Halfpom

The next morning

After an excellent dinner you are rocked to sleep by the swishing of the train wheels and you awake to find yourself entering the Hex River tunnel with the Great Karoo well behind you. After a stop at Worcester station to stretch your legs and take on the morning paper it is onwards to your final destination of Cape Town (eta 12 noon).

 

Why would anyone fly.....

Sorry I have been out of contact for so long....I have discovered a new way to travel.....by train! The Blue Train to be specific and hence the title of this post...seriously after you have experienced this mode of travel you'll never want to fly again.

Last Monday I got dropped of at Pretoria Station to start my journey by rail to Cape Town.

As a child I had travelled with my mum & sister on the old SAR overnight train from Johannesburg to the North Eastern Transvaal (now Limpopo Province) to visit my grandparents who were farming near Tzaneen. We had a compartment with 2 long seats and a little table between the 2 windows. We were hugely impressed when the steward arrived that evening & turned one of the benches into a bed and another 2 beds folded down from the walls. The little table turned into a washbasin and there was a shared loo at the end of the carriage. A big adventure & I remember falling asleep to the clackerty-clack of the wheels on the tracks. Very early that morning we were woken up & disembarked at Soekmekaar to meet Grandpa - there wasn't even a station platform!! Suffice to say that the Blue Train was similar in many ways but vastly different in mnay others.....the whole journey takes a delightful 27 hours.

 We unpacked while the train was clearing the metropolis that is Pretoria & Johannesburg. Once we were on our way brunch was served after which I felt like a little snooze. Oh damn will have to curl up on one of the chairs!! Or maybe soe thoughtful soul (aka Philani my butler) has made up the bed....heaven! I'm loving this....feel like a princess.

 

Playing around with my camera..before I figured out how to raise the blind.

 

On arrival in Kimberley the train stops for about 2 hours to take on water & supplies. Guests are taken by bus to the Big Hole as well as viewing some gorgeous diamonds at the museum. Unfortunately no free samples were being handed out during my visit!!

Winter in Johannesburg

 

They just don't realise how lucky they are......

River walk

On my last day in the Lowveld after several scrumptious meals at Cybele (not to mention the pancake) I decided that I aught to do some exercise so proceeded around the hour & a half loop that is the river walk. What a good idea - the heavy silence that only comes from total isolation, the ever present birdsong and the sound of running water - absolute bliss!!!

 

 

Ground Zero

One of the first things I saw when I arrived in New York was the Ground Zero site as the PATH train ended at the World Trade Center site and is just around the corner from the apartment.

 

Standing there the enormity of the devastation hits you immediately. I'm sure we all remember where we were & what we were doing the moment we heard the unbelievable news. Strangely though St Paul's Chapel which is located just across the road from the twin towers was unaffected except for loads of debris in the graveyard. It became the centre of the rescue activities and today houses a very moving display from those awful days after 9/11.

 

 

Just down the road is a cross constructed from the beams of the fallen North Tower...

Urban jungle to the green jungle

After two long haul flights I'm in South Africa & spending some time recuperating in the Lowveld. What a change from New York....loving the sunshine, the peace & quiet and the bird calls which take me back to my childhood holidays on the farm near Tzaneen.

Spent one day exploring the area - Pilgrim's Rest, White River etc. Some lovely views of Mac Mac Falls & surroundings.

 

and ending up in Graskop at Harrie's Pancake House....banana, cinnamon & homemade caramel - yum yum! Clearly the diet is going very well!!

Loving the creativity that I always see in Africa from the street corner right up to the poshest galleries. I spotted this fabulous door screen (can't think of the correct word today as my brain has turned to holiday mush) which is a great example of recycling!

  

The Last Lunch..

Today is my last day in NYC - quite sad to be leaving but time for the next leg of my journey! C took me to one of her finds in Gramercy, Big Daddy's Diner for a proper New York burger with all the trimmings. All I can say is thank goodness I discovered it on my last day & not my first....

How great is this place?? OMG - is that ours??????

And since we were in a proper diner we had to peruse the shake menu...can highly recommend the strawberry shake (we did share one in case you are wondering....)

After which we felt a little..

I nearly forgot..

Because we are down the bottom end of Manhattan & there is so much to do & see down this end I nearly forgot about Central Park, Fifth Avenue etc....that would have been a disaster so yesterday I toddled all the way up to do my bit. I walked around a bit doing some shopping - Madison, Fifth and Park Avenues - love it, love it, love it. Then sat myself down in Central Park near The Pond with a hot dog for lunch (the full monty with the relish, ketchup & mustard) - it tasted better than I expected and then a Reeses Peanut Buttercup ice cream for dessert. My NY visit seems to be one long cliche - sorry you just can't help it here!!!!

Afterwards I headed over to Lexington Avenue to meet C at Dylan's Candy Bar - owned by Dylan Lauren (Ralph Lauren's daughter) & heaven on earth for all children.

 

Union Square Farmer's Market

You wouldn't think I'd be able to find a farmer's market in NYC??? You'd be wrong - another lovely day here so thought I would go exploring & what did I find but the Union Square Farmers Market - superb fresh veg, flowers (lilac & lily of the valley yesterday), plants, goats cheese & wonderful smells from a bakery stall...

 

However, my fvourite is still Cape Town's Neighbourhood Goods Market - check it out if you haven't already been!!!

It's Monday..

Beautiful weather here in NY yesterday!! I've discovered the weatherman here is quite accurate - if he says it's going to bucket down then he is usually right. Walked over Brooklyn Bridge yesterday to Brooklyn for lunch..this is looking east & uptown.

And further along with Manhattan Bridge in the foreground..

A view of the bridge itself - a fantastic bit of engineering!

A view back over to downtown & the Financial District..

A view of the bridge from Brooklyn..

And finally to Grimaldi's, a well known pizzeria, for lunch. So well known, in fact, that the queue stretches down & around the block!!! It's not unusual to wait 45 minutes or more for a table.....

Fortunately we were near the front of the queue and the pizza's are worth waiting for..

They are huge and thanks to C's previous experience we only ordered one large pizza between us. I don't think there would have been room on the table for 2.