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Saturday/ at the Kaufhaus 🧸

You talk like Marlene Dietrich
And you dance like Zizi Jeanmaire
Your clothes are all made by Balmain
And there’s diamonds and pearls in your hair, yes, there are ..
– From ‘Where Do You Go To My Lovely’ by Peter Sarstedt (1969)

It was crowded on the streets and in the stores today.
As Easter weekend goes, Friday was a Sunday (and German stores close on Sundays), today is Saturday, with tomorrow Sunday— and Monday another Sunday.
The highlight of my day was to rub shoulders with Berlin’s upper crust at KaDeWe.
KaDeWe is Kaufhaus Des Westens, ‘Department Store of the West’, second in size only to Harrods in London.

The eateries on the top floor include an oyster bar— and I’m sure I would have found caviar if I looked for it.

Businessman Adolf Jandorf opened this store in 1907. The KaDeWe abbreviation was used from the start. With over 60,000 square meters (650,000 sq ft) of retail space and more than 380,000 articles available, KaDeWe is the second-largest department store in Europe, after Harrods in London. It attracts 40,000 to 50,000 visitors every day. [Information from Wikipedia]
The escalators in the middle of the store.
Balmain is French fashion designer Pierre Balmain: founder of leading post-war fashion house Balmain. (He died in Paris in 1982). Marie-Claire in Peter Sarstedt’s famous 1969 song wore clothes that were ‘all made by Balmain’.
These shirts and jackets go for oh, $900 or $1,000 apiece. Kind of safe to say that I will never wear these, but who’s to say? Maybe I will— after I had won the Powerball or Mega Millions lottery.
These beautiful long-eared rabbits are very plush and very, very soft to the touch. Maybe I should have gotten one.
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Friday/ a cold rain and coffee ☕️

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in the 1930s— a photo from a store window display across from the church on Kurfürstenstraße.
[Photo by Ewald Gnilka]
It was only 7°C  (45 °F) today, with light rain— not enough to stop me from going out, though.

I was checking out the beautiful Wittenbergplatz U-bahn station when I realized the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church* is down the street, and I walked down in the rain to it to take a closer look.
(When I was here eight years ago, I just caught a glimpse of it on the way out to the airport).

Then it was time for coffee and a slice of banana bread at Starbucks nearby. Starbucks might be a little passé for many Americans, but not so for South Africans and for Germans. There were no seats left inside, so I sat outside on the only dry chair I could find. A little sparrow came for my bread crumbs that had fallen on the ground.

*During World War II, on the night of 23 November 1943, the church was extensively damaged in an air raid.

 

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Thursday/ the U-bahn as art 🎨

Life is short, art is long.
— John Ringling

Maybe I should extend my stay in Berlin so that I can photograph every single U-bahn station.
Three new stations were added just in the last year or so to the U5: Unter den Linden, Rotes Rathaus  and Museuminsel.

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Wednesday/ arrival in Berlin 🚊

It was still dark when we landed at Frankfurt airport. I had plenty of time to find the platform for my train to Berlin, and spent some time in the airport terminal before walking to the platforms at the train station.

The train to Berlin took four hours, with four stops along the way.
A sign inside the car said the train ran at 200 km/h (124 mph), but it can actually go much faster—with a maximum speed of 330 km/h (205 mph).

Deutsche Bahn’s Intercity Express (ICE) train rolling into the station at Frankfurt Airport. The train stops for only 3 minutes! Get on board if you’re not at the right car — you can always find your car and seat once you’re on the train. I had a reserved seat at the window in first class, and chased a guy with a general ticket out of my seat. (The car was not full, but if I didn’t sit in my reserved seat, I risk getting chased out of my seat as well as more passengers board at stations along the way). The Deutsche Bahn app also lets you ‘Check In’ to your seat. The ticket inspector can see that, and then he does not have to nudge you while you sleep, or bother you, to ask for your ticket.

We passed by this impressive viaduct in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis district in the north of the state of Hessen.
Here’s the stop at the main train station in Halle, a city in central Germany. I think this is a stately old hotel.
We had just stepped off the train at Berlin Hauptbahnhof.
Outside of Berlin Hauptbahnhof.
The impressive modern structure— with multiple levels of shops and offices and train platforms— came into operation in 2006.
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Tuesday/ northbound ✈️

My time in Cape Town is has come to an end, and I will fly out to Frankfurt overnight.
From there I will take the train to stay in Berlin for a few days before I go home.

