Cape Town

Pulling up to the gate after an eleven hour flight from Amsterdam, the stewardess gave a little speech:  "Welcome to the Free and Democratic Republic of South Africa.  We're proud and happy to have you visit our beautiful country.  My fellow flight attendants are now passing down the aisles with cloth sacks . . . please place all of your valuables inside them or you will be killed where you sit." Actually it didn't happen exactly like that.  In fact the fear, violence, and death that was supposed to permanently hang over our heads while visiting a large South African city was notably absent.  I wouldn't go so far as to say it was friendly -- large cities never are -- but it was no worse and no better than, say, New York. You can still see the leftovers from rougher times, however.  We stayed near the city center, where all of the older shops still had bars over their windows and gated doors.  Those gates are wide open now, though, and the newer shops have no bars at all.  Along the main streets, at least, Cape Town is starting to open up. Just above the city is the beautiful Table Mountain.

This statue (entitled "Africa") is on a pedestrian mall across the street from the main train station.  I've best heard it described as "the result of an unlikely transporter accident." Needless to say this was the only thing I knew I wanted to see when I arrived in Cape Town.

The wealthy suburb above the city center is a series of house-sized fortresses, many with razor spikes on top of their walls and promises of armed response to incursions. There are also many houses without the spikes or the warnings.  Once again, I came away with a feeling that the whole city was starting to relax a bit.

This piece is called "Butcher Boys".  I like the fact that they all appear to have had autopsies performed on them.

Everybody has a union these days.

Most of the animals we've seen so far have been completely fearless, and this goose was no different.  He was the lookout while the rest of the group fed in the stream, and he was quite clear that we were not welcome additions to the flock.

Okay, I can sort of see the need for a "No picking the flowers" sign at the botanical gardens, but "No chopping down the trees"?

It sounds dirty but it isn't.