Squeekie models jewelry . . .

. . . I thought she was beautiful as always, but the necklace seemed clunky—not her style.

Passing around the Cape of Good Hope at 8:15am, Rotterdam slips from the Indian Ocean into the Atlantic.

Off Cape Town—the air is clear but the wind is blowing too hard to allow us to enter the port.

Squeekie off Cape Town, with the wind blowing hard; that’s Table Mountain behind her.

Robbins Island, which is famous as the prison where Nelson Mandela was kept.

Sunset off Cape Town.

Sunrise over Cape Town harbour, seen from our room’s verandah at the dock.

Downtown Cape Town

The money ran out to finish this expressway, so Cape Towners are still waiting; once we had a few of these in LA, too!

The stadium under construction for the 2010 World Cup games.

Driving down the Atlantic coast side of Cape Town’s suburbs seems a lot like Southern California, right down to the kelp floating in the sea water..

This suburb looks rather like Laguna Beach . . .

. . . right down to this site of a house burned out in a brush fire.

The back side of Table Mountain is more rural, with vineyards . . .

. . . but we also saw some of the (former) ghettos where black Africans live.

Near the Cape of Good Hope National Park we passed a farm raising ostriches.

This is the tip of the Cape, known as “Cape Point.”

A funicular took us up to near the top of the hill/mountain behind the Cape of Good Hope.

Squeekie climbed up to the lighthouse atop the hill . . .

. . . and posed for her picture . . .

. . . and took this panorama across the mouth of False Bay toward Point Agulhas in the distance (the real southern tip of Africa).

After lunch at the Blue Marlin in Simon’s Town . . .

. . we went to look at the northernmost colony of penguins in the world.

They nest in the sand; it may look like snow, but its much warmer.

One cannot help but wonder if those chicks ever question the need to migrate to Antarctica, some 3000 miles to the south.

Simon’s Town on False Bay is a beautiful little community, and is now a suburb of Cape Town although on the back (east) side of Table Mountain.

Sunset from the top of Signal Hill

Squeekie at sunset.

Cape Town viewed from atop Signal Hill as the sun sets; . . .

. . . and a short while later the lights of Cape Town glow as viewed from Signal Hill.

Squeekie shows off her African cosmetic decoration.

After dinner the servers entertain the diners.
We depart the Africa Café with full tummies.


Happy Birthday, Squeekie!

One of the non-ghettos we passed—notice the electricity service drops.

The farmland east of Cape Town on the way to Stellenbosch

A downtown street in Stellenbosch; it was very picturesque.


The Schreuderhuis exterior . . .

. . . and the interior.

The Blettermanhuis exterior . . .

. . . and interior of the kitchen area.

Exterior of the front of the Grosvenor House . . .

. . . and the interior of the music room.

Exterior of the home of O.M. Bergh . . .

. . . and the interior of one bedroom.


One of the Victorian-era buildings at Stellenbosch University.

One of the vineyards at Boschendal Wine Estate.

Squeekie and our wine tour guide at Boschendal.

The fermenting vats at Boschendal.

One of the aging cellars at Boschendal.

Moss (second right) with Jan and Cindy (to his right) tasting at Boschendal.

Squeekie enjoying the tase of a glass of Boschendal’s “Le Bouquet” wine.

Part of the V & A shopping area in the old port . . .

. . . where they even had a Build-a-Bear store!

The stewards sang Happy Birthday to Squeek when we went up to the Lido for some ice cream.

Captain Olav skillfully maneuvered Rotterdam out of Cape Town’s harbour.

A lovely cake was served as we continued to celebrate Squeekie’s birthday.

Presti (left) and Oscar (right) led the singing of the two birthday songs.



Ninetieth Day (Sunday, April 19, 2009)-- This is a very welcomed “at sea” day. I am so far behind on my blog that I fear I will never catch up, and Squeek is behind in her journal too, although nowhere nearly as badly as am I. To deal with this issue Squeekie and I spent all morning up in the Crow’s Nest writing on our respective computers. The seas were still very rough today. The navigator has informed us that the Agulhas Current which flows southeasterly here (helping to push us toward Cape Town) causes the coastal waters to be very rough, especially where they come into contact with winds from the continent. The motion of the ship is magnified up on Deck Nine, and I began to feel a bit queasy as the morning progressed. When it was time for me to go to trivia I told Squeekie that I would not be coming back up, but would skip lunch and work in our stateroom. Squeekie had a nice lunch chat with Olav and the First Officer Joost, she later told me.

In the mid-afternoon I attended the art auction being held in the Explorers Lounge. The Bridge had contributed one of its navigation maps as a fund-raising charitable contribution. The map was clearly marked with what was identified as Rotterdam’s “Anti-Pirate” route out into the Indian Ocean to avoid the pirate activity near the horn of Africa. I really did want that map, and was prepared to bid up to a hundred dollars for it, but I was outbid by another guest who paid $210 for it! I later learned he is a collector of navigation maps, so I guess I was out of my league on this one!

