Tag Archives: AIDS

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 23/24 December

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The wing of a BA plane with 182 passengers on board, rolling to the runway to London,  hit a building at OR Thambo airport in Johannesburg when the pilot allegedly did not follow the instructions re the runway to use.

*   The City of Cape Town and the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival Association with the Kaapse Klopse Karneval Association have met and have agreed that the associations will organise their own event in 2015.  The City of Cape Town will assist with minstrel competitions held at Athlone Stadium, Florida Park, Vygieskraal, and Delft.   The minstrels will march in Cape Town today, on New Year’s Eve, and on 4 January.

*  The V&A Waterfront has completed a R 140 million upgrade, adding Pick ‘n Pay’s Western Cape flagship store now 6500 m² in size; created parking on the same level, having linked two different parking garages; and added 1400 m² upstairs by connecting two passages, expanding the size of Edgars, and adding four new shops.  Its CEO David Green says that there was little disruption to the operation of the mall, but many customers, including ourselves, have expressed their annoyance  at shopping on a building site for nine months.  On average they receive 60000 visitors every day, but they have had days of double that number (we question how they measure the visitors, not having an electronic car counter as they had in early days).

*   Justine Sacco, who achieved notoriety in writing the ‘worst Tweet of 2013‘,  appears to be on holiday in Cape Town Continue reading →

Cape Town pays tribute to the legacy of Nelson Mandela!

The City of Cape Town is paying tribute to former President Nelson Mandela with the Nelson Mandela Legacy Exhibition, which opens in the Civic Centre today and runs for the next ten months.

The City has dedicated 2013 to honouring and celebrating the former South African President and Nobel Peace Prize winner, ‘and will adopt a new set of values and principles to underpin its governance, based on his example‘, says the media release issued by the City.  ‘The Cape Town Honours Nelson Mandela programme is a special Mayoral project formed to pay tribute to the country’s first democratically-elected president; to expose a new generation to his legacy; and to engage Cape Town residents in developing a new moral code for governance in the city. It has the blessing of the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory‘, the media statement added.  It is planned that 25000 learners are to see the special exhibition. Continue reading →

Cape Town one of 120 cities celebrating The Global Party for charity this weekend!

The Global Party banner Whale Cottage PortfolioCape Town is one of 120 cities celebrating The Global Party this weekend, which began on Thursday and runs through until this evening, each of three parties per city and 360 parties in total  ‘linking the world for a worthy cause‘ aimed at benefiting children through the 360000 VIPs, celebrities, and jetsetters attending.  The Global Party theme this year is ‘Global Glamour‘.

The first Global Party was held two years ago, with 80 parties held.  The event is to become an annual one from now onwards, and the proceeds from donations received and the monies raised through auctions will go to The Global Charity Trust as well as to local country-specific charities. The 120 parties per evening are live-streamed globally.  The global parties are being held at an elite list of the world’s chicest nightspots, including Nikki Beach in Marrakesh, Paris’s Ozu Club, and The Savoy in London. Continue reading →

‘Ein Sommer in Kapstadt’: paints picture of paradise in Cape Town!

Last night the largest German TV station ZDF re-flighted ‘Ein Sommer in Kapstadt’ (A Summer in Cape Town), a beautiful movie reflecting the beauty of Cape Town, which was shot in 2009, and was first released in 2010.  It couldn’t have come at a better time, when Germans are planning their holidays for the coming European winter.

‘Ein Sommer in Kapstadt’ tells the story of a scorned wife, whose husband comes to Cape Town on a business trip.  She follows her husband to Cape Town when she finds him having an affair with a young Capetonian.  While the drama evolves, the characters drive across the city, and its magnificent beauty is captured through the filming: an opening shot from Bakoven in Camps Bay, onto the Twelve Apostles mountain range; Lion’s Head; some cute penguins running from the beach into the ocean; two lunches from a Blouberg restaurant right alongside the sea with the waves crashing while they eat; lots of driving in an exotic blue sports car along what could be Scarborough and Kommetjie; in Bo-Kaap on Rose Street opposite Haas; the promenade in Bantry Bay; lovely shots over the city from Signal Hill; lunch at the V&A Waterfront with Den Anker and the Clocktower in the background; Greenmarket Square; a Cape Dutch wine estate; Long Street; the winelands; and going up Table Mountain with the cableway.   An AIDS angle is introduced too, penguins being used to teach children the symbol of loyal love by one of the characters in the movie.

The movie is dated only by the main character staying in the Hotel Le Vendome in Sea Point when she first arrives in Cape Town (the hotel closed down last year), and the storyline including the magazine Cape Style, which no longer exists.

One hopes that the movie will encourage German TV viewers to book their next holiday in Cape Town, given the beautiful impression which the city must have made on them.  One of the characters in the movie refers to ‘Kapstadt: Das Paradis der Erde’ (Cape Town, the paradise of the world), a wonderful accolade for the city. Given some more damaging German movies shot in Cape Town and shown on ZDF earlier this year, ‘Ein Sommer in Kapstadt’ is a welcome positive showcase of Cape Town.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage