Dec 24, Saturday & Dec 25, Sunday

Dec 24, Saturday    &    Dec 25, Sunday

Dec 25, Sunday

I stayed in today even though many of the sites are open for business on Xmas day, thinking of Mom & Dad and what they would think of my travels.  They are the ones who instilled in me the love of travel and using it as a learning experience.  

Thought of my brothers and sisters who are ever present in my heart and supportive of my decisions.  Thought of my extended family: uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews who are following my trip and sending me their e-mails.  Thought of all my long time friends and the new ones I’ve made during my travels.  

Don’t worry, I’m not lonely, just appreciative of all of you who have enriched my life and continue to do so.  The only thing I really missed was a turkey dinner; my mouth keeps watering each time I think of it.

Hope you all had a beautiful day.  

Joyeux Noel             Feliz Navidad           Merry Christmas

All my love,      

Aline

Dec 24, Saturday

I’m lucky one more time in just being in the right place; there is a Hop-on  Hop-off bus stop just in front of my hotel.   I only had to wait a few minutes before the next bus came along; they run every 15 minutes at this time of the day.   It takes about 2 hours to do the full run, and I stayed on through the first run, without getting off at all.   The second time around, I had decided where I wanted to stop and do some walking around.  I took over 300 pictures today, but I’m only posting a few so you can get a small view of what Cape Town looks like.

 Light house at sea

 Beach front condos

 Soccer stadium built for the FIFA 2011 games

 At the harbour, time clock:  The ball would normally be in the "up" position, when the ball fell it was 1 pm and the ships would all reset their clocks.

 The canal system

 Downtown street views

 Looks a little bit like the French Quarter in New Orleans

 View of Table Mountain from downtown

 City Hall; this is where Mandela gave his first speach after being freed from prison

 The Gold Museum

   St. George Pedestrian Mall

I stopped for lunch along the St. George Pedestrian Mall and had a nice tuna salad (nice flaky tuna with feta cheese and a creamy mustard dressing.  The mixture of greens and other vegetables were just perfect.   Washed that down with a limeade mixed with passion fruit, a nice sweet and tart thirst quencher.

 St. George's Cathedral

Visited St. George’s Cathedral and the Slave Lodge.  This last building began as a slave quarters in 1658, a type of fort structure (referred to as the Fortress of Misery), where they brought in people as slaves from the East coast of Africa, India, Sri Lanka and South East Asia.   {They wanted to get along with the local natives, needed their cooperation, therefore did not enslave them.}    The conditions were as inhuman in the fort as they had been on the slave ships that brought them here.  Slaves were obliged to carry passes when walking around the city, otherwise they would be severely punished.  {Can you wonder why modern day Blacks were so demeaned by having to carry a pass during the Apartheid years ? }   

 Slave Lodge Museum

The British abolished slavery in 1807.   In later years, the building was completely converted into the Supreme Court (how ironic) in 1860, the Post Office in 1914, and then used for various government offices.  It became a museum in 1998.  

The original parliament buildings were just next door, as well as the “Company Garden”  as in  Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie).   I also went in to the South African Museum) their museum of nature.

  Old Parliament Buildings

 Company Garden

 Within the Company Gardens

  South African Museum

 National Gallery

The only other place I wanted to visit was the Fort, or as they call it the “Castle of Good Hope”.   It is a star shaped structure, just like many other forts.  Unfortunately, by the time I got there it had closed for the day, so I only have outside pics.

 Inside the walls, as seen from the top of the double decker bus

 The outer walls

 The main gate

  Built by the Dutch, but it looks British since they took it over

Return to Table Mountain

 The lower cable station.  Much busier than yesterday

 These are the Hop-on Hop-off buses

 You can actually climb up Table Mountain; it takes about 2 hours.  Can you see the two people in the middle of this picture?

The final drive along the coast is beautiful each time so I’ve grouped them here.

 Camps Bay as seen from the top of the winding road

 Camps Bay Beach

 Hotel where I used the Internet to find accommodation

 Camps Bay Beach

 Streets of Camps Bay

I had dinner in the restaurant within walking distance of the hotel and called it a day.  WAY TOO MUCH SUN on the top of that open Double Decker bus.  I’m going to pay for it in the days to come.  But don’t worry, I’m still not missing the snow!  

 My hotel on Beach Road in Sea Point