The School Corridor Tatler

This year our education district celebrated Heritage Day in the Cape Winelands. Our tour included a visit to the Madiba House, two museums in Paarl and the Taal Monument. At the entrance to Drakenstein Correctional Services  The first leg of our tour was a visit to Nelson Mandela's "gilded cage" at the Drakenstein Correctional Services. Nelson Mandela lived in what was a former farmer's house for 18 months before he was released on 11 February, 1990. Madiba House Warden Mr Fisher who has been working at Drakenstein Correctional Services for 31 years, was our tour guide. Being in our Madiba's house was surreal. Our storyteller kept us spellbound with all the interesting details. We stood in the kitchen where Madiba's food was prepared. Around the table where the negotiations took place. "Here was a massive microwave in the kitchen," said Mr Fisher.  "When Mr Mandela saw the microwave the first time, he wanted to know why...

The Southern Line Tourism route trip was awesome Our super duper train driver, Sisiwe Getting ready for our day trip On Saturday, Women's Day, Sasha and I, together with my sister, Levona and my niece, Letitia, spent the day on the Southern Line Tourism route. Our trip took us to Simonstown where we were going to visit two museums and do the boardwalk at Boulders.   I had no idea that Metrorail had an active tourism sector and that the #Southern Line Tourism route is one of three dedicated tourism rail routes! The other two rail tourism day trips are the Khayelitsha route and the Stellenbosch Winelands route. Now that this confession is out of the way, let me share our tourists-in-our own city- train adventure.   The tourism train surprises At the start of our journey to Simonstown, our Metrorail tour guide told us about the multiple personalities of our tourism train. During the week Tourism Train is an express commuter train on the Khayelitsha line and it then transforms i...

  Scenic drive en route to Rawsonville We visited the small sleepy town of Rawsonville during this school holidays again. We visit this town occasionally because it is home to one of our favourite camping sites, Goudini Spa.   As you drive to Rawsonville, after passing through the beautiful Huegenot Tunnel, you can easily be blown away by the beauty of the landscape. The tall, dark folded Mountain range with its deep ravines and layered smaller peaks is stunning. In large parts of the mountainous landscape, the orange strata of the lower rock layers covered with shrubs and grassy patches complete the natural canvass.   When you enter Rawsonville, you just see sprawling vineyards reaching far into the distance. Here and there you can see the rooftops of the main farmhouse and perhaps the outbuildings on these farms. Many of the vines closest to the road are already brownish and bare, signalling the end of the grape season. The skyline is also clear of all the pylons and...

Arriving at !Khwa-ttu cultural and education centre Our arrival at !Khwa-ttu was like a massive homecoming. There were crackling fires lining the circular stoep with flames bouncing about excitedly. Then there was Michael, our chief tour guide and his team of San descendants displaying a continuous circle of smiles and walking in step with us to the dining hall. Steaming, frothy coffee and tea served by an ever charming catering team joined the welcome. Any one watching the dining room would have seen a wondrous blend of happy sounds, sights and smells from a group of people celebrating life. We were SO ready for our San experience here at the !Khwa-ttu Cultural and education centre! In the dining hall at !kwa-ttu on arrival San Storytelling circles Effortlessly, we slipped into the world of the San, circling from one San storyteller to the next. We learn about the tools, utensils and accessories that were made from natural resources such as duiker and eland skin, calabash shells and p...

Celebrating Women’s Day with my three sisters at the Bistro at Somerbosch Wine farm was a winner. Lunch was served on the lawns under clear, windless skies. The sprawling grey vineyards with farmworker cottages stuck in the distance and the blue-grey mountains looking on, soothed the senses. Lunch time As a starter, most of us opted for the vegetable soup of the day served with a rather scant serving of bread. After ordering another mini- breadbasket – with its half slices, we gently told the waiter that as township folk, we need REAL slices thus the running bread order. This explanation lifted the waiter’s puzzled look ( and I think, slight irritation) and quickly got him to add ‘more bread?’ when he visited our table. So, in between all the chatter and the madness we somehow bring into our spaces, we downed generous servings of Somerbosch Sauvignon Blanc and tucked into our main course, Thai chicken served with salsa and fragrant rice.  The chicken was delicious but again, rather...

At Mykonos All we did was go to Gumtree and punched in Mykonos holiday and up popped the West Coast Holidays advert, promising a   not-to-break-the –bank deals for a Mon-Fri stay at Mykonos during the first week of the school holidays. Well, in Superman style, Val   Hopley , our ‘travel agent’, promptly sorted out all the hiccups that we experienced in Levona's kaliva.. Then we were ready to soak up the pleasures of our own piece of Greece.   We are now on to day 3. Mykonos is the ideal getaway even for consummate homebodies Mykonos is your ideal winter getaway and caters for all kinds of holidaymakers – the seasoned ones and the ones who are terrified of going on holiday. Okay, I am exaggerating ,but goodness – the reasons we manufacture to justify why we can’t go on even a   ‘cheapie’! The reasons are often elaborate, pseudo-valid ones. There are some who would say “ No, we have to choose. Our children want a flatscreen TV or others would say “ ...

Walking in an art gallery with a difference... The Taal Monument viewed from the start of the walk. The pillars symbolise the influences of Asia and Europe on the Afrikaans language. The domes symbolises the African and Khoisan influences on the Afrikaans language. Two days before the end of our three-week camping stint at Berg River resort, we visited the Taal Monument. What an impressive, colossal structure! Even if you do not know much about the Taal monument, you can glean key information from plaques placed strategically as you start your tour of the Monument. We learn that Jan van Wijk, the architect designed the Taal Monument. He was inspired by two Afrikaans writers, CL Langenhoven and N.P. van Wyk Louw, both who paid tribute to the Afrikaans language. Jan van Wijk , inspired too by the natural environment, infused such elements in the design. The monument is an artistic blend of pillars and a set of three domes linked by winding curved open spaces. The various pillars symboliz...

Back at the Berg... Berg River with rapids in the distance Our brains possess the miraculous ability to re -wire our thoughts in an instant. After spending the greater part of the year like madmen on a highway chase, we are calibrated to go into holiday zone. We are slowed down so that our senses can be drenched in the sounds, smells, tastes and feelings of REAL life; an absolute necessity else we will go crazy “chasing pavements” as Adele sings. Our family is going nowhere slowly here at the Berg river resort in Paarl. Although the sun bakes fiercely here in the Swartland, we are willing to make that sacrifice. Our home from home at the Berg River  Resort   View from our caravan - area where you can go down the rapids There is nothing more therapeutic than surrendering yourself to the rhythms of nature. Simple pleasures abound. A critter that would normally scare the daylights out of our children, become an object of wonder – science in motion.  Just this afternoon, whil...