Alone in Southern Africa for two months

Note this whole section is still under construction.

Section 5

I spent just two more days in Capetown on my return. I again had an Avis Volkswagen Golf for two days this time. I had left my excess luggage at a friend's home, and picked it up. I had been given a contact name of a member of the (then) White Parliament by the embassy in Washington, and looked him up. He had been notified by the Embassy and was awaiting my call. He was most gracious in giving me a spectacular tour of all the three chambers of Parliament in Cape Town; The House of Parliament (White), the House of Assembly (Colored), and the House of Representatives (Indian). He took me to lunch in the Parliament dining room. We dined with the Minister of Finance and and two other high ranking officials. This was one of the most fantastic meals that I had ever had. It was 6 courses long and with each course we had a different wine. We had a very pleasant discussion about the political way things were going in South Africa. After lunch my host took me to the guest viewing balcony where we could hear a speech by the then President of South Africa. My host and his wife even drove me to the train station where I was to catch the world famous Blue Train going from Capetown to Johannesburg. I paid a very high price for the single suite (B Coupe) on the Blue Train. I think it was worth the extremely great grandeur way of life in super first class train travel. There was just three cabins in my car. One was a two room suite that took up about one half the length of the car. It had a full bath with tub and shower over it, toilet and wash basin. The second suite was about two thirds of the other one half. It was only one room but very large. It also had a full bath. Mine took up the rest of the car. The room was about twice that of a normal train room. It also had a full bath. I even told my friends that I would find the first woman I met on the train to come into my room and take a photo of me in the tub, just to prove that there was one. Would you believe it was the first woman's lady friend who did it? The two photos are in this section. All in all, this was a most fantastic, wonderful, exciting two months. And, just think I did it all alone, with absolutely no fear that anything would happen to me. There were a total of 830 some odd slides that I took. I could only select out a few for this presentation. I hope that you have enjoyed sharing my visitation with you.

The photo quality in all the chapters is not so good. All the photos were orignally on slides. I had to convert them from the slide to the .jpg format, using a slide scanner.

The famous Table Mountain just behind Capetown. There is quite a panaramic view from the top. The photo on the right, taken from the other car, is a view of the cable car like the I'm in that took me up to the top of Table Mountain.

The Blue Train, one of the most ellegant of all trains in the world, runs three times a week each way from Cape Town to Pretoria and back. The total ride is just over 24 hours. Included in the price are lunch, dinner and breakfast in a most wonderfully appointed dining car.

Here is the suite car with just three compartments in it, on the Blue Train. My room was the one on the far right, one of the two Type B.

When I found out I had a bathtub in my compartment, I told a few friends (half joking of course) that I would get the first woman I met on the train to come in and take a photo of me in the tub.	It became an obsession, so I asked one. But it was her girlfriend who actually did it. You can see her in the reddish dress shown in the mirror behind me.
Had enough? Return to the first page. Just click on the arrow Created by that great traveler, 20 July 2001 Updated 22 June 2002, 17 January 2006 by Lester Gideon