A Day on the Red Bus

Red for the double decker 'topless' bus on which we toured the city and surroundings.  We stopped at the 'Green Market,' an area where native arts and crafts are sold.  We'll be visiting more extensively :) later next week.
We also visited St. George's Cathedral. "St George’s Anglican Cathedral, a gorgeous example of Victorian era design with magnificent stained glass windows and a crypt  lies on Wale Street in Cape Town, and is known as ‘the people’s cathedral’ because of its role in the resistance against apartheid." Wikipedia
We also walked through a beautiful garden behind the church.  Magnificent.
From there we went on to the District 6 Museum.  Since we are here in South Africa, we wanted to know much more about Apartheid.  Here is what Wikipedia has to say about District 6. "On 11 February 1966, the government declared District Six a whites-only area under the Group Areas Act, with removals starting in 1968. By 1982, more than 60,000 people had been relocated to the sandy, bleak Cape Flats township complex some 25 kilometers away. The old houses were bulldozed. The only buildings left standing were places of worship. International and local pressure made redevelopment difficult for the government, however. The Cape Technikon (now Cape Peninsula University of Technology) was built on a portion of District Six which the government renamed Zonnebloem. Apart from this and some police housing units, the area was left undeveloped.
Since the fall of apartheid in 1994, the African National Congress has recognized the older claims of former residents to the area, and pledged to support rebuilding."
It was really too much to take in.  The museum is filled with photos and personal stories of the residents of District 6.  It was very sobering.
Next we stopped at 'The Castle.'
"The Castle of Good Hope is the oldest surviving building in South Africa. Built between 1666 and 1679, this pentagonal fortification replaced a small clay and timber fort built by Commander Jan van Riebeeck in 1652 upon establishing a maritime replanishment station art the Cape of Good Hope for the Dutch East India Company, better known as the VOC (Verenigde Oos-Indische Compagnie). "
We ate lunch at the Castle and took the guided tour.  Very interesting.
From the Castle we rode to 'Table Mountain.'  What an awesome sight.  It is a flat top mountain :)  There was a lot of fog at the top of the gondola ride, so we decided to return later when we can see the entire vista.  From the base of the gondola ride you can see so much of the city's shipping district.  Great pictures.  Hopefully I can put them on Ad's computer and get them on the blog....maybe tonight.
We continued on the red bus to tour many of the beautiful beach areas around Cape Town.  Stunning sights.
A 'catch up' of last night.....We shared dinner with the deBlaeij family.  Delicious Portuguese Chicken.....take out.  It was a Hanneke fave, so of course we had to try it.  Tonight Leon is cooking.  Can't wait!!!
Maybe more later....or after the wedding tomorrow.  What a blessing to be sharing in this wonderful occasion with this wonderful family.

 

Greetings from Cape Town, South Africa

Blue for the color of the Ocean which we view from our hotel room.
We arrived just after midnight.  We had a two and one half hour delay on the tarmac in Amsterdam....technical problems with the engine (:  They must have fixed it, because we arrived safely.  It was wonderful to see Ad and Jim's faces looking up at us and waving when we entered the terminal in Cape Town Airport.  And then just as wonderful were the faces of Coby, Hanneke, Jisca and Brent when we reached the hotel.  What a blessing, Jisca got us a room right next to Coby and Ad.  We had first thought we would be staying in a hotel next door to the Penninsula.
We slept in this morning...what a blessing to sleep in a bed after spending the previous night on the plane.  We showered, put our things away and went downstairs to look around.  Brent and Jisca found us and we had coffee together while getting our basic questions answered.  Then we just listened as they shared their journey to this wedding day.  What a blessing to hear their testimony of how God brought them together.
We had lunch in the hotel restaurant...delicious ....and wonderful service.  This is a very beautiful hotel.  All the hotel rooms are suites with what they call self catering.  That means you have a kitchen :)  So after lunch we walked to the super market and bought a few groceries.  It took several minutes for the deli counter person to communicate to me how much sliced ham I would need.  I am so not a metric measurement person!!!  She was so patient. 
We returned to the hotel and put our things away when our doorbell (yes we have a doorbell) rang.  It was Hanneke and the girls.  What pure joy to see those little girls again.  We will be painting the nails tonight :)  Shades of the Conference Grounds experience.  P has continued his tic tac toe gaming with Catherine.....she is still winning :)  imagine that!
We went for a walk along the ocean front.  God's power shown greatly in the huge powerful waves crashing on the shiny black rocks.  The views from any direction here are spectacular!
Hoping to figure out how to get my pictures on this hotel computer...check tomorrow.

At the airport. Leaving at 3:30. I pod touch is much slower than laptop. More later.

Laundry and Packing

......Less than 72 hours before we take off for our South African Adventure.  We are so blessed to be able to go and witness the wedding of our friends.  A week from today Jisca deBlaeij will become the wife of Brent Johansen,.  Our friends Coby and Ad deBlaeij will see their youngest daughter marry.  It truly is a big day, and all the family will be assembled.
We may have thought about visiting South Africa sometime in the past, but somehow the opportunity to share in such an important event as the marriage of people you care very much for seemed to elevate the idea to a possibility...and then to a reality.  We will be very excited to finally be on the plane headed for Cape Town.  We depart at 3:25pm on Tuesday.  I will be blogging from P's iPod Touch, so I might not be as long winded.  Back to laundry and packing.

Home Again

Pink today.  Of course, it's my favorite color, and we're back home and in the 'pink.'  It was five days of travel to get here, but it was worth it.  My own bed is going to sleep me very well tonight.  It's after midnight, so this will post on Monday, but we actually arrived late this afternoon.  We were both quite bushed!  The drive through the Chicago area went very smoothly.  That was a blessing.  
I've discovered that a daily blog is difficult to keep up when you go go go all day then have to be creative late at night.  And I think my brain was fried from all the HEAT!  It feels good to be wearing a fleece.  Didn't think I'd ever say that again.
Tomorrow Laundry and Camper Cleaning!!!  We probably will not be sleeping in the camper until we go to Florida after January.
Upon arrival home, I was blessed to be greeted by two huge roses on my favorite bush.  They smell sooooo sweet.  What a nice surprise.

Omaha Ahead

Blue for the color of the cloudless sky.  We're fueling up at a Flying J.  Good sleep....hopefully no meltdowns today.  I was a drama queen last night.  Received some lovin' care...thanks to P and K and J.
Will stop more frequently today.  Four hour stretches are too long.
Will see if I can be creative with some pics today.  Oh, yeah, Iowa ahead :)  maybe not.  Greater opportunity in Chicago area. 
Later....

Nebraska

Still yellow....can you say Nebraska!!  We are in Lincoln.  Nice campground.  K is fixing dinner.  I'm pretty beat....even though I did nothing but sit all day.  How does that happen?
Not much to tell on a travel through day.  Except that at our campground last night, they had a wonderful little restaurant where they did Pit BBQ.  We bought some 'to go' and had it for lunch today.  It was very good.
WiFi here seems to be working.  We have supposedly had WiFi at just about every campground, but it doesn't always go as smoothly as they advertise.  I usually just end up using my WiFi card.  I can always depend on that.  As a matter of fact, I was fb chatting with our friend Hanneke in the Hague, Netherlands, as we were tooling down I-80 today....it is quite a trip...pardon the pun :)
I answered my e-mail, played a couple games of Bejeweled Blitz, checked out my fb friends....all in the seat of the Dodge Ram!
I only have one picture today.  I'll share it.  
Blessings on the first day of October, 2010.