Day 21

Day twenty one
Thursday 6th February 2020
Current position
74A Buitenkant St
Cape Town City Centre
Cape Town
8000
South Africa
S 33°55.76316'
E 18°25.27812'

It was far too windy to take the cable car to the top of Table Mountain or the boat to Robben Island so today started by finishing our visit to the Holocaust Museum.
From there it was a quick dash for the start of the tour of the South African Parliament. When we arrived at the gate we were scanned and allowed in only to be told we should have prebooked which conflicted with what we were told yesterday. We were scanned again to get into another building where the man on the desk didn't seem to know about the twelve o'clock tour either but said please take a seat over there. After about fifteen minutes a cheery black man appeared and said I'm Ken your guide. Yet again we were the only ones on the tour until his phone rang ten minutes later and we were joined by two young South African couples.
He gave us a good history of the South African Parliament telling us that it started life as part of the Commonwealth and therefore had some similarities to the British Parliament with Black Rod and the Mace. There are two Chambers one that represents the nine provinces making up South Africa which is a little like our House of Lords and the National Parliament and The Commons as we know it where the National African Congress holds the Majority. The original Parliament Building was completed in 1884 but other extensions have been added in the 1930's and 1980's. The oldest part of the building is of course the grandest.
Next Thursday is the State of the Nation Address the Grand Opening of Parliament where the President outlines the Parliament mentary Business for the next twelve months. Our guide told us that the main topics will be the Economy National Health and of course Electrical Power Generation. Our guide did not know if the red carpet would be rolled out this year as last year the pomp and circumstance was reduced to save expense as their economy is so weak.
The tour finished with a view from a distance of the Presidential Offices another well maintained grand old building. We were not allowed to take photographs inside Parliament but could outside so after a few snaps we caught the 104 City Bus to the Waterfront. A kind lady at the bus stop helped us to sort out what bus we needed and again gave us ideas on what to see during our stay.
The Waterfront like a lot of harbours has been renovated and is now a vibrant place for tourists. The bus dropped us outside a huge ultra modern shopping mall where we bought some lunch. We walked through to the harbour where Table Mountain could be seen in the background iced with a white cloud topping.
We spent the afternoon drifting round the waters edge watching some very smelly seals basking in the sun. There were lots of large sculptures of Africa's wild animals made from welded scrap metal. They were all for sale but unfortunately they were life size so impossible to take home. We also visited an art gallery on the quayside where there were some interesting works of art. One artist hid faces in his work which were difficult to find. We also saw an elegant skinny white girl doing a photo shoot. Fortunately they were photographing her from the front and so the not so elegant large clothes peg pulling in the back of her blouse and the two large unsightly safety pins gathering up the top of her trousers would not be seen.
We of course had afternoon tea watching the World go by. Late afternoon we caught the bus back to our hostel and went to Truth Coffee which we noticed on the way home on the bus. It was a quirky café that's a steampunk world of pipes and old metal with gourmet home-roasted coffee and serves delicious food and ice cold white wine. Their prawn samosa was certainly not as we know it but tasted gorgeous as did the Bunny Chow a traditional dish from Durban.
Another great night out in another excellent restaurant.