We were up at 6:30 and down for breakfast served in the lounge of the hotel. We all walked to the bus tour company and rode a big red double decker bus for a tour of Cape Town. We all sat on top and the tour began at the two oceans aquarium, following the Red Route on the map, we saw the clocktower, the convention center, the SA museum, the SA Jewish Museum, the Dutch castle, the gold museum, the cableway of Table Mountain, Camps Bay, Sea Point, and then back to the waterfront. Along the drive to Camps Bay we say the Twelve Apostles Mountain as well as the neighborhoods of the rich and famous, including Elton John, David and Victoria Beckham, and Charlize Theron. The beaches are covered in white sand, and many Great White Sharks are spotted along the beach and surfers have to be aware of the shadows lurking underwater. We came back to the waterfront and had lunch. I was so excited to see a Subway in the food court, so of course I had to get it and take a picture posing under the sign and with my sandwich for my family, well especially for Marcus. It wasn’t quite the same because they didn’t have turkey, so I was a little bummed, and the mayo just wasn’t right, but still it was a yummy lunch! After lunch we rode the Sea Princess boat 11.6 kilometers out to Robben Island. Kasy, Alex, and I all sat together up top and it was a rocky and wet thirty minute ride to the island! We arrived on the island and climbed onto a tour bus and learned that our guide taking us around the island was a political prisoner on Robben Island. He showed us Sisulu’s isolation house where he spent much of his imprisonment on the island. We were able to stop and take pictures from the island of Cape Town and Table Mountain. We arrived at the prison gates and were handed off to another tour guide who also was a political prisoner. We guided us through the common criminal cells, the different blocks, the yard, and the political prison and walled-in yard. We went into cells that originally held single beds that housed 53 prisoners in the room, but then they added bunks to squeeze 106 men into a cell the size of my living room and family room at home. We saw the area of the yard where Mandela buried his manuscript for his book Long Walk to Freedom and that was such a powerful feeling. I read the book this summer, prior to coming to South Africa, and I had envisioned the prison a specific way, but seeing everything and recalling what Mandela wrote about it all fit into place, like the wall that was built and separated the political prisoners from the common criminals. It made me want to go back and read the book now that I know the layout of the prison and can picture exactly what he is describing. We ended the tour by seeing Mandela’s single jail cell where he spent 18 of his 27 years in prison. The cell was smaller than the dog kennels on the grounds, measuring 7 feet by 10 feet, just barely big enough for him to be able to lie down. It was so hard walking through the halls of the prison with a man who had lived through the struggle, and I had to keep reminding myself that this happened in my lifetime. I was born and lived through the last years of apartheid, and he was in that jail, separated from his family, fighting for his beliefs, as I was going to preschool and grade school. It was such a strange feeling, and very difficult to wrap your mind around. You can read about the Great Depression, Holocaust, and Vietnam War, but those all happened in a time before I was born. You can see all of the pictures you want but until something like that happens in your lifetime and you come face to face with it, it still seems like something further back in history. It was quite the experience to have been able go there and see that important part of history. For dinner we went to Mama Africa and I ordered springbok. It was a very tender meat and I have to say that it was one of the better meals that I have ordered while in South Africa! The restaurant had live African music, the ceiling was lined with sticks and straw to look like a hut, and animals and authentic decorations lined the walls. They had a man selling jewelry and other collectables, and Carrie and I bought elephant hair bracelets. By the time the cab dropped us off at Dale Court, we were tired and all crawled into bed!
Sunday, September 30, 2007
September 22, 2007
We were up at 6:30 and down for breakfast served in the lounge of the hotel. We all walked to the bus tour company and rode a big red double decker bus for a tour of Cape Town. We all sat on top and the tour began at the two oceans aquarium, following the Red Route on the map, we saw the clocktower, the convention center, the SA museum, the SA Jewish Museum, the Dutch castle, the gold museum, the cableway of Table Mountain, Camps Bay, Sea Point, and then back to the waterfront. Along the drive to Camps Bay we say the Twelve Apostles Mountain as well as the neighborhoods of the rich and famous, including Elton John, David and Victoria Beckham, and Charlize Theron. The beaches are covered in white sand, and many Great White Sharks are spotted along the beach and surfers have to be aware of the shadows lurking underwater. We came back to the waterfront and had lunch. I was so excited to see a Subway in the food court, so of course I had to get it and take a picture posing under the sign and with my sandwich for my family, well especially for Marcus. It wasn’t quite the same because they didn’t have turkey, so I was a little bummed, and the mayo just wasn’t right, but still it was a yummy lunch! After lunch we rode the Sea Princess boat 11.6 kilometers out to Robben Island. Kasy, Alex, and I all sat together up top and it was a rocky and wet thirty minute ride to the island! We arrived on the island and climbed onto a tour bus and learned that our guide taking us around the island was a political prisoner on Robben Island. He showed us Sisulu’s isolation house where he spent much of his imprisonment on the island. We were able to stop and take pictures from the island of Cape Town and Table Mountain. We arrived at the prison gates and were handed off to another tour guide who also was a political prisoner. We guided us through the common criminal cells, the different blocks, the yard, and the political prison and walled-in yard. We went into cells that originally held single beds that housed 53 prisoners in the room, but then they added bunks to squeeze 106 men into a cell the size of my living room and family room at home. We saw the area of the yard where Mandela buried his manuscript for his book Long Walk to Freedom and that was such a powerful feeling. I read the book this summer, prior to coming to South Africa, and I had envisioned the prison a specific way, but seeing everything and recalling what Mandela wrote about it all fit into place, like the wall that was built and separated the political prisoners from the common criminals. It made me want to go back and read the book now that I know the layout of the prison and can picture exactly what he is describing. We ended the tour by seeing Mandela’s single jail cell where he spent 18 of his 27 years in prison. The cell was smaller than the dog kennels on the grounds, measuring 7 feet by 10 feet, just barely big enough for him to be able to lie down. It was so hard walking through the halls of the prison with a man who had lived through the struggle, and I had to keep reminding myself that this happened in my lifetime. I was born and lived through the last years of apartheid, and he was in that jail, separated from his family, fighting for his beliefs, as I was going to preschool and grade school. It was such a strange feeling, and very difficult to wrap your mind around. You can read about the Great Depression, Holocaust, and Vietnam War, but those all happened in a time before I was born. You can see all of the pictures you want but until something like that happens in your lifetime and you come face to face with it, it still seems like something further back in history. It was quite the experience to have been able go there and see that important part of history. For dinner we went to Mama Africa and I ordered springbok. It was a very tender meat and I have to say that it was one of the better meals that I have ordered while in South Africa! The restaurant had live African music, the ceiling was lined with sticks and straw to look like a hut, and animals and authentic decorations lined the walls. They had a man selling jewelry and other collectables, and Carrie and I bought elephant hair bracelets. By the time the cab dropped us off at Dale Court, we were tired and all crawled into bed!
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