Cape Town Photos

The Plane to Cape Town.	Cape Town airport.	Table Mountain dominates the city skyscape, even as one enters.
At this point, I remember how much I missed the sea.	My hotel room at the hip Fire and Ice.	South Africa has old style vending machines.
View of the city at night.	Same view, the next morning.	The Company's Garden in downtown.
It's a lovely central park.	Sunday was Women's Day and there was someone filming a celebration.	De Tuynhuys, the office of the President.
The Parliament building.	St. George's, the Anglican church.	Cape Town city hall.
Entering the Castle, the original military fortress.	Some quarters inside the Castle.	Before digital watches, time was still necessary. It was actually about 12:30 when I took this; current time is one hour later, because South Africa uses just one time zone.
Dolphin pool at the Castle, though there never were dolphins there. I think.	The South African museum, mostly animal history.	Perhaps the coolest part are life size skeletons of whales and other sea creatures. They even describe the coelacanth.
A temporary exhibit was about disease.	St. Mary's, the Catholic Cathedral, is fairly new, compared to the Anglican building.	The church inside is not that large. Note the crown of thorns above the altar.
Table Mountain looks different on a foggy day.	The District Six Museum talks about a forced dislocation of Africans.	Apartheid was a nasty deal.
There's an outdoor market outside the train station, in case you need purses, belts, shoes, or Simba chips.	All cities have ugly public art.	The Metro train. I bought a tourist ticket to Simons town.
On the way to Simons town, I feel drawn like Legolas.	Simons town is gorgeous, built into the hills.	It's also a home for the South African Navy.
There's a naval military museum; the weaponry in the basement is most interesting.	This one is for my parents.	After walking around, I examined real estate prices. Compared to California, it's a deal. Apparently Brits have bought a lot.
Boulders Beach, as you can see.	I miss the ocean.	It's 30 rand to go on the beach, and well worth it. Seriously, it's like four US dollars.
My hand is in the Atlantic Ocean here.	Oh yeah ... one more thing ....	For unknown reasons, a colony of penguins moved here in the early 1980s.
The government built them little houses.	In South Africa, there are few of the annoying safety rules, so you can get pretty close. There's just a little fence here.	I'm about ten feet away in this picture. I could try to catch one, but they bite.
You can swim with the penguins, though the water was too cold in South African winter. Sigh.	Ha! I see you!	Good night, Simons Town. This moved very high on the list of places I'd like to live.