Incase any of you thought i had had a nasty acccident...
Hello all, i've been a bit slack about updating my blogg over recent weeks, apologies apologies... Having missed all 14 bank holidays that South Africa have to offer it became dramatically apparent that i was due a holiday. AP and I had been discussing the possibility of her visiting Cape Town and once we'd nailed some dates all that was left to do was wait with eager anticipation and excitement. Well, the most eagerly anticipated day of 2006 finally came on the 13th May. Alessandra's flight was delayed just enough to give me a serious case of the shakes and a worrying concern that Australia had fallen out with South Africa while i was asleep. When she came through the gate it was a real moment of relief, all my memories and recollections flooded back and manifested themselves in the biggest smile know to man.It seems a million years ago since Alessandra and I met at Zeph's birthday drinks in Angel, and at the airport i relived the fantastic vibe i felt when we first talked. Anyway enough of the gushiness, basically i was really happy to be on holiday and to be able to spend my time off with such a good friend and companion. The flight to CT can be quite tiring so we took it fairly easy on the first day. Claire, Lane and Chris came with us for lunch round the corner at Belaza. I usually have my breakfast there on the weekends, regale tales from the night before and eat the 10r special. Budget boy. In the evening Als and I went to Shoga, a asian fusion restaurant just off Buitengracht St. The food was very good, Alessandra had Salmon and i had a lamb shank. As my mother will testify, tiredness hits you like a brick wall after a flight and a few drinks so the night wasn't a long one.
http://www.dining-out.co.za/member_details-MemberID-2196.html
On Sunday we went to the Picasso exhibition at the South African National Gallery. The exhibition drew up some interesting questions regarding ethnicity and the removal of African cultural artifacts by European colonialists in the late 19th early 20th Century. The exhibition was curated as a kind of celebration of Picasso's African influences, which i thought kind of missed the bigger picture. The objects that Picasso saw at the Trocadero in Paris were from all over Africa and helped inspire some of his greatest works as well as more significantly the beginning of cubist art. The curator felt it was appropriate to also display some ceremonial masks from Congo, Mali and other parts of Africa. If they were the original masks from which Picasso drew influence then I felt they had a context, narrative and ultimately a good reason for being there. Unfortunately they weren't which gave the exhibition a very voyeuristic, Victoriana feel to it. As if we were also consenting to the display and consumption of another cultures artifacts. The labels and information available about the masks was to put it mildly, lacking depth. Anyway that's enough ranting, we also saw an exhibition by Wim Botha, a S Afrian artist. Interesting but i didn't think he put across the ideas behind his work very well, to be truthful i missed the point. After the exhibition we went to the waterfront and for dinner we ate Sushi.
http://www.iziko.org.za/sang/c_ex.html
Monday was the first day of our trip out of Cape Town, Als and i picked up a rental car early in the morning and headed out to Betty's Bay, West of Cape Town. The coastal road is very scenic, the photo above was taken just before Betty's Bay.
For lunch we stopped in Hamanos. Unfortunately there's no whales at this time of year so we had some seafood and went for a stroll down by the old harbour. A few star jumps later and we were on our way. Our over night destination was a small town called Great Brak River, the town's existence is thanks to a small shoe factory rather aptly named "Watson's". We stayed in a small B&B called Hough's Herbal Hub, you can check it out on the link below. The photo below was taken at Swellendam about half way to Great Brak River. The sun was very low in the sky and made the whole valley look like a dream world. The last time i'd traveled up the Garden Route the palette was very tertiary, it was wonderful to see the whole landscape transformed into lush tones of green.
http://www.greatbrakriver.co.za/inform.htm
http://www.gardenroute.com/content/view/1246/51/
posted by Cape Cornetto @ 5:16 PM
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