Squeekie participated in the third and final jewelry modeling event on this cruise. After having been ignored for the second one, she was eager to do the third event and she was chosen to model. Unfortunately, the stuff she was asked to model was clunky crud way beneath her classy appearance. Still, I think that she had a fun time. The fun carried over into the dinner hour. It was a formal night this evening and again we ate at the adjacent table with Don and Iris and Bob and Phyllis. A nice time was had by all. . . .


Ninety-first Day (Monday, April 20, 2009)-- Today we were scheduled to arrive in Cape Town around noon, but it was not to be. The seas were very rough all through the night, causing the ship to roll and thus its interior construction to crack, creak, and groan. I fortunately was able to sleep through most of this cacophony—I think the sleep machine is helping in that regard—but Squeekie had a terrible night, I learned in the morning time. Upon awakening in the 8am hour we found that the seas had calmed down and it looked like a good day. While we were getting dressed Captain Olav came on the public speakers to say that we were passing the Cape of Good Hope on the starboard side of the ship, so Squeek and I rushed our dressing and dashed forward to our now favourite lookout place on Deck Six forward, where there is an open deck running all across the ship, giving a wonderful view side to side as well as forward over the bow. (We can also turn around and look up one deck into the windows of the bridge, often seeing officers and crew about their duties. We like this vantage point.) We were able to photograph the Cape as we passed by, thus fulfilling something I have always wished to do.

With the passing of Cape Agulhas in the early morning hours (this point, about fifty miles to the southeast of the Cape of Good Hope, is the actual southern tip of the African continent) and the Cape of Good Hope at this time we have traveled out of the Indian Ocean into the Atlantic Ocean.

As we cruised northwesterly up the peninsula where lies the Cape, we were headed toward Cape Town, which soon came into view (at least part of it), so once again we went out to the forward deck for pictures. We found it to be extremely windy up forward, so much so that it was difficult to even walk across the deck. Still the wind cleared all the dust and pollution out of the air to that it was crystal clear, enabling us to see details below and upon Table Mountain, which dominated our view. Also we could see Lion’s Head and Signal Hill, two adjacent hills lying just below and west of Table Mountain and which, if looked at together from the Atlantic Ocean side, do indeed look like a lion lying down with his head up for a look around. It was a beautiful sight, I can tell you! It was even possible to see the upper cableway station at the southern end on top of Table Mountain, and we both thought that we would be riding up there later today. Just then clouds started to collect at the top of Table Mountain and spill over onto the Atlantic side, looking like a tablecloth. I thought that this “spilling over” of clouds was just like I used to see coming over the tops of the Peninsula’s ocean-side hills when I was at Menlo in the Bay Area.

We could see the harbour of Cape Town nearing and thought we soon would be entering, but just then Captain Olav came on the horn to tell that our arrival at the pier was delayed because Cape Town’s harbour was closed to cruise ships of our size due to gale force winds. The ship’s anchor was dropped and Rotterdam floated all day just offshore, waiting for the winds to die down enough for us to sail in and safely dock. As a result of this weather phenomenon, apparently similar to the Santa Ana Winds we sometimes experience in Southern California, all of the scheduled excursions for this afternoon were cancelled. We were disappointed, but that is the reality of travel. Fortunately, our sunset-time excursion on Signal Hill was rescheduled for tomorrow evening, which will not conflict with our plans.

We went down to dinner with Don and Iris again, and learned that Jim and Jessica (their other tablemates at that table for six) were stuck on the dock, waiting to reboard Rotterdam. They had taken an overland trip out of Durban to go to Victoria Falls, but were unable to get back on because the ship was held offshore by the winds. I must say that I was interested by this event. I had rather assumed that in this modern era of high technology ships were not nearly as controlled by the weather as they had been in the days of the sailing ships, but here was an example of how a mighty modern ship, filled with power and electronics, could still be as restricted as the ships of yore. Fascinating!

As we were finishing dinner around 9 pm, we could feel the ship start to move, and before long it was obvious that Rotterdam was headed in to Cape Town’s harbour. A cheer went up in the dining room. Although we had lost a half day in historic Cape Town, now we were headed in. As dessert was being served in the dining room, the stewards began passing around flutes of champagne with the following note appended:

Have no fear Cape Town is near
Soon you will be smiling on the pier
Yet since weather is not ours to direct
We devised the following to deflect
In joy and as gesture
A glass of bubbly with our pleasure
Combined with dessert
Turns any critic into a flirt
Cheers with thanks for your understanding
Makes this afternoon and evening a little less demanding

Well, the poetry is far from grand, but someone had fun devising it. I can appreciate the effort made to keep we guests happy and entertained. Really, this crew on Rotterdam, in the finest traditions of Holland-America, does indeed treat us like royalty!


