This will be my final post of the Cape Town Club (well at least for now). I love these old stairs – they remind me of the art by MC Escher (he used to draw the strange staircases that started and ended at the same place). If you have read Neverwhear by Neil Gaiman (if not you should – it is a great book), you will remember the “Down Street” section of the book, and these stairs really look like they could be Down Street.
While the formal lounge at the Cape Town Club has some lovely furniture, it is…well…just a little too formal for me.
Although I am a little intrigued about the organ on the right of the first pic.
But don’t you think the rooms are nice and spacious. They would make great band practise rooms – do you think the venue will agree?
There are some wonderful old buildings in Cape Town, and the Cape Town Club is no exception. If you go down into the basement there is a lovely old dark bar, complete with old carpets and period furniture – I am convinced the furniture was modern when the bar was originally built! This is where you go to watch magic. In fact the Cape Town Magic Club meet here (which is where I first found the bar). It is a lovely old building with some beautiful furniture inside.
Old bar (and rather well stocked) bar
Velvet cushioned chairs
The side room
Watch this space to see some more pics of the Cape Town Club.
Update: the Cape Town Magic Club now meet at Truth Coffee – still in the city bowl.
This sculpture is in the middle Cape Town on Thibault Square. I am not quite sure what it is of, but it looks like a few gargoyles looking around the city. According to this AVA, it was created by John Skotnes in the 1990’s, and is called “Mythological Landscape”. It was “an attempt to speak directly to, and become a celebration of, the diversity of people“. I just think it is a strange yet somewhat interesting sculpture.
Anyway if you want to see it pop over to Thibault Square in the city centre.
The Riesenrad in Vienna is a huge and very old ferris wheel. It was originally commissioned in 1897 and is still running. It sits at the entrance to the Prater amusement park (I will speak about the park in a future post).
The cabins are huge and can easily hold about 15 people, and if you visit in the evening you can book a private restaurant cabin. I am not quite sure how they actually get the food into the cabin!
Of course, from the top you have a magnificent view of the city and amusement park. It almost looks like you are looking down at a little model of the city. A must-visit when you are in Vienna!
The Odeon of Herodes Atticus was build in 161 AD, and is still used as a theatre today. That probably makes it one of the oldest theatre in the world. The oldest is the Theatre of Dionysius – right next door, If you walk to the top of the Acropolis you will see a wonderful view of the theatre.
The Barcelona Cathedral is a typical gothic cathedral with its tall detailed columns stretching up to the sky, spreading outwards like upside down tree routes to form the vaulted ceiling. When we were in Barcelona I visited the cathedral many times. Partly because it was so awe-inspiring to stand under that roof, and partly because it was about 100m from our apartment. Every hour we heard the bells of the cathedral beat out the time, and after a while it became almost reassuring to hear the bells as I drifted off to sleep after spending an evening wondering around the gothic quarter of Barcelona.
It is not often you get to see the dome of a church from upfront. If you visit Karlskirche in Vienna you can do just that. They have built a scaffolding platform right all the ay to the top of the church, If you go up in a rickety lift and them climb about 3 fights of stairs, you can admire the artwork and architectural detail from close up (just don’t look down).
The scaffolding to the top
The dome from close up
Some of the Biblical scenes from up close
It is a wonderful experience, so give yourself some time for the climb.
This is the same church in which we listened to Mozart’s Requiem a few days later.
This church doesn’t look very impressive from the outside, but it is beautiful, cool and quiet on the inside. You are welcome to come into the cool inside, sit on one of the beautifully carved chairs, and enjoy a few minutes quiet inside this lovely church.
The lovely chandelier inside the church
View of the facade – not much to see but beautiful inside
A view of Karlskirche and the lovely pond in front of it in Vienna. We went back to the church a few days later to listen to Mozart’s Requiem played on period instruments. The pond is a popular student hangout, and is packed at the weekends with food and pub-carts, live music and lost of partying.
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