Monday, July 22nd - Thursday, July 25th -preliminary plannning trip to Cape Town

Today we headed to the airport to catch Mango Airlines on a flight to Cape Town. Other than my knees and back hurting from walking so much, it was pretty easy going. The flight was uneventful. They charged for soft drinks, but not for baggage... Interesting. We arrived in Cape Town and got our rental car and GPS that we ordered. We got in the car to find our hotel in the GPS and were both sitting there, when Elder Kyle noticed that the car was a four-speed (not automatic). He looked a bit pained, but said he would manage. He spend a lot of years driving cars that he had to shift, but not when the shift is on the left and you have to think about that, plus shifting gears, driving on the left side of the road and the right side of the car in a town where you are totally unfamiliar. I insisted he go and change cars to an automatic to eliminate some of the stress of being in unfamiliar territory, so he did and we started off towards our hotel. This GPS was a different version, so I was unfamiliar with how it works, but I got it going and found out that it was in miles instead of kilometres (just when we had gotten used to kilometres) and the voice had a heavy English or South African accent, so we couldn't understand what she said. Also, if we made the wrong turn, the GPS rerouted without telling you that you didn't make the turn as directed. It was very confusing, but we found our way there finally. I wasn't the greatest of navigators at first. But, we finally made it to the hotel. There was a cute little guy there in uniform that kept saluting us during our stay...very cute...couldn't understand a word he said...Ha.

The hotel was at the V&A Waterfront, which I thought meant on the water, but not so. It was surrounded by buildings and our room's view was of the street and a medical facility, but it was close to the V&A waterfront and we could walk down there, so it wasn't so bad. We had to work most of the time anyway, but our room, though nice, was pretty small for two people. We ended up doing some of our work in the common areas downstairs. Service was amazing. The people who worked there were very nice and we had fun chatting with them. It was rainy and cold, so we stayed in the hotel until it was time to go to dinner.

The hotel used to be a holding building for prisoners going to Robben Island prison. There is quite a history there. The restaurant had photos of some of the prisoners and daily logs from those in charge of the prisoners. You could even see part of the old building peeking through and some cell windows high up.







There were photos on the wall of some of the prisoners who stayed there as well as notes about each prisoner and their names. I assume that any of Nelson Mandela were put in safes somewhere or sold as souvenirs.









Monday night we had dinner with the Cape Town PA team at the Commodore hotel next door, which is owned by the same company that owns Portswood, to talk about their concert and what they had done about transportation of the David Glen Hatch crew. We talked about the invitations, posters and flyers and went over the list of people who were supposed to get them. Larry (the PA Director) said that even with two helpers, they could not get it all done, so we took the list of names and agreed to help him contact the people and invite them to the concert.






Tuesday it was still windy and cold, so not a good day to go anywhere, but we decided to walk down there and see if we could find the water. We had to go down a million steps to get there (maybe an exaggeration, but it felt like that many to me and my knees) and it was windy, but oh so scenic...nautical and beautiful. There were great looking shops, but Elder Kyle was not in a shopping mood (actually hardly ever in a shopping mood) and it was pretty cold.




I mainly took photos of the working waterfront and Table mountain that looks like it is rising from the sea. We also saw the boat and building that honors Mandela and takes people to Robben Island where he spent many of his years in prison.

There was also a memorial to Nobel Prize winners, like Mandela, De Klerk and others who were instrumental in ending Apartheid. The statues were very short, so they looked funny, but it was a nice gesture. Mandela is everywhere here, obviously trying to attract the tourist trade.






There were lots of people around regardless of the cool weather and yet it was not crowded. I could have spent so much time there just looking around and shopping, but no time to do that on this trip. We'll perhaps have some time after the DGH concert in Cape Town.







We went back to the hotel and spent the rest of the day looking up key names and emails, and some addresses, of the companies on the list. The ones getting the special invites were mostly music schools or departments. I would find them on the internet and read off the info, while Elder Kyle wrote it down next to the name. We decided to try and find the places we would have to take the Hatch Crew during the concert, but we got lost and could not find any of them. The GPS was a disaster, took us all over the place, but not where we wanted to go.




Wednesday, Larry called us and asked us if we could pick up the special invites that were sent to the mission home. He said he had a meeting and wanted them before the meeting, but could not get off work in time to go pick them up. Elder Kyle called the mission office, but spoke to a new couple who couldn't tell him exactly how to get there (They had only been there a week). We got basic coordinates from someone else at the office and headed out there. We had gone a few miles when I looked at the GPS and it said we would be there in two hours. We realized that something was wrong and it took forever to turn around and go back, but we went back to the hotel to regroup.We talked to the office again and was told that we needed to find the Courtyard that was right down the street. If we could get to that point and call them, they could instruct us the rest of the way. Elder Kyle was not excited about trying it again, but I talked him into it and we took off again.

This time it was a lot easier and we found the place without too much trouble. We met three couples there...one couple was getting ready to go back home and was training the new couple who had only been there a week. They were all very nice and we had a chat about where everyone was from and I took these photos. One couple was from Alaska, and the other two from Utah and Idaho. We then told them we had come to pick up a package for Larry Carver and they informed us that the missionaries that live in his basement picked the package up on Monday to take to him. That is so funny...they live in the same house and had the package for three days without telling him about it and he had been waiting for it. Wasted trip, but we got to go the mission office and meet the couples, so it worked out.

We had to mail our invites, so we took off to the mall on the waterfront and found the post office. We bought padded envelopes and addressed them and sent them off. We checked out some more places on our journey back to the hotel and looked at a couple of shops as we passed, plus took some photos.







These sculptures were pretty interesting. I just couldn't help but get between these ladies for the photo.  And I couldn't help but get Elder Kyle with the Elephant, even though he was getting impatient to get back to the hotel.









Breakfast at the hotel was wonderful and free. We had all kinds of fruits and breads, cereals, meats, fresh juice, plus we could order whatever we wanted from the menu. It was a pretty good deal. After breakfast on Thursday, we took off again to see if we could find the theatre where the concert was to be held. It was about 20K away from the waterfront, but we found it without too much trouble. We still had some time, so we went to a mall and passed out flyers and some posters, then we headed to the airport and back on Mango. It was a fairly productive trip...at least I hoped we helped them a bit.

Today is my son's birthday...Happy Birthday son! We love and miss you!