Ninety-second Day (Tuesday, April 21, 2009)-- We had an early alarm this morning because of our planned events, but the pain of the early hour was eased by the breakfast that was brought to our stateroom. We were docked at the famous “N” Dock (also known as North Dock) in Cape Town, and were excited at the prospect of exploring the Cape today.

A brief bit of history-- Although there were aboriginal people living in the area now known as the Western Cape Province as early as 100,000 B.C., there was no significant settlement made in the area now known as Table Bay. Portuguese explorer Bartholemew Dias anchored in the bay in 1486, the first European to come here. The area’s prominent landform, Table Mountain, got its name in 1503, from Portuguese explorer Antonio da Saldanha. The area fell out of regular contact with Europeans until 1652, when Jan van Riebeeck and other employees of the Dutch East India Company (simply VOC) were sent to the Cape to establish a halfway station to provide fresh water, vegetables, and meat for passing ships travelling to and from Asia. Van Riebeeck’s party of three vessels landed at the cape on April 6, 1652. The group quickly erected shelters and laid out vegetable gardens and orchards. The first large territorial expansion occurred in 1657, when farms were granted by the VOC to a few servants in an attempt to increase food production. These farms were situated along the Liesbeeck River and the VOC still retained financial control of them. They were largely worked by slaves brought to the Cape from Java and Madagascar. Simon van der Stel, after whom the town of Stellenbosch is named, arrived in 1679 to replace Van Riebeeck as governor. Van der Stel founded the Cape wine industry by bringing grape vines with him on his ship. He also promoted territorial expansion in the Colony. The first non-Dutch immigrants to the Cape, the French Huguenots, arrived in 1688. The Huguenots had fled from anti-Protestant persecution in Catholic France to the Netherlands, where the VOC offered them free passage to the Cape as well as farmland. The Huguenots brought important experience in wine production to the Cape, greatly bolstering that industry.

When Europe broke out in war following the start of the French Revolution, the British sent a garrison to hold Cape Town in 1795, as a result of French seizure of the Dutch homeland. With the signing of the Peace of Amiens in 1802, the Cape was returned to the Dutch, but came back under British control in 1805. At the end of the war against Napoleon in 1815, the Cape was permanently taken from the Dutch by the British in return for a large sum of money; this was because the British saw control of the Cape as key to their ability to maintain their command in India (this is still a half century before the building of the Suez Canal). The Dutch settlers in the Cape area (by this time known as Afrikaaners, and who spoke a variant of the Dutch language known as Afrikaans) were not generally happy with British rule, especially after the British forced an end to slavery and decreed all natives to be legally equal to European residents. This resulted in the Great Trek, which began in 1836. About 10,000 Dutch families left for the north in search of new land, thereby opening up the interior of the country. Further political development in the Cape occurred in 1840 when the Cape Town Municipality was formed. The city continued to grow throughout the nineteenth century, thanks to its status as the principal port for South Africa.

With their victory in the Boer War (1899-1901), the British strengthened their control over the Cape Province and all of South Africa. Following World War Two, however, the white minority population of the former British colony took control of its own government and, in 1948, imposed the racist policies known as Apartheid. These policies kept the black majority (and the large mixed-race “coloured” minority) out of power until 1994, when a fully democratic election restored black Africans to power in the nation.

Back to our adventure-- We had an early tour that was hosted by Emma (Imme in Afrkaans), a very knowledgeable guide. We began with a drive through Cape Town’s downtown area, where we saw the unusual sight of an unused elevated freeway which stopped in midair; Imme told us that construction funds had run out and other projects with greater importance had prevented the municipal government from finishing the project. I recalled how the Highways 2&134 interchange in Glendale had been like that for years, too. The heart of downtown was a mixture of old buildings whose architecture appeared to have been transported directly from Europe, and modern glass-and-steel high rises which would have been at home in New York or Los Angeles. Then we turned to run along the Atlantic coast side of the town, where we passed the new stadium being built to host the 2010 World Cup games. (I can tell you that most Cape Town residents we spoke with are VERY pleased that their city was selected to host these games, even if they are planning to be as far away as possible from the city during that event.) The road here, called Beach Road, reminded Squeekie and I a great deal of the road around Mission Bay in San Diego.

In the shadow of Table Mountain lie the prime residential districts of Cape Town, very reminiscent of Laguna Beach in Southern California. At Clifton Bay our tour bus stopped briefly so that we could take pictures of the Atlantic waters, the shoreline, and the so-called “Twelve Apostles” hill line in the background. Because persistent rockfalls (another problem reminiscent of Southern California) have closed the coastal road south through the suburbs, we had to take a detour on our run down to the Cape of Good Hope, which was our tour target for this morning. Our bus ran behind Table Mountain through the scenic central part of the Cape Peninsula which, among other things, produces wine. We went by picturesque farms and lovely vineyards clearly producing a quantity of grapes. We even passed an ostrich farm where we got to see (from the bus windows, unfortunately) the big birds in action.

