Lu-Gerda's Travels

After visiting the Dutch Reformed Church in Heidelberg we walked across the street to the St Barnabas Anglican Church.   A worker opened the church for us and we quickly walked through the inside.   I could not find any information about the church on the internet but here are some photos.     Walking back towards the Dutch Reformed Church we saw a monument.   This monument was erected in memory of the men who died in Heidelberg during a fight in the Anglo Boer War on 13 September 1901.   We then went back to the car and drove around in the town.   We saw the Doornboom Homestead  and other old buildings.   It was almost time for lunch and we decided to drive towards Riverdale to get some food.

  One of my favourite places for a cup of coffee is The Fynbos Shoppe and Coffee Shop in 31 Marsh Street.   Unfortunately I don’t go there often.   The photos are from our last visit on a cold and rainy day in June 2012. The shop started was started as a gift shop and the Victorian Tea Room and was added in 2005.   On a recent outing with the Mossel Bay Heritage Society I learned that the building was built about 1877 as presbytery for St Thomas Catholic Church.    The tearoom has a great atmosphere and on this cold day a fire was burning to keep the room cozy.     The food is good and the prizes are reasonable.   And after eating I take some time to walk through the gift shop (but rarely buy because I feel the gifts are a bit expensive). (Not a sponsored post)

We visited Heidelberg in the Western Cape for the first time in December 2012.   It was a warm and sunny day.   After walking around in the town for a while we reached the Dutch Reformed Church.   We arrived just half an hour before a funeral service and the minister said we could have a quick look inside. The town was founded when the congregation was started here in 1855 and the foundation stone for the church building was laid on 22 March 1913.   Unfortunately that is the only information I could find about this beautiful church.   Here are some more pictures:

We have probably driven past this little town more than a hundred times and never turned in to have a look.   Yes, we did stop at the petrol station once or twice but that does not count.   So instead of a struggle with all the holidaymakers in our hometown we decided to visit Heidelberg.  Post Office (Built in 1936)  Heidelberg is a town in the Western Cape of South Africa.   It is about 121km from our home in Mossel Bay and about 274km from Cape Town.    Town Hall (Built in 1912)  In 1716 Louis Fourie obtained grazing rights from Governor van der Stel.   This led to the establishment of the Doornboom Farm and homestead in 1728.   In 1855 the farm was bought from Mr. Fourie and the town was started.   The town was named after Heidelberg in Germany.    Doornboom Homestead Rose Garden at Doornboom Homestead The Doornboom Homestead was one of our last stops of the day.   It is currently being restored and we co...

  Amsterdam St Goar  Our next day in Europe was very relaxed.   We woke early and after breakfast we got on the bus to travel back to London.   It was quite a long day of sitting in the bus.   We left at about 8:00 and at about 12:30 we got onto the ferry at Calais. Munich Venice The trip on the ferry was not pleasant because it was windy and the water was “onstuimig”.   By 14:00 we were back on the bus for the last bit of traveling before reaching London at about 16:30.   The rest of the afternoon we used to visit an internet café to download photos and send e-mails to our family.   We also went to buy some food. Rome  and Vatican City Florence Later that evening we met some of the other people who were on our Contiki tour for a drink at the London Pub near our hotel. It was difficult to say good buy to these wonderful people who shared an amazing vacation with us. Lucerne Paris Group photo in Florenc...

I realized today that I have shared very little about my hometown, Mossel Bay, on the blog.  I visited Mossel Bay regularly as a child because my grandparents lived here and it was only a 30-minute drive from George.  I started to work here in 2003 but still lived with my parents in George (about 60 km away).   Then i n 2006 I moved here and it is still home I have already written about the Dias Museum Complex and about Hartenbos .   This year I will try to do more posts about this beautiful little town next to the Indian Ocean.  I hope to post something each Monday or at least once a month.  So here is the first Mossel Bay Monday.   There are two dates on the outside of the building, 1885 and 1935.   The oldest date, 1885, was when the French Missionary Fathers of Lyon built the little school.    It was only one classroom and is now the confessional o...

After a busy morning in Paris with a lot of walking we took the to St Michel and walked to the Notre Dame Cathedral.        The outside of the cathedral is beautiful.   Construction of the cathedral started in 1163 and it was completed in 1345.   The building is 128m long and it has two 69m high towers.   It was very busy outside the cathedral and inside it was calm and peaceful (even with many people inside).   The inside was also beautiful with pretty windows like the rose window from the 13 th century. After the visit to the cathedral we went back to the hotel to rest and get ready for our dinner and show.   We left the hotel at about 18:15 and the bus took us to Nouvelle Eve Cabaret Show.   We had a very nice dinner and a great show including a lot of singing and dancing.   Although the evening was very expensive it was worth it and I am very glad we decided to...