April 13 Photos
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We spent another wet day in London and finally decided to tour Westminster Abbey. We attempted to ride the London Eye, a huge Ferris wheel structure near Big Ben but there was a wait and it was very unpleasant outside. We took a self-guided audio tour of the Abbey, but even inside, it was quite chilly.
Later, we flew overnight on a 747 to Cape Town. The twelve hour flight was enhanced by a first class accommodations in which the seats turned into fully reclining beds in private compartment-type arrangements. Passengers were furnished with pajamas, eye shades, etc. Service was first class, all the way.
The above photo of Table Mountain was taken from the airplane as we landed at Cape Town.
After arriving and checking into the hotel on the waterfront, we had a meal at yet another Belgian restaurant (this time, quite good) and then boarded the ferry for Robben Island. Robben Island has had a long and varied history but is most famous as the prison site for Nelson Mandela. He spent over half of his twenty seven years in prison here and the tour is led by a former inmate who knew Mandela well. The island also served as a leper colony at one point. Today, it is a museum and also home to penguins and other assorted wildlife. The island is seven miles from the Cape Town waterfront and no prisoner ever escaped from it via the extremely cold Atlantic Ocean.