After the better part of two hours of driving we arrived at the entrance to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Preserve. The entire bottom of the Cape Peninsula has been preserved in something approaching its natural state, and there was an abundance of wild life to be seen , mostly birds, of course. The flora had become much more stark and rugged, with few large trees. Squeekie was pleased to see that the protea, a plant very popular with flower arrangers, is native to this area and could be seen in wild abundance in the preserve. The actual Cape of Good Hope is a point of land rising several hundred feet above the ocean, topped with a lighthouse. There is a funicular railway to allow visitors to get up to the level of the lighthouse, and we both took it up. Up at the top the wind was blowing with ferocious strength, gale force at least, so strong that even heavy me was buffeted around. Unfazed, Squeekie decided to climb up to the lighthouse so, while I photographed her through my telephoto lens, she climbed the several hundred additional stairs up to the lighthouse, where she took a panorama shot of the waters at the southern tip of Africa. (Actually, the real southernmost point of Africa, Cape Agulhas, is about fifty kilometers to the southeast, and on a clear day can be seen from the Cape Lighthouse.) There was a small museum and a nice bookstore at the top of the incline, so I had plenty to keep me busy while Squeek climbed. The lighthouse on top of Cape Point Peak is one of the earliest prefabricated iron lighthouses ever built and the fact that it still stands (although no longer used for its original purpose) is of interest to an industrial historian such as me. Squeekie was thoughtful in her exploration of this relic which towered over my head, and took a picture of the builder’s plate, from which I learned that the tower structure was built by Victoria Foundry in Greenwich, England, and the light (it would have been a whale oil lantern, magnified by the fresnel lend class surrounding the lantern) was made by DeVille & Company in London, all in 1857. The lighthouse went into operation in 1860 to guide ships around the Cape and to mark the entrance to False Bay, the big body of water to the southeast of the Cape Peninsula. The lighthouse had a beacon of 2,000 candlepower—very powerful for that era, and could be seen over 40 miles out into the ocean. Unfortunately, its location atop Cape Point Peak (247 meters—over 1,000 feet—above sea level) means that it was obfuscated by fog, cloud, and mist at many times. In just such a situation in 1911 the Portuguese liner Lusitania (not to be confused with the British liner of the same name) was wrecked on the point, finally triggering construction of a new lighthouse lower on the point, just 87 meters above the sea; this latter is the one still in operation today. The new lighthouse was built in 1913-19 (with a long delay due to World War One). As I stood looking through the windows of the store and incline house, I considered that the next land to the direct southwards was Antarctica, and that was thousands of miles south! The winds were still very strong and I was pleased when Squeekie returned safely. We rode the funicular down to the bottom of the hill.

When all returned to our bus, and we learned that no one had been blown away, we resumed our tour. Just a few hundred yards west of the hill carrying the Cape lighthouse is the lower cliff that is the actual feature known as the “Cape of Good Hope.” It was too windy to go over and climb it, so we just waved as we went by. Our bus drove northward up the shore of False Bay on the east side of the Cape Peninsula. Our next scheduled stop was at a very nice restaurant named the Blue Marlin, located in a very picturesque site overlooking the waters of False Bay. We were served salad and very nice fish items. I particularly enjoyed the fried calamari! Normally, this dish, no matter how tasty, is tough to eat, very much as though one is chewing big rubber bands. But this calamari was not tough, and was very chewable and flavourful. I loved it, and enjoyed squeekie’s serving as well. YUM!!! We washed this down with Castle Beer, a South African label, but that was not as outstanding as was the calamari. We also enjoyed talking with the other passengers on our tour—as time goes by we are, or rather, I should say my sociable wife is, finding it easier to meet with our fellow passengers, especially those who, like us, are on the entire cruise around the world.

After this VERY PLEASANT rest we reboarded the tour bus to go out along the coast of False Bay to a place called Boulders Beach (so called because of the many large rocks scattered through sand and surf in this area) to visit one of South Africa’s most interesting items of fauna. At this place lives a colony of penguins. This is one of a number of rookeries of penguins found from Namibia in the north, around the Cape of Good Hope to Port Elizabeth on the east coast of South Africa. I am certain that these cute and craft birds have no desire to return to frigid Antarctica after nesting in this lovely and comparatively warm place. Unfortunately, I was not feeling very well, so I did not take the fairly long walk from the bus out to the rookery. I am sorry that I missed being an eyewitness to this place, but Squeekie’s pictures of the cute little things do give me an idea of what it was like, and without the bird noise that I am told predominated. (Imme the tour guide told those who went to the shore that these birds originally were called Jackass Penguins, apparently because of the sound of their cry, but when it was learned that South American Penguins had the same name these birds were renamed “African” Penguins.)

