Lu-Gerda's Travels

The Plettenberg Bay area was rich in natural forests.   Baron Joachim van Plettenberg was worried about these forests and suggested that a control post must be erected to prevent the over-use of the timber.   The Dutch East India Company started a woodcutter’s post in 1778.   JF Meeding was appointed the first overseer of this post.   In 1786 the Dutch East India Company contracted Johann Jacob Jerling to build a Timber Shed for storage of the timber.   Today the remains of the Old Timber Shed can be found in Meeding Street.   The remains have been partially restored twice.   It is the oldest building in Plettenberg Bay   and was declared a National Monument in 1936.

After a detour to George to fetch my camera  we were back in Plettenberg Bay and was ready for a bit of sightseeing. I found some great ideas of things to do on a “The Firefly Photo Files-blog” .  Our first stop was at the Van Plettenberg monument.     In 1448 Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias named Plettenberg bay “Bahia das Alagoas” or “Bay of the Lagoons”.   In 1576 another Portuguese, Manuel da Mesquita Perestrello named it “Bahia Formosa” or “Bay Beautiful”.   In about 1776 the first Dutch people started to live in the Plettenberg bay area.   During 1778 Baron Joachim van Plettenberg, who was the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, arrived in the area.   He decided to give the town his name and since then it was known as Plettenberg Bay. He erected a slate possessional stone to indicate that the bay belonged to the Dutch East India Company.   This stone is now known as the Van Plettenberg Monument.  It was difficult to read the stone beacon because of damage (although it

My husband and I both like history. So it was no surprise when we decided to spend our honeymoon in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.   I did some research before we left and had a list with things to do and see but I did not realize how much history the Eastern Cape had.   Between the Frontier Wars, 1820 British Settlers and Anglo-Boer Wars we had a lot to see. I will write about some of the history while posting about the places we visited. We got married in my hometown, George, in the Western Cape and started our honeymoon in Plettenberg Bay (also in the Western Cape) about 85 km away from George.   We arrived in Plett at about 16:00 the afternoon after first opening gifts at my parents’ home. We stayed in a lovely Victorian house, Southern Cross Guest House.   It is next to the beach but we could not see the beach from our room.   When I wanted to take a picture of the room I realized “MY CAMERA IS NOT HERE”.   So after panicking for a while I called my mom and luckily the

I have been looking at some old pictures and decided write about a trip to Cape Town in July 2005.   I went to visit a friend and we went to the Castle of Good Hope  because I have never been there. The Castle is the oldest surviving colonial building in South Africa.   The Dutch East India Company (VOC) built it between 1666 and 1679 by.   It replaced Jan van Riebeeck’s Fort de Goede Hoop.   Commander Zacharias Wagenaer was instructed to build the pentagonal fortress out of stone.   The first stone was laid on 2 January 1666.   The five bastions were named after the main title of William III of Orange-Nassau: Leerdam, Buuren, Katzennelgogen, Nassau and Oranje.  The fortress housed a church, bakery, workshops, living quarters, shops, prison cells and other facilities.   It was declared a National Monument in 1936.   Entrance and Bell Tower After paying our entrance fee we joined the (free) guided tour of the castle.   The tour takes about an hour and during the tour the guid

This is the last post about our Switzerland holiday.  It was great to relive the holiday through the posts on my blog and to look at the photos. It was a wonderful vacation and I was glad to share it with my mom. Our last day in Switzerland, Wednesday 20 July 2011, started early with packing and sorting.   We drank some coffee and ate breakfast before locking the apartment and walking to the tram one last time.   We got on the tram at the Beaumont stop and rode pass Eigerplatz, Hasler, Kocherpark and Hirshengraben to Bern Bahnhof.   While writing I can hear the voice over the tram speakers announcing the different stops.   At the station we got on the train to Zurich.   It was very full but we got two seats in the upper level of the train.   The train left at 11:04. The train stopped in Zurich and then continued to Zurich Flughafen (airport).   We had some trouble to find the correct “Check-in”.   We went to Check-in #3, then #1 only to find out we have to be at Check-in

Tuesday 19 July was our last full day in Switzerland.  At 10:15 we walked from the apartment to the tram stop.  We had to wait 7 minutes for the tram before riding to Bern Bahnhof.  We took a stroll through the old town of Bern. There was a market in Barenplatz and we walked through the stalls.  We walked further stopping at a few shops and taking some more photos of the old buildings and fountains on our way to the Rosengarten or Rose Garden.   We had to walk up a very steep hill but could stop to see an amazing view of Bern’s Old Town and the river.   It was so pretty with the river flowing and all the church towers standing above the houses. We reached the Rose garden and found a table on the grass for our picnic.   There was quite a few people around but it was still calm.   We could not think that there is a busy city not far from us.   After eating we walked through the garden with a lot of different roses and other plants. When we arrived in Bern on 12 July 201

Leaving the Rathaus  we walked to the Puppenhausmuseum or Doll’s House Museum.   This museum has a collection of more than 6 000 dolls and doll houses over 4 floors.   We paid the entrance of CHF 7 each then took the lift to the 4 th floor. The 4 th floor has the world’s largest collection of more than 2500 teddy bears.   The oldest beat is from 1904.   On another floor there are dollhouses from the 18 th and 19 th century.   There are miniature schools, kitchens, pharmacies and different kinds of shops.   Each dollhouse has a lot of detail.   This was really impressive.   After spending a lot of time at the dollhouses we went quickly through the rest of the museum.   We were talking in Afrikaans while walking in the museum when a woman stopped us and asked if we are from South Africa.   Her 8-year old daughter recognized the language.   The woman was from South Africa but live in Basel (for 20 years).   It was nice to talk some Afrikaans.   After  talking for a while we