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. 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.
Downtown street views
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 CathedralVisited 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 ? }
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.Within the Company Gardens
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.
Return to Table Mountain
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.
Streets of Camps Bay
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