A brief note-- The Boulders Beach/Simon’s Town rookery of African Penguins (Spheniscus demersus) was established by the birds (with no human encouragement( as recently as the early 1980s, apparently because of the elimination of natural predators who would have eaten the flightless bird. The females lay two eggs in each cycle of procreation, and incubate them for approximately 40 days until they hatch. The bird pairs are monogamous, and once paired live together for life. The African birds do not migrate to Antarctica, but do travel far out to sea in search of food; their favourite foods being sardines, anchovies, and squid.

Back to the adventure-- When the group returned to the tour bus we cruised through Simon’s Town, the third oldest city in South Africa.

Another brief historical aside-- The town is located on a lobe of False Bay called Simon’s Bay. Simon’s Bay owes its name and original importance to early Dutch Governor Simon van der Stel, who personally surveyed False Bay in 1687. He recommended Simon’s Bay as a sheltered safe winter anchorage, but it was only in 1741, after many shipwrecks in Table Bay, that the Dutch East India Company decreed that their vessels anchor in Simon’s Bay from May to August. The development of a small settlement on the site, Simon's Vlek, was slow due to the almost impossible access overland to Cape Town. In time, however, stores were built, ships repaired and fresh provisions supplied. Simon's Town, as it is called today, grew more rapidly with the establishment of the Royal Naval Base there soon after the second British occupation in 1806. Admiralty House, previously a private dwelling, dates from 1814. In the period from 1813 until 1957 Simon’s Town was the home of the Royal Navy in the South Atlantic. Today it is the home of the four ships of the South African Navy. Simon’s Town also is the terminus of a railway line, originally opened in 1890, that runs south from the central business district of Cape Town. In places the railway line hugs the steep eastern shore of False Bay quite spectacularly and in bad weather foam from some heavy swells will fly up and wet the trains. As a result this line has become popular with tourists, although we didn’t get to ride it on this trip. DAMN!!

OK, back to our day, again-- Our last stop on this tour was at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, but our visit was short and brief. I remained on the tour bus while Squeekie took a quick walk around. On the ride back to the ship in Cape Town we passed by the famous Groote Schuur Hospital, where the first human heart transplant was done by Dr. Christian Bernard in 1967.

We had to hurry through the rush hour traffic in the heart of Cape Town because we had another tour scheduled to begin at 5:30 pm. The evening excursion to Signal Hill to watch the sunset originally had been scheduled for the previous day, but because the Rotterdam had been unable to come into port until long after sunset yesterday because of the winds, the tour was rescheduled for today. Our bus made it back with ten minutes to spare! Only ten people were on this sunset tour, so our tour van whizzed through the thinning city traffic and climbed up the winding road leading to the summit of Signal Hill, so named because it originally was the place where signal flags were used to communicate with ships offshore. We arrived at the top of the hill, a magnificent vantage spot, quite literally just as the sun’s orb was touching the water’s edge far out to sea. Squeekie and I both took wonderful pictures of what, I think, was the most beautiful sunset seen so far on this world cruise. We also took some nice pictures over the eastern side of the hill at the lights of Cape Town—magnificent!!! After this we enjoyed some drinks and hors d’ouvres in the dying light of the sunset. It did get chilly, however, as the winds kept reminding us of their presence (although not a severe as yesterday).

After this, it was off to dine at a very interesting (and popular) Cape Town restaurant, the Africa Café. Located just off Buitengracht Street in the shadow of Signal Hill, this place serves a fixed menu which changes with the seasons. I can’t remember all of the items, but the Cassava Bread was yummie, as was the Botswana game meat curry. The menue on our table was a glazed porcelain pot, of which Squeekie took pictures. It was very interesting. As we were seated, some of the young girls who served us came around and asked the women in our party if they wanted to have African patterns painted on their faces. When Martha, the Australian woman and wife of Harold, a couple we have befriended on this cruise, did so, Squeekie did it too. It was cute but very primitive looking. The meal was served an item at a time and we enjoyed all of it. After dessert, the servers put on a drum-and-dance entertainment for us. We really didn’t wish to leave! A wonderful evening was had by all, although when we did get back to the Rotterdam we learned that we had missed the South African Cultural Show in the Queen’s Lounge. Oh well!


Ninety-third Day (Wednesday, April 22, 2009)-- Today was election day in South Africa, when democratic voting was held all over the country; this is in conjunction with Freedom Day in South Africa, celebrated on April 27th, which remembers the first post-apartheid democratic elections held in 1994. But even more importantly, TODAY IS SQUEEKIE’s BIRTHDAY!!!

