Day 8 Fun! Fun! Fun!

For my last full day in Cape Town I decided to do something I have never done before and have always longed to do.  This was to dive with the king of the sea the Great White Shark.  I found a highly trained diving instructor on the internet.  In case you are ever in Cape Town and want to do this here is the website http://www.africadiver.com/. For the first half of the day I had to become licensed in scuba diving  and then the fun began on the last half of the day.  We rode out into the sea a little ways and then I was dropped into a steel cage in the water.  Inside the cage I had tons of different sharks swim right next to me.  The best was when the Great White bumped into my cage.  It was the adrenaline rush of a lifetime.  It was a long day but well worth it.

Video on World Design Capital 2014, Cape Town

Day 7 World Design Capital

Today I had the privilege of visiting the area where the Galvin Young sculpture is located.  This sculpture along with the buildings surrounded it are the main reason why Cape Town may receive the award of World Design Capital 2014.  They should know in a matter of hours if they receive the award or not.  Cape Town is competing with two other popular cities: Dublin, Ireland and Bilbao, Spain.  Executive Mayor of Cape Town, Patricia de Lille is in Taipei waiting on the official announcement of the winning city.  A very informative website that provides information on the award is http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/Pages/CTgearsupforWorldDesignCapitalannouncementasdelegationheadstoTaipei.aspx A picture of the Galvin Young sculpture and its surroundings is attached as well.

Day 6 Cape Town Government

Today I decided to learn about the government in South Africa and how Cape Town affects it.  I learned that South Africa actually has three different capitals and Cape Town is one of them.  Cape Town is the legislative capital of South Africa and holds the Parliament of the country.  I found the way they do their government very interesting.  I also had the privilege of visiting the actual city hall where all of South Africa's legislation takes place.

Day 5 Tourist Attractions

I was kind of tired of visiting engineering places, so I decided to visit two famous tourist attractions.  I toured the top two tourist attractions in Cape Town.  They were Kruger National Park and Table Mountain. The weather was great and these attractions were magnificent.  Kruger National Park is the largest game reserve in South Africa.  I saw zebras, lions, elephants and many other beautiful animals.  Here is a picture of one of the lions I saw on the reserve.

After seeing Kruger National Park I headed over to Table Mountain.  Engineers in South Africa built a cable with revolving cars to take you to the top of the mountain.  It was a awesome view at the top because you could see the city and the beautiful waterfront.  After coming down off the mountain I visited the waterfront to conclude my day.  The waterfront is beautiful at night, which is shown in my picture.  In the background is Table Mountain.

Day 4 Coolest Telescopes in the World

Today I chose to drive a little north of Cape Town to visit one of the coolest engineering projects in all of Africa.  It was called the MeerKat  engineering offices.  Here they have built a ton of huge satellite dishes to examine space from a whole new perspective.  There are 64 dishes spread out and these dishes take high definition pictures of satellites and other things out in space. Their website provides much more detailed facts about their engineering offices.http://www.ska.ac.za/index.php It was awesome visiting this place especially if your interested in any kind of engineering field.

Day 3 University of Cape Town

After a long day hanging out with the Sutherland engineers today I decided to take a trip to the University of Cape Town to check out their electrical engineering department.  I spoke with Barry Downing, who is a professor and head of the department at the university.  He informed me that their department had about 500 students and about 180 postgraduate students.  This is huge compared to an American university.  He informed me their program is very good and graduates many electrical engineers each year.  A link to the website is http://www.ee.uct.ac.za/ if you are more interested.

Day 2 Speaking with a Engineering Company

Today I had the privelige of speaking with an engineering company called Sutherland.  It was created by Gordon Sutherland and his son Craig in western Cape Town.  I got to speak with Craig and he took me to two different buildings that Sutherland built recently in Cape Town.  Here is a link that can take you to their website: http://www.sutheng.co.za/company/index.html I first visited the Crystal Towers and viewed it's magnificent architecture.  It was completed in July 2010, so it was fairly new.

Craig also took me to Boulevard Park that was completed in December 2009.  It was one of the nicest office buildings that I have even seen in my life.  It was great meeting Craig and exploring his prospering company.

Day 1 in Cape Town

Finally I arrive in Cape Town, and it is a beautiful city.  The first day I decide to get to know the area, so I read and watched some travel information that I posted previously.  I also went and visited a fine restaurant called Azure.  It is a traditional african cuisine restaurant that has a beautiful sunset.  Also it is located in the Twelve Apostles Hotel, where I am staying, so it wasn't a long walk at all.  The Twelve Apostles Hotel has a wonderful design and was engineered perfectly.  Tomorrow I am going to visit an engineering company, who is going to show me one of their wonderful designs. 

Arriving in Cape Town

Welcome to Cape Town, Mother City of Africa, and the Western Cape, an area which is regarded as one of the most beautiful regions in the world. The City is a rare cultural gem, resulting from the amalgamation of Indonesian, French, Dutch, British and German settlers, the local Bushman and Hottentot tribes and the Bantu tribes from the north.

Table Mountain

The impressive presence of Table Mountain, flanked by the legendary Devil's Peak and historical Signal Hill, stands proudly above the city. Beautiful white sandy beaches along a peaceful coastline frame the Cape Peninsula, which is famed for its unique floral kingdom, bountiful rivers, vleis and dams and magnificent countryside. The surrounding area extends far into the winelands, green in summer and red-gold in autumn.

Camps Bay beach

Cape Town boasts a multitude of entertainment, ranging from outdoor activities and adventures in the sun to a roaring night life under neon signs. The vast range of shopping opportunities includes haggling with shopholders at Greenmarket Square Flea Market, as well as breezing through sophisticated and stylish shopping malls. The huge variety of Cape Town restaurants reflects the multicultured history of the Cape and caters for everyone's taste, from fast-food outlets and casual to the chic to the very elegant.

Cape Town City

Cape Town provides a setting for many scenic wonders, magnificent seascapes and panoramic vistas. The beautiful coastal areas of Camps Bay, Clifton, Llandudno, Bantry Bay, Hout Bay and Blouberg surround the breathtaking tranquility of the winelands, Constantia, Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek.
Cape Town is a city of culture, built on a history that reflects in the architecture, cuisine, music and dance. Together with a warm summer and temperate winter climate and a friendly community, the Western Cape and the Mother City are an ideal holiday destination throughout the year.

The Best of South Africa