Castle of Good Hope not on the list …

WebUrbanist ran an article today called Starry Knights: 14 Stellar Star-Shaped Fortresses which did not include our beloved castle in Cape Town.  Here is a picture I grabbed from Google Maps.

From Wikipedia:

Built by the Dutch East India Company between 1666 and 1679, the Castle is the oldest building in South Africa. It replaced an older fort called the Fort de Goede Hoop, which was made out of clay and timber and built in 1652 by Jan van Riebeeck upon his arrival at the Cape.
The purpose of both were to act as a replenishment station for ships
passing the treacherous coast around the Cape on long voyages between
the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies.

Ice cream on flight in winter

I flew back from Johannesburg to Cape Town on a BA flight yesterday afternoon after spending a week in Johannesburg.  How do people stand that cold .. I will rather take the wet in Cape Town than that cold in Jhb .. I almost froze to death.

On to the ice cream.  Instead of peanuts and whatnot, we got dished out icecream.  You know those Magnum ice cream on a stick,  only small versions of it.  These ice creams were frozen rock solid and it was a laugh watching the people trying to eat these.  Trying to bite pieces of was just impossible except for the chocolate coating on the outside.  This was the first time that I was given ice cream on a flight and it was actually very nice.  Just a pity it was such a small one.  What I find interesting is that they serve ice cream in the midst of a cold winter and come summer these ice creams are nowhere to be seen.  Will never understand that thinking.

Overall the flight was a very pleasant and fun flight .. very friendly lady between myself and Andre on the flight and was not offended by the jokes we cracked about the woman pilot.  Yes, we had a woman pilot and obviously all the woman pilot jokes and comments came out.  Must say that she, the woman pilot, was actually good.  The landing was not to bumpy and she missed most of the air tirbulance.

I am just happy to be back home in good ol Cape Town .. Jhb really sucks.

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Snow on the mountains

As mentioned in my previous posting, my daughter spend the day in Stellenbosch writing admission tests.  Yesterday afternoon when I went to fetch her, I saw the snow covered mountain peeks.  Now you all know why it is so freezing cold here in Cape Town.

You can see the full scale image and more in my gallery here.

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Low hanging clouds – winter is coming

On Tygerberg Hill are some radio masks and this morning one of the masks was sticking out above the clouds.

It is an overcast day here in Cape Town and the air is starting to get nippy.  Winter is on its way but there is something not right with the weather here in the Cape.  What is this with the thunder this morning and it is not the first time this month.  We are not suppose to get thunder and lightning here in the Cape. 

More photos here: My Photo Gallery – Clouds

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Photos from the week past

Cape Town is one of the host cities for World Cup 2010 and a new stadium is busy being build.  Here, the half (or maybe three quarter) build stadium is covered with mist.  Hope that it is not an indication that this stadium will become a ghost stadium

Yesterday, myself and a friend (thanks Marita) spend the afternoon in Houtbay enjoying some fish and chips.  The wind was howling as can be seen from the white on the water and it was really unpleasant but it was nice none the less.

Houtbay without fishing boats is not Houtbay and being so unpleasant and windy all the boats were in the harbor as can be seen here.

Currently it is very hot in Cape Town and there is fires burning in the Stellenbosch/Somerset West mountains and the sky is covered with smoke. On my way, taking my son to varsity in Stellenbosch, I took this photo of the sun behind the smoke.

This photo does not do it justice since the sun was bright red, not pink like in the photo.

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DTP #7: Location, Location, Location

Location

Over the past 2 weekends, I have been helping friends, Melanie & Hendrik, renovating their flat which they going to rent out.  Above picture shows the view from one of their windows.   How goes the saying, Location, Location, Location – how true is it about this.  Cannot think of a better view anywhere in South Africa, in fact the world. Well except maybe the view from my new IBM Office.

Cape Town Office Move - 1st floor view

DTP #6: Windy Cape Town

Windy Cape Town

This is the picture that met me on my way to work this morning.  Table Mountain with its cloth.  Old Cape Townians know that this is an indication of lots of wind.  And true to its word – it is very windy in Cape Town at the moment.

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