I had planned a bunch of things to be sprung on my wonderful wife on today and also on tomorrow because, as long has been the habit in our family, we tend to stretch out special celebrations over more than one day. When we first boarded the Rotterdam in January I had begun preparations for this special event, which was a “milestone” birthday, Squeek’s fifty-fifth (although who would know this to look at her—she remains so beautiful). I spoke with Captain Olav and secured his promise to join us for a private birthday dinner in the Pinnacle on April 23rd. I arranged with the florists for special bouquets, and Chantal, that truly remarkable woman in the Front Office, arranged for a door sign, balloons, and other stuff. I was so pleased that it all worked out even better than I had hoped for. Indeed, I think Chantal and the Front Office staff really got their hearts into it!

We had another early departure today, a tour eastward into the Stellenbosch district for wine and history—always a good combination—so we were already up and dressed when the first of Squeekie’s birthday surprises were sprung. As we were sipping tea, there was a knock at the door of our stateroom; I answered it and there was a steward delivering a single red rose in a vase—the first of my surprises, a personal message to my beloved Squeekie that I still and always love her! She had not even recovered from that surprise when the telephone rang in our room, and she answered it. The girls of the Front Office were on the other end and immediately they heard Squeek’s voice on the phone they began singing “Happy Birthday” to her. Oh, was she surprised and pleased! Then came another knock at our cabin door, and she went to answer it. As she opened the door she saw the “Happy Birthday Squeekie” sign that had been made to my request by the wonderful Front Office girls, and the balloons that had been taped to the doorway portal to announce to the world (well, at least the staff and passengers of the Rotterdam) of her special day. Waiting at the door was another one of the Front Office girls—I am sorry that I forget now which one it was, but thank you to all of them—and she was carrying a WONDERFL and very colourful arrangement of roses, carnations, anthuriums, and other lovely flowers. It truly was one of the finest creations of the very creative floral staff aboard the Rotterdam—thanks go out to them as well!! Needless to say, Squeekie was thrilled beyond words by this series of remembrances of her birthday! She asked me what else I had up my sleeve, but I only said that more would come tonight at dinner. (In other words, I was telling her that there were no more surprises for right now so that she could finish getting ready for our tour which was looming before us.)

Our excursion for this day was a drive through the eastern parts of Cape Town out to the community of Stellenbosch, which many consider to be the preservation place for the Afrikaans culture. Also, it is a prime wine-producing district in South Africa. As our bus motored out of the port area and out of downtown, we passed through one of the crowded housing areas used by the new South African government to house poor blacks in the post-apartheid era. They look crowded and dilapidated, but most of them had electric service. The largest of these non-ghettos (I don’t know what else to call them) was located directly beneath a high-voltage transmission line right of way. How creative!

Soon enough we were out of the city and into the countryside to the northeast of Cape Town. What a contrast to the city and the non-ghettos! Here there were little farms and an increasing number of vineyards, and lots of green. After about three quarters of an hour we arrived at the town of Stellenbosch, which is some 55 ilometers east of Cape Town.

A bit of history again-- The town of Stellenbosch was founded in 1679 by the Governor of the Cape Colony, Simon van der Stel, who named it after himself—Stellenbosch means “(van der) Stel's forest.” It is situated on the banks of the Eerste River (“First River”), so named as it was the first new river he reached and followed when Jan van Riebeeck sent him from Cape Town on an expedition over the Cape Flats to explore the territory towards what is now known as Stellenbosch. The town grew so quickly that it became an independent local authority in 1682 and the seat of a magistrate with jurisdiction over 25 000 square kilometers (9,700 sq mi) in 1685. The Dutch were skilled in hydraulic engineering and they devised a system of furrows to direct water from the Eerste River in the vicinity of Thibault Street through the town along van Riebeeck Street to Mill Street where a mill was erected. Soon after the first settlers arrived, especially the French Huguenots, grapes were planted in the fertile valleys around Stellenbosch and soon it became the centre of the South African wine industry.

The town is also home to the famed Stellenbosch University, one of South Africa’s premier institutions. The first school had been opened in 1683, but modern advanced education in the town began in earnest in 1859 with the opening of a seminary for the Dutch Reformed Church. A gymnasium which was known as het Stellenbossche Gymnasium was established in 1866. In 1874 some higher classes became Victoria College and then in 1918 it became the University of Stellenbosch.

Lanuage is a major and ongoing issue at Stellenbosch University. Traditionally, the university has been predominantly an Afrikaans medium university, especially at undergraduate and honours course level. However, students are allowed to write their assignments, tests and examinations in both English and Afrikaans. The language used in teaching also varies depending on the faculty, with the Arts faculty for example being 40% English. Most if not all courses are lectured bilingually and the language of most handouts or prescribed material is determined by the student.

