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Published: December 11th 2012
After waking up the first thing that we do is go to the roof terrace for a panoramic view of the area. On the way up we notice the drawings on the wall of the Manor throughout its history. The views from the top are beautiful and we enjoy the cool and sunny weather until we have to go down for breakfast.
Today we have more time to examine the interior decorations which are quite interesting. We wander around until we find the breakfast room where for the first time in some time we can order something different than eggs - crepes and pancakes.
Before leaving the room we enjoy the views from the terrace one last time and leave our luggage downstairs as we go again downtown this time to visit a few shops and museums that were closed the day before.
Downtown is bustling with people today and it feels more lively than the day before. We enter a mall and sample a few stores and even buy a few things which leads to a bit of confusion when entering a different store as the security guard insists and in the end staples our shopping bag for safety. One of the interesting things inside the mall is the archaelogical dig where they discovered one of the early water canals of the Dutch and preserved it behind a protective glass.
After our sample shopping we go back towards the Company Gardens and this time enter the St George Cathedral. Surprisingly it is almost empty and we can visit it thoroughly including the interior courtyard.
Next we visit the Slave Lodge which describes the history of slavery in South Africa and Cape Town especially. It is educative and pretty sombering especially when reading the newspaper announcements regarding escaped slaves and the punishments they received.
But the Museum is not only about slavery it also has sections with silverware, insignia, history of Francmasons in Cape Town, toys and even a whole section dedicated to an old white and black movie about the Zulu made in the 1930s by an Italian filmmaker which is really interesting. They also have on loan the table where the slavery abolition treaty was signed for the United Kingdom - an important part of history also for South Africa.
Our next stop is the National Museum where the most well known section is the petroglyph section. This section has a lot of slabs of rock with petroglyphs from different locations in South Africa and Namibia collected before this was viewed as a desecration of the original sites. Some of them are really interesting especially with the accompanying explanatory descriptions. There is also a section about the different tribes in South Africa which was created quite some time ago with a warning note that this is not reflective of current conditions and that it was created during the apartheid regime to showcase the fact that the tribes are out of step with modern civilization. We also visit the stuffed animal part of the museum and then go to the Museum restaurant to have a quick late lunch before driving to the airport.
After getting our luggage from Abbey Manor we fill up the tank and then we drive again through rush hour traffic towards the airport. At least after a few days we are used to the driving here and arrive in due time to the airport. The car rental return is uneventful and after quite a walk we arrive at the airport building. There is lots of confusion where we should check in but there is more than enough time for us to check in bags and pass through security and border control. Inside we decide to use up most of our remaining rands and go on a shopping spree through the airport shops buying lots of souvenirs including a painted ostrich egg. And then our flight is called and to our regret we have to start on our long return back to the USA....but we will return😊.
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