Table Mountain / District 6

Today was the first day I’ve been on my own in Cape Town. Jess dropped me off at the Table Mountain Cable Car and I was flying high and fancy free and totally on top of the world. This is definitely a tourist attraction and even at 10:00AM there was a queue (line for you Americans). I rode the round cable car to the top of the mountain and was absolutely blown away by the gorgeous views of Cape Town. The floor of the cable car rotated so everyone can see everything and I was the smart one (sometimes I am!) who waited until last so that (guess what!) I could end up being by the window.

Once on top of the mountain, I did some brisk walking and also annoyed my sister Rachel (well…she wasn’t really there, but I know it really annoyed her anyway) by standing too close to the edge. I got some fabulous pictures of the view and it was really amazing because I could see all these places I’ve already been! Robben Island and the Victoria and Albert Waterfront and I could even see out over the peninsula to the Indian Ocean. Looking at the top of the mountain itself is pretty cool too, since it just looks completely flat and rocky. I spent about an hour and a half on top of the mountain taking pictures (and getting yelled at by English people for not staying on the path when the path was literally all over the place and beside no one was on the path!) and strolling around and finally descended on the cable car. Did I mention that the weather today was absolutely fantastic?

Once I reached the bottom, I scoped out the City Sight Seeing Red Bus bus-stop and was happy to see that I could purchase a ticket right there on the bus. It showed up right on time and I hopped on and stayed on for a good hour driving along the coast and learning about rock formations that look like the 12 apostles, beaches where men used to sunbathe naked (in the past, unfortunately), and one of the new stadiums they are building for the World Cup. Once we reached the District 6 museum I hopped off and headed into the museum.

Luck was with me because that particular museum closes at 2:00 on Mondays! I got there at 1:30 so they didn’t charge me for entering and I was able to see pretty much everything in the ½ hour I had…I sure didn’t get to read everything, but I was able to learn about District 6 and how horrible it was…

District 6 was a part of Cape Town lived in by a huge variety of people. It was a poor section of town but it was also a part of town full of vibrant human interaction. People did not have a lot of space for their own families, but the whole neighborhood was the family so it didn’t really matter. In 1966 the government declared District 6 a “white” area under Apartheid rule and began the forced removal of all the “non-whites.” Over 60,000 residents were forced to move elsewhere, many to substandard housing or townships (slums). The government gave many reasons for the need to move all the non-whites including the fact that the buildings in District 6 were in need of repair and some just needed to be bulldozed all together. The irony is that no white people ever moved to District 6. Most of the buildings were bulldozed, the street signs were removed, and the area was simply let go. It is now green space and nothing has been build there because it is still so controversial. The museum honors the families, businesses, organizations, life-style, and architecture of the District 6 that was lost due to the forcible removal of all the residents of the neighborhood. I was really happy that it worked out for me to visit this museum.

Okay guys, I’m really tired so I’m going to go to bed but I’m write more in the morning which will be your middle of the night so you’ll get more soon!

I miss Button Cat!