Picto Diary - 21 December 2018 - Cape Town Arrival

Above: Cruisers with Roy, Regent Seven Seas Explorer. 21 December 2018.

Pianist, Observation Lounge, who regaled us with "escape" during cocktail hours.

Roy is from Toronto, and currently lives in Romania when he's not working on a ship.

Roy's "escape" piano repertoire was backed up by an electronic instrumental track.

Above: TIMDT and Table Mountain. Cape Town, South Africa. 21 December 2018.

TIMDT observes iconic mountain as ship eases into port.

We were last here in 1996 with Cape Town being the destination port of a cruise we began in Mombasa, Kenya.

Above: Statue. Nelson Mandela. City Hall, Cape Town, South Africa. 21 January 2018.

Nelson Mandela statue stands at City Hall spot, outdoors, where he gave his address to Cape Town public at time of South Africa's abolition of apartheid. — in Cape Town City Hall.

I captured the image on the fly as the bus drove by. I photo shopped the image to focus on the Mandela statue alone.

Above: Table Mountain Tram. Cape Town, South Africa. 21 January 2018.

Circular floor of tram rotates so as to give fifty riders a 360 degree view on the way up or down.

Above: Bridge 'n TIMDT survey Cape Town from atop Table Mountain. — at Table Mountain Aerial Cableway. 21 January 2018.

Above: Cape Town from atop Table Mountain. 21 January 2018.

Regent Seven Seas Explorer can be seen, berthed, at the center of the image.

Addendum:

Steve,

On one of my visits to Abidjan when I was doing the WCG for Africa and the Middle East, I had Kay with me. I had a good friend from my government days in Laos who stayed with the State Department and was Charge d’ Affairs when we were there as the American Ambassador was out of the country. He had the Ambassador’s car with the diplomatic plates. We were having dinner in a Vietnamese restaurant in a close in suburb of Abidjan where most of the diplomatic residences were and where expatriates and the wealthy locals lived. We were the only people there.

All of a sudden we noticed the restaurant staff had disappeared, it became very quiet and my friend who was facing the front door said “don’t move and do whatever they say”. Next thing I knew there was a pistol at Kay’s head and there were two men with stockings over their heads and faces. We were told hands in the air and to give them the keys to the car, which my friend did. The two men left not asking for watches or jewelry. We learned the next day that a similar event took place at the residence of the French Ambassador and this time they collected jewelry. One woman was so hysterical that she could not get her rings off her fingers and she was shot dead. We were lucky all they wanted was the car which they could use cross the border into Ghana with the diplomatic plates.

We were very lucky! The joys of doing business in parts of Africa in the 1980’s and ’90’s

Tom,
Aspen, CO

I did the trans African ride in 2008. It was a Burt trip with Eligio Arturi and Rikus Visser as guides. I’m looking forward to some riding this spring and hope I will be sharing some of that with you. I purchased a new R 1200 RS in February of this year and it’s turned out to be the best sport touring bike i’ve owned. Also this fall I took a ride and went to Antelope Canyon in Page Arizona, it’s a slot canyon in Navajo territory and is really spectacular. I got a really good deal on the bike as it was a 2016 with 11 miles. It’s the easiest riding bike I have ever owned. Anyway hope to see you this spring.

ITYW

I enjoyed being with you on the Africa trip. Antelope Canyon is neat. The next time you head that, or my, direction, let me know. I could meet you some place.