The Lufthansa Airbus A340-400 that will take us to Frankfurt, at the gate at Cape Town International airport.

These sunset pictures are from Clifton 4th Beach last night. The steps down to the beach are called the Seagull Steps, and the rocky hilltop overlooking the beach is Lion’s Head.

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Sunday/ here comes the sun ☀️

It’s a short drive from my hotel up with Kloof Nek Road, to reach the turnout onto Signal Hill Road that runs to the viewpoint at the top of Signal Hill.

Sunrise is at 7 am, and I was in position and ready to take a few pictures of Table Mountain catching the first light of the day.

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Saturday/ a walk in the Gardens 🌺

It was quiet early on Saturday morning in the Gardens (also called ‘The Company’s Garden).
The garden was originally created in the 1650s by the region’s first European settlers and provided fertile ground to grow fresh produce to replenish ships rounding the Cape.

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Friday/ Long Street 🏫

My hotel is in the Tamboerskloof neighborhood in Cape Town.
Theses pictures from my self-directed architecture walk are all from Long Street or nearby.
That’s Table Mountain in the last picture, of course.

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Thursday/ Cape Town bound

I’m back at Johannesburg’s Oliver Tambo International Airport, and getting ready to travel to Cape Town.

Returning my rental car ..
.. and checking my two bags
My magnificent flying machine at the gate here at OR Tambo International airport.
The Embraer E195 jet is made by the Brazilian-led multinational manufacturer Embraer SA and is the largest member of the Embraer E-Jet family.
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Tuesday/ a drive to the city 🚗

Here’s my round trip that I made on Tuesday, with a few stops.
I thought to stop in downtown Pretoria and walk around a little bit around Church Square, but decided against it.

I made my way to the city by using the Old Johannesburg Road, and then came back via the N1 highway.
The South African Air Force Memorial is a memorial to South African Air Force members who have died whilst in service of the South African Air Corps and its successor, the South African Air Force from 1915 to the present during times of war and times of peace. It was inaugurated in 1965.
Here’s downtown Pretoria, in a street crowded with minibus taxis. Honk honk! all the time. Are they honking at me? you think. No, at prospective passengers on the sidewalk.
This is not a tree. It is a cell phone tower.
Now making my way to the east side of the city along the M11 route. Many of the streets are lined with jacaranda trees like this one.
Inside the enormous Menlyn Park mall off Atterbury Street.
Sign outside the Starbucks store. The mall has a Seattle Coffee as well as a Starbucks.
A display in a store, offering some nice lighting options to help mitigate the darkness of load shedding (blackouts).
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Monday/ the Voortrekker Monument

The Voortrekker Monument is located just south of Pretoria in South Africa. The granite structure is located on a hilltop, and was raised to commemorate the Voortrekkers (pioneers) who left the Cape Colony between 1835 and 1854. It was designed by the architect Gerard Moerdijk.
Construction started on 13 July 1937 and the monument was inaugurated on 16 December 1949 by Prime Minister D. F. Malan.
[Information from Wikipedia entry for Voortrekker Monument].

I walked around the monument today, before going inside. I climbed the 299 granite steps from the carpark to the top (at the inside), in the process. From the ceiling balcony one looks down at a cenotaph* that says ‘Ons Vir Jou Suid-Afrika’ (‘We For You South Africa’). 

*A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere.

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Sunday/ ‘no need to despair’ 🍺

My favorite African beer Windhoek Light⁠— a 2% alcohol beer from Namibia Breweries⁠— is not available in stores. Its production has been temporarily discontinued.

Says the Namibia Breweries website: ‘Consumers looking for a substitute need not despair, as NBL will continue to offer its other low- and non-alcoholic beverage products‘.

Windhoek Draft beer (4% alc. by volume) from Namibia Breweries is the closest substitute to Windhoek Light.
The brewery was founded in 1920 when Carl List and Hermann Ohlthaver acquired four small breweries with financial difficulties. The breweries were merged under the name South West Breweries Limited (SWB).
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Saturday/ leading the charge ⚡️

Tesla has not yet announced any plans to bring the their electric vehicles to South Africa.  EV models from Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Mini Cooper, Porsche, Volvo are available in South Africa.

