FollowingFaye: It's a Pale, Pale World

Thursday, December 20, 2012

It's a Pale, Pale World

It is striking how different the color landscape of the people is here, compared to the UAE. There are more blonds than I've ever seen in one place. But, I counted four black folks today, and had a great conversation with one of them, a kid from Morocco.

I boarded a "hop on, hop off" bus around the city and stopped at several places to get a closer look.

Side note -

As I was waiting for the bus, I noticed what looked like a stationary crane beside a building. It was an elevator shaft for lifting materials to the roof. Very interesting.

This is the elevator at the top of the building.

Now to today's adventure -

First though, a note about the weather.

It was cold as a booger bear outside where I spent most of the day. All of that bragging I was doing about how pleasant the weather was, well it did not apply today. It was bone chilling cold.

My first stop was a cable car ride to Petrin Hill which has a magnificent panoramic view of the city. Huge thanks to Houran for suggesting this.

This is an observation tower shaped like the Eiffel Tower.
It's on Petrin Hill.

Twice today I was reminded of Cape Town. The first time was the cable ride to the top of Petrin. This car had a railroad track to ride on. The one in Cape Town taking you from the bottom of the mountain to the top, dangled from the cables suspended overhead stretching across to the top of Table Mountain.

The second reminder was the closer examination of the "haunting men" sculpture from yesterday. Although it's not easy to look at when you consider it represents how the people were treated under communism, somehow it draws you in and you can sense the pain it stands for. Likewise the visit to Robben Island were Mandala was imprisoned, leaves a lasting impression.

Next stop, Old Town Square, and the first thing I did was get some hot red wine.

Yes, you read it right.

On the outing yesterday I noticed signs for it, and asked about it. The guy I was chatting with noted that the heat probably causes the alcohol content to be minuscule.

So . . .

I had a cup of red wine heated just right.

By now, the world knows I don't drink, but my curiosity and the freaking cold weather got the best of me. After sipping about half of it, I remembered why I don't drink the stuff. Immediately my stomach was upset, so the chucked the rest of it and continued my journey to . . .

Old Town Square -

It really was a winter wonderland of shops, food vendors, beautiful decorations and lots and lots of people.