At postgraduate level the language of tuition is determined by the composition of the class. The majority of advanced postgraduate courses are conducted in English. According to the current language profile of the university, 60% of its students state Afrikaans as their home language, 32% have English as their home language, whilst only 1.6% of students have Xhosa as their home language. The language policy remains an ongoing issue for the University, since it is one of the very few “higher” (tertiary) institutions left in South Africa offering tuition in Afrikaans. Because of this, it is held in very high regard by the Afrikaaner community, many of whom consider the university to be a central pillar of Afrikaner life. Most other institutions have always been English or have changed over time to an English-only policy, because English, although it is the native landuage of only about 30% of South Africa’s population, remains the primary language used in communications across different cultures in the country.

OK, back to our story-- When we arrived in Stellenbosch, the tour bus driver took us on a short tour of the very colourful streets of this community which, even though it was quireted down by National Elections Day (a full holiday in South Africa), clearly appeared to be a vibrant university town. Many streets downtown were lined with large trees, and the architecture of the community contained a great deal of both Victorian and “Cape Dutch” styles. (Cape Dutch, developed in the 18th century by the Dutch living in the Cape region, features an ornate rounded gable above the entrance and a thatched roof, and was adapted from European styles to suit African conditions.) And the predominant building colour in the older (historical) downtown area appeared to be white.

Our first stop in this picturesque town was to visit the Village Museum, where four houses have been restored to their appearance at different times in history, each furnished with period-correct furnishings. In other words, it is very much like Williamsburg in Virginia, except that four different times are represented, not just one. I must add that not just the house interiors are restored to period character, but also the gardens surrounding them are made to be consistent with the tastes and practices of the appropriate era. The houses and the eras they represent were:

The Shreudeurhuis

This was the first house that the museum restored to period character. This home was built in 1709 and it survived the first great fire in the town in 1717. Schreuderhuis is the oldest restored and documented town house in the whole of South Africa. Its interior furnishing and garden are typical of a Stellenbosch home from the period of 1680-1720; in true pioneer spirit much of the furniture was made from locally available materials. The strings of onions, herbs and salted fish hanging from the rafters, the open hearth in the kitchen and the primitive Cape furniture hint at the pioneer spirit displayed by the town’s earliest settlers.

The Blettermanhuis

The second home in the museum complex is Blettermanhuis, which has been restored and furnished to illustrate a wealthy Stellenbosch home from around the period of 1750-1790. Blettermanhuis was built in 1789 by Hendrik Lodewyk Bletterman, who was the last landdrost (magistrate) of Stellenbosch to be appointed by the Dutch East India Company. The house was built in the typical 18th century Cape Dutch style, with six gables in an H-shaped ground plan.

The Grosvenor House

Originally built by Christian Ludolph Neethling in 1782, Grosvenor House was added to by successive owners until it reached its present appearance in 1803. Grosvenor House (along with the Koopmans de Wet House and the Martin Melck House in Cape Town) remains one of the most outstanding examples of a two-storeyed, flat-roofed patrician town house, of which there once were a considerable number in both Stellenbosch and Cape Town. A large garden and early 19th century appointments characterise this home, which represents the “Regency” period from 1800 to 1830.

O.M. Bergh

The fourth house originally had a thatched roof and gables similar to those of Blettermanhuis, but during the 19th century it was altered to look as it does now. Olof Marthinus Bergh and his family lived in this house from 1836 until 1877. As modified, this home is a typical mid-nineteenth century residence with wall-paper, furniture and accessories from the period of 1850 to 1870.

After exploring each of these homes—rather rapidly, I’m sorry to say, because we were not allowed enough time for a thorough journey of discovery, we were turned loose to shop—something almost all of the tours we have taken on this cruise seem to allow time to do. Because today was Election Day in South Africa, most of the stores and shops were closed, but Squeekie did find one small place that was open which sold handmade items using wool from locally raised sheep. We purchased some beautifully woven pillow covers.

After this exploration was completed, we reboarded the tour coach for a journey out into the wine district in the hinterland. But as we passed through town one last time we got some good views of the famous and important Stellenbosch University. There are many beautiful and architecturally important buildings which comprise the structure of the university, ranging from Victorian-era wedding cake marvels to modern structures with the simple lines of post-World War Two design thought.

The second major stop on our tour, and the reason why we first decided to select this tour, was the Boschendal Wine Estate. Wine grapes were first planted here in 1685 by Jean de Long, one of the first French Huguenot settlers to arrive in the Cape Province.
The winery property was beautiful, resplendent in green and colours. The central facility where we toured was surrounded by hectares (read acres) of vineyard lands, although both Squeekie and I were surprised to see that there were none of the rows-end rose bushes commonly seen in American and European vineyards to warn the vintners about impending insect problems. We could not learn a reason for this absence. Our winery guide was a lovely and statuesque “coloured” (in South Africa that means “of mixed blood in any combination with African”) woman whose name, I am sorry to say, I have forgotten. This is embarrassing because she was witty and knowledgeable, one of the finest tour guides of any kind that we encountered on this world trip. She took us to see the crushing facility, the fermentation room, and the barrel cellar where the final aging takes place.