These car companies are leading the charge to build out the EV charging network in the country, and a total of some 280 public charging stations are currently available.

BMW owners with a BMW Charging card charge for free at all BMW Retailer chargers in South Africa. Here is a BMW iX3 that I found today, being charged at a public charging station at Brooklyn Mall in Pretoria.
This EV charger uses a Type 2 cable and plug— the standard for European and Asian vehicles from 2018 onwards. It’s a triple-phase plug and can charge at a level of up to 43 kW.
If I read the BMW website information correctly, this wall box delivers about 11 kW. It will take 1h 38 mins for a range of 100 km (62 miles).
South Africa’s EV charging network currently has 280 public charging stations, half of which are clustered in the Johannesburg-Pretoria area.
It seems to me it’s definitely possible to drive from Cape Town to Johannesburg— with careful planning, and patience.
It’s just not going to be possible to make the trip in 12 hours the way one does with an ICE car.
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Friday/ a blast from the past 📻

My friend is hoping to find someone to help her restore this Loewe Opta vacuum tube radio from the 1950s to a working condition.
It was made by the Loewe AG company based in Berlin, Germany.
In addition to the front speaker, ones are found on each side to create an early version of “3D sound”.

This model already has connections for turntables, loudspeakers, a VHF antenna, and a diode plug for recording radio transmissions on tape, on the back.

The vacuum tube radio Loewe Opta Meteor Plastik 781W, manufactured circa 1955
Plastik refers to its sound qualities, not the materials it is made of.
Dimensions 600 mm (24 in) x 400 mm (16 in) x 280 mm (11 in). Weight 12,3 kg (27 lbs).
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Thursday/ ready to braai 🔥🥩

Summer is winding down⁠— officially over, of course⁠— here in South Africa, but the grocery stores still have their ‘Ready to Braai’ displays up. Any time of year is good for a braai*.

*braai
transitive verb
South African for grilling— especially meat, boerewors (sausage), and also  veggies and tomato-and-cheese sandwiches.
noun
The South African equivalent of an American barbecue.

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Wednesday/ arrival in Johannesburg 🌇

All went well with the flight to Johannesburg, and our Boeing 747-8 pulled up at the gate at Johannesburg’s Oliver Tambo International Airport at 9.20 am this morning.

Johannesburg— also known informally as Joburg, Jozi or Goudstad (Afr. for ‘The City of Gold’)—  is South Africa’s biggest city, and the capital of Gauteng province.

Frankfurt-Johannesburg is a 10h 35 m flight across the length of Africa.
The obligatory airplane engine picture, from my perch on the upper deck as we approached Oliver Tambo international airport. These are General Electric ‘GEnx’ engines.
In the distance, obscured by the haze, is downtown Johannesburg, the city that is the real El Dorado (the city that gold had built).
The main Witwatersrand gold reef, Earth’s largest known reserves of gold, was discovered in June 1884 on the farm Vogelstruisfontein by Jan Gerritse Bantjes, son of Jan Bantjes, and this triggered the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the founding of Johannesburg in 1886.
The ‘Queen of the Skies’ at the gate at Johannesburg’s Oliver Tambo International Airport. This one was christened ‘Niedersachsen’ (Lower Saxony, a state in northern Germany).  
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Tuesday/ southbound ✈️

It’s Tuesday night here in Germany, and it is time to fly south, on the redeye flight to Johannesburg. It leaves at 10 pm and arrives at 9.30 am in the morning.

Our magnificent flying machine is a Boeing 747-8. Lufthansa has 19 of them, and 8 of the older Boeing 747-400.
I am sure I will sleep on the flight, because I had to check out of the hotel before I could take my afternoon nap of the last few days.

The streetcar on the No 17 line at the Festhalle/ Messe stop.
The check-in lounge at Frankfurt airport’s No 1 terminal.
The view to the outside is somewhat obstructed by the lines on the windows. I will try to to get a picture of our Boeing 747-8 as we board or after we have landed in Johannesburg.