palace with its plumbing and gardens, the streets, houses of the wealthy with thier inbuilt tombs and water storage arrangements, it was easy to read, admittedly the temple area at the top is more of a jumble but I don't know why the guides strongly implies there was nothing discernable.

Aleppo

2009-10-30T23:56:00.002+11:00

This is where the bug got me so I didn't get around that much, probably a lovely place. Citadel, mosque and souk saw me on the run.

Justinian's Vision

2009-10-30T23:49:00.004+11:00

We visited two centres that both gained major fortifications under Justinian as part of his doomed plan to revive the power of the old Roman Empire. One on the Euphrates was known as Zenobia the other in the desert had as its heart the church of Bishop Sergius