Following a fire over two days early this month, the Parliament Buildings have become unusable for the presentation of the President’s State of the Nation Address on 10 February, and the debate which follows.
The ceremonial gilted key which was used for the inauguration of the City Hall 117 years ago was handed to the representative of Parliament, its Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula today.
German couple Wolfgang and Cornelial wanted some Cape sunshine, and booked a two week trip to Cape Town spontaneously. Their travel agent booked them three destinations: Franschhoek, Sanbona, and the V& A Waterfront in Cape Town. They had visited Cape Town seven years ago.
The Travel Ban was instituted by most countries in Europe, the USA and UK on their last day, a Black Friday of 26 November. They received notification late that evening that their Qatar flight to Frankfurt had been cancelled for the following day. Instead of being upset about it, they saw the positive side of it, in enjoying a further week in our beautiful Cape and country. Continue reading →
Tuesday 23 November 2021, Day 54 of Level 1. 😷
Corona Gratitude 🙏
#grateful for a day with a difference, with a 4h30 start, cramming in a day full of work until I left home at 10h00; for proudly wearing my Tourist Badge for the first time; for my first Tourist Guiding in 19 months, fetching German couple Cornelia and Wolfgang from the V&A Hotel and walking towards the city centre through a very quiet Silo District, they having a glass of bubbly at Utopia, showing them the wonderful 15th floor view and giving them an overview of ‘my Cape Town’ from the map of our city; for a walk through Bo Kaap, still very quiet, only seeing one tourist group at Atlas Continue reading →
The V & A Waterfront has issued a commemorative issue of its Winter 2021 magazine to honour ‘30 years of hope, connection and the best of the V & A’.
It is a reflection on the history of the establishment of the Waterfront in 1990 as well as its growing expansion and development, the harbour area which has become South Africa’s most popular tourist attraction. Continue reading →
BusinessTech reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa called American President-Elect Joe Biden two days ago, focusing on how the two leaders can strengthen African and American ties, and overcome the Corona Pandemic. Our President wished Biden and Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris well for their term of Office, due to start on 20 January 2021.
Biden visited South Africa in the ‘Seventies, and was arrested when he tried to visit the late Nelson Mandela in prison, The New York Times reports. Continue reading →
From never having been to eat at Quentin at Oakhurst Barn in Hout Bay, I was lucky to be part of a group of friends who love it so much that I enjoyed one dinner and a Sunday lunch, offering Cape Country Cuisine, both in the same week, earlier this month. I was astounded at this restaurant gem, the best in Hout Bay but also the most hidden, tucked away in a little lane off the Main Road on the way to Constantia, the popularity of this restaurant based purely on word of moth reputation. Continue reading →
In January I attended a Tourist Guiding course run by the Tourist Guiding Institute, with a theoretical as well as a practical content, and received my Certificate last week, the issuing thereof much delayed due to the Covid-19 Lockdown. I am qualified as a Cultural Tourist Guide, as well as a Wine Tourist Guide, for the Western Cape as well as Port Elizabeth and the Garden Route, and guide in English and in German. I have created a Facebook page, calling my Guiding Service ‘My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide’. Continue reading →
Yesterday it was the 30th anniversary of the release of the late Nelson Mandela, after being incarcerated in three prisons in Cape Town and Paarl over a period of 27 years. The celebration of the anniversary of the monumental event on 11 February 1990 is a memory for many of us Capetonians who stood outside the City Hall, to hear Mandela address us on that day. The anniversary celebrations took place inside and outside the Cape Town City Hall yesterday. For many it was a sad reminder that much of South Africa remains divided, perhaps more so than it was on this date 30 years ago. Continue reading →
It was a moving day on Saturday, one which we will not forget in a long time. South Africa won the World Cup Rugby for the third time, continuing a twelve year winning streak cycle. A black captain would have been unheard of in a national sport that was dominated by Afrikaans players in the past. It was a day in which transformation in our country made world history. How proud the late Nelson Mandela would have been, so present at the 1995 World Cup Final when we won. Continue reading →
Today in a week the eyes of the world will be on Cape Town and our country, when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex land in Cape Town on the first day of their ten day ‘African’ tour with their baby son Archie. There is no better PR for our city and country after the black week at the beginning of this month. Continue reading →