Today I took Flat Susan (a small lady on a tour of the world in a suitcase the size of a matchbox in an envelope...to read more on her blog...click her name) on an outing to Kirstenbosch, one of our National Botanical Gardens. The kids love it here no matter what the season, so while I was entertaining Flat Susan and showing her our beautiful flowers and the giant statues that adorn the place, the boys went off to catch tadpoles in the mountain water streams.
Yes, this is Winter in Cape Town! Chilly, but beautiful!
The top photo is FS (for short) with me at the entrance with one of the Dylan Lewis sculptures with the gardens behind me and the photo below shows the famous "Castle Rock" through another one of Dylan Lewises sculptures.
FS was finding the flowers just the right size for her to really enjoy. Here she is on one of our early spring daisies that come up like carpets in September and make the landscape look like it is covered in snow!
Above FS poses on the shoulder of one of the Mambo Sculptures which is a permanent but ever changing exhibition of African sculptures
Above: This is locally known as the Bird of Paradise flower or Stralitzia. 
This is a "bath" (though no one can use it) up in the Dell which is the start of a pure, clear, clean, drinkable natural spring and flows down the hill into a pond. The technical explanation is in the photo below.
Below is a beautiful Yellow Wood tree with the most amazing trunk. FS is in the hollow about half way up, to the left of the name tag... hard to spot, but she is there...
Below is a display showing all the flowers in bloom currently in the garden, though being winter these are few and far between...I did not see many of these on our travels from stream to stream to hunt for taddies...
So that was FS's first outing with me, on Friday she goes to Table View to get a look at our famous Table Mountain across the sea, and maybe even Robben Island where Mandela was incarcerated. All of this is weather depending of course!
Bella, that was a wonderful photo journey with you and FS on your visit to the beautiful gardens! It is so fantastic that she doesn't have flower allergies or climbing up and in those flowers could have been very explosive to her health!!
ReplyDeleteWow! Bella, what a super trip to start off FS's South African adventure. Remember her fear of water after nearly drowning in a puddle, (whilst I was hosting her), in Brescia, Italy in the early days of her trip. I love all the sculptures, the second one showing the mountain through it is simply stunning.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing Robben Island and the famous Table Mountain. I did some work for Mandela's Caring Hearts foundation and met Dennis Goldberg, who was incarcerated with Mandela, at a reception in Africa House in London.
Have fun ..
Jo x
Well she is getting about, lovely pictures.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant - really enjoyed reading about Flat Susans trip out and it looks beautiful! Cx
ReplyDeleteHi Bella and FS, looks as though your first day out was a fantastic one. What gorgeous flowers!
ReplyDeleteI am happy to see Susan is a fan of flowers and sculpture gardens!
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