After the tour of the winery facility, we sat outside under a big oak tree to do some tasting. Squeekie and I sat with two women from Arizona, Jan and Cindy, whom we had first met on the muddy ATV buggy ride in Vanuatu, oh, so long ago. We tasted five wines produced by this winery, three whites and two reds. I agree with Squeekie that their Le Bouquet was superb in many ways. Jan bought a cheese plate of local cheeses which she shared with us. Later, Jan and Cindy honoured Squeekie on her birthday by giving her a gift of two bottles of the Le Bouquet in a nice carrier. That was a class act!

We reboarded the tour bus for our return trip to Cape Town. Once we had returned to the ship I decided to retire to the Crow’s Nest to do some writing, while Squeekie desired to join Jan and Cindy for a “girls’ afternoon” of shopping at a shopping complex known as the V & A Waterfront that was located on the other (city) side of the port area. This area was part of the original port area for Cape Town developed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but was way too small for modern large ships. This once run-down and descript area was transformed into a modern shopping area with many fine stores, I was later told.

When Squeekie came back hours later she was grinning and happy—she enthused about the afternoon, the shopping facility, her girl companions, and the fact that among the stores was a “Build-a-Bear”! She even bought a new outfit for Suzie—pants with a zebra stripe pattern to help our little circumnavigating bear to remember South Africa. Squeek showed me all of her other purchases, too. Then we went up to the Lido for a small dish of ice cream to celebrate her special day. When the stewards learned that it was her birthday, they came over and sang “Happy Birthday” to her. This was unplanned but much appreciated.

In the late afternoon, as we were preparing for dinner, Squeekie got a “Happy Birthday” call from her mother in far-away Denver, and later came a birthday message on her cell phone from Bob and Nanci Spurgin—thanks guys!! Another phone call came from our Canadian friends John and Janet Hanna, also wishing her a happy birthday.

After the sun went down, Rotterdam departed from Cape Town and began her journey north to Namibia. I must say that I was VERY IMPRESSED by Captain Olav’s very skilful journey away from the dock, which began with an one hundred and eighty degree turn around to head outward, and then required two very sharp right angle turns to get Rotterdam out of the port and into the roadstead. A nice job, Olav—you are very skilled at what you do!!! We watched our departure from the verandah by our room, rather than going up front.

I must say that I was rather sorry to leave Cape Town. South Africa is a very interesting nation, one that is undergoing significant changes, but also without a doubt the finest and most advanced (please don’t ask me to define what I really mean by that) in all of Southern Africa. We encountered some South Africans who said that theirs was a third world nation, but compared to what we saw in Kenya and Mozambique this clearly is not so! Even their crowded “non-ghettos” seemed better organized and more livable, and all we saw certainly had electricity! I was impressed. There is so much more to do in this nation, from riding the Blue Train to seeing the diamond pit at Kimberley, from exploring more vineyards to travelling on safari to see the animals, so without a doubt I say that Squeek and I both desire to return, and sooner rather than later!

Then it was dinner time. Our eight pm seating loomed, and Squeek had one more surprise for her birthday celebration—today, that is, heh-heh-heh. I ushered my beautiful girl back to the Lafontaine Dining Room and at the door turned her over to Komang, who escorted her not to our usual Table 22, but rather to the large table at the front of the room where usually sit Don MacDonald and Anne and Norman Cottman. I had arraigned with them to sit at their table for this special evening, and to be joined by Iris and Don Davidson. After we were all seated—and introductions were made around the table—the stewards served the Wilson Creek Almond Champaigne we had brought with us from California, the very same stuff we had served at Leslee and Fabian’s wedding. The Cottmans do not drink alcohol, but everyone else really enjoyed it. We toasted to Squeek’s birthday, and watched as she opened cards and the gift she had received from Sheryl, the shop clerk she has befriended on the Rotterdam. I could see that Squeekie was really pleased by all of this. She had Weiner Schnitzel for dinner (a birthday tradition in her family). At dessert timod news is thate the staff came over, led by Maitre’d Tom Grindlay and his assistants Presti and Komeng, and everyone sang both the American and Indonesian “Happy Birthday” songs as a BEAUTIFUL cake was presented. I had even arrainged for the ship’s photographers to come over and capture this event. As we consumed our cake and ice cream, and enjoyed after dinner coffee or tea, people who were leaving the dining room stopped by to wish Squeek a happy birthday. Oh, I was so pleased that all of my plans had worked out; it was obvious that she was very happy with her birthday celebration. The good news to this is that I have more surprises planned for tomorrow evening, when we will have a more formal celebration in the Pinnacle Restaurant down on Deck Four.