These sculptures which honor South Africa’s four Nobel Prize winners, Nkosi Albert Luthuli, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, former State President F.W. de Klerk and former President Nelson Mandela, are located on the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.
Created by two of South Africa’s most accomplished female sculptors – Noria Mabasa and Claudette Schreuders – they were unveiled on December 16, 2005, South Africa’s Day of Reconciliation.
Nobel Square honorees, Cape Town, SA
This is my submission to this week’s Budget Travelers Sandbox Travel Photo Thursday series. Be sure to check out other photo and story entries on their website!
Located on the east side of Grand Army Plaza at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, the Plaza is a luxury hotel in New York City. After extensive renovations, the Plaza reopened in 2008 with 282 hotel rooms and 152 private condominium units. In 1986, it was designated a National Landmark building.
Looking back at the photos I took at Stonehenge, the one of this stone always grabs my attention. Maybe because it’s separated by several feet from the main stone circle and seems to be keeping watch over the others or maybe because of its shape — it looks like a large animal — I’m not sure. I look for clues and see body parts where there’s only stone.
New York City has an unmistakable skyline but it’s difficult to see it when you’re in the city. Some of the most spectacular views are from New Jersey. I took this photograph in Jersey City, which because of its close proximity to Lower Manhattan is fast becoming part of the business and financial area of New York City.
The tall structure on the left (with cranes on top) is the new building going up at Ground Zero.
Listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, the Apollo Theatre is the landmark music hall that introduced performers such as Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Lauryn Hill, James Brown, Billie Holiday, Marvin Gaye, Luther Vandross and countless others. It’s also been home to Showtime at the Apollo. Amateur Night introduces new musicians to the public.
Apollo Theatre
The Apollo Theatre is located on125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr and Frederick Douglass Boulevards in Harlem.
New York has a million faces. It just depends on where you are. Of course, the city looks very different when you’re not at ground level.
I took this from the Time Warner Building. Before the sun set, I could see directly to New Jersey. A few hours later, these clouds came into view and washed the buildings with an inky tint.
View from the Time Warner Building
Those saucers are the light fixtures from inside the building. They just bounced off the window.
One of the newest hotels in New York, the Hyatt 48Lex, will open in August.
The old building, which housed a camera store, a deli and an antiques shop, was demolished around 2005 or 2006. I was curious to see what would take its place.
Once the scaffolding was removed, I was surprised a thoroughly modern structure which is a lovely counterpoint to the building next to it.
Several gargoyles adorn the older building, also a hotel. I wonder where the water that they normally channel will go. I guess it’ll roll off the glass siding of the Hyatt.
I’m not what you’d call an animal lover so going on safari would not have been on my list of things to do on vacation. But when my friends and I decided to go to South Africa, we also decided we’d do everything on each other’s lists.
Since all three of us wanted to see Victoria Falls, our travel agent suggested we do our game-watching in Zimbabwe at Hwange National Park.
She also recommended a lovely safari camp, Makalolo Plains, which is located about 2 hours’ drive into the park. Even when she told us that Makalolo was not like the kind of camp we would have been exposed to, I still didn’t know what to expect. We were very pleasantly surprised.
They treated us to tasty lunches, sherry when we returned at nights from game drives and sumptuous dinners, including wines.
Since the camp is surrounded by animals – elephants, lions, buffalos, zebras, giraffes, etc., we were surprised to return from our morning game drive on our second day to find lunch would be served al fresco.
Lasagna for lunch
Looking at these photos brings back warm memories of the wonderful time we had at Makalolo Plains.
Table Mountain was not on our itinerary, not for that gorgeous day. After an emotionally charged visit to Robben Island, all we wanted to do was have a meal and take a nap.
But Ian, our guide, insisted. The weather was perfect, he said. There was no guarantee we’d have another one, best to take advantage. If the clouds came in, visibility on Table Mountain would be reduced. I know this mountain, he said. You only have five days, why wait for tomorrow when you could see something else? We’re so close.
We insisted. We huddled among ourselves. We were adamant. We didn’t want a tour guide to commandeer our vacation. After all, for more than a week, we’d had people telling us what to do and when do it. And after Cape Town, we’d have another tour guide shepherding us around. Independent people, we wanted our freedom or a least a little latitude.
I can’t remember now what Ian said that clinched it. But I’m glad he didn’t give up. It was the best decision we made that day. As it turned out, it rained all day the next day and for several days after that, Table mountain looked as if a crisp white tablecloth had been spread over it.
View of Cape Town from Table Mountain
From that moment, we never objected to anything Ian recommended.
