Oh Gosh - You Should See Kirstenbosch!

We spent most of Sunday at Kirstenbosch botanical gardens - with probably the most jaw-droppingly gorgeous backdrop against which these fantastic gardens are enjoyed by people, parties and picnickers from all over the world. There were literally hundreds of small and larger groups - families in their Sunday best, a small group we spoke to being there to celebrate their daughter's first birthday and christening; another work-group saying 'farewell to you, boss' on a huge banner and dozens of blue-and-white balloons; couples and children gambolling and picnicking on the wonderfully landscaped stretches of lawn, or enjoying Sunday lunch in and around the Moyo restaurant. And yet, it never once felt crowded - so vast is the space in which these gorgeous gardens are set. They've also really capitalised on the fantastic setting, the surrounding mountains forming the backdrop for the outdoor stage they've installed, and where, every Sunday evening through their summer, there are live music events of very high quality, from international and African rock, pop and hip-hop through to jazz, opera and classical; the wonderful Hugh Masekela will be performing in a couple of weeks' time - but after we've left for Namibia, unfortunately for us. I did get up on stage for a very brief debut performance, and managed to draw a large crowd ...... of ducks and ducklings!!

It's probably best on this particular posting just to let the photographs do the talking for themselves:

Oh, and on the way to Kirstenbosch, we stopped to explore the Houts Bay fishing harbour - where we enjoyed yet another performance from a small family of seals being fed by a local young boy, in return for a few coppers from the tourists gathered around.

Most of Monday was spent visiting Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 prison years, for many of which he was forced to do hard labour in a quarry, and was allowed 1 visitor per year for a total of 30 minutes! Robben Island was interesting , but a little 'sanitized', with all of the cells and cell-blocks sparkling in their shiny-new pale-blue and white paint, and with virtually no artefacts of any kind left behind, not even the 'cell-stories' by former prisoners which we understand had once papered the walls of A-Section. However, the speeches by the island-tour guide (everyone gets shepherded onto fleets of buses as soon as the boat docks, for a tour around the island itself), and by the former inmate who took us into the cell-blocks (and who had spent 7 years in prison there - some of it in solitary confinement with its associated beatings, tortures and 30-day starvation regime - for daring to join the ANC at a time when it was a 'banned' organisation) were very moving, echoing Mandela's dignified defiance of the petty rules, as well as his eventual leadership philosophy - that it must not be usedas an excuse or vehicle for recriminations or violence in the transformation of South Africa into a full democracy.

On Monday evening, our wonderful host, Nicky (mother of Jacques, whom we haven't actually met), very generously invited us and two other German guests (Eva-Marie and Willie) to have dinner with her and an old friend of hers from schooldays (Fiona) who was visiting from Pretoria. We had dinner together in her beautiful home, into which Andy and I had already moved, from the apartment next door, after our first week here. It was a really wonderful, and hilarious, evening: it was just great how Fiona's sometimes ascerbic and satirically witty comments - about everything from our Royal Family and sports teams to Angela Merkel's dismissive way with other world leaders - managed to meld together and unite the three different cultures represented at the table, over a glass or six of fantastic South African wines!

Today (Tuesday), we're having a lazy day, before our early start tomorrow travelling with Nomad Adventure Tours for 3 weeks through Namibia and Botswana. We've had a wonderful time here in Cape Town, and now we just can't wait to get out into the 'Africa' we've longed to see.