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Published: July 16th 2019
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Hello, and Greetings from a new Continent.
Yesterday, we did well on a 11-1/2 hour flight from Paris to Cape Town.
Our guide, Andre, met us at the airport and transported us to our hotel, which was a huge upgrade from the small rooms we had experienced in Paris. This place is very nice.
We socialized a bit and called it a night.
Today, we got up to enjoy one of the best breakfast buffets in a long time, including cooked-to-order omelettes. We really enjoyed it and it was good enough that lunch was unnecessary.
Andre picked us up and gave us a brief orientation to the V & A Waterfront area before we headed up the Lion's Head Mountain. Normally, tours here take a cable car to the top of Table Mountain, but at this time it was closed for maintenance. So, we drove up some long and winding roads to enjoy a still spectacular view of people para-gliding down towards a park we would later see.
From there, it was down towards the city of Cape Town, where we got to take a brief walk through Bo-Kaap, a neighborhood of multi colored houses,
businesses, and mosques. It had a cool vibe. We were grateful for this stop. Bo-Kaap is a multi-ethnic neighborhood that was settled by some expatriates from the District Six evacuation of 1966.
On our way toward the District Six area, we stopped near the train station to take in the Dutch Castle dating from the 1600s, and the Town Hall where Mandela gave his first public speech following his release from Robben Island. (More from there later this week.)
We then arrived at the District Six Museum, dedicated to a neighborhood that was once a vibrant mixed-race community that was eradicated by the Afrikaner government beginning in 1966 to create a whites-only area. The many people to whom this area was once home were displaced by choice or not, and a vacant place followed, never to be redeveloped. The government believed that people of different races and religions living together ("race-mixers") needed to be separated by tribe, according to "natural order." Though the District Six community was gone, the museum was dedicated to the recollections those who lived the culture, music, food, and experiences from their days growing up there. What District Six once was is much like
the society we live in today, or strive for in the future.
We then drove through some more of Cape Town, went over the neck of the Lion (mountain), and travelled along the Cape Shore, enjoying beautiful views of the Atlantic.
We arrived back at our hotel, took in a few winks, and then it was off for a dinner cruise. On a ship with approximately 20 tables, we occupied one of them. It was a great table with good company. The crew was larger than the dinner party. We were shocked the ship ever left the dock. Four people and 2 hours of cruising and dinner. Wow. It really is winter here, with a low in the 50s. That must hurt tourist season. We think It's beautiful.
Post-cruise, we stopped at the Waterfront to see some mixed-dancing of those young and old. This was back at the V & A Waterfront, an area of many restauraunts, shops, piers, etc. that puts Navy Pier to shame.
Goodnight for now, we'll see you again tomorrow.
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