Tag Archives: buildings

South African National Art Gallery

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South African National Art Gallery
You'll find this building, the South African National Art Gallery, towards the top end of the Company's Gardens in Cape Town (map).  The gallery doesn't only have paintings on display, but from time to time hosts photographic collections, sculptures, and even beaded work.

If you're keen to visit, the gallery's open each day from 10h00 and closes at 17h00.

Tall buildings, many stairs

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Tall buildings, many stairs
I recently heard of a corporate who, after 6pm, turn their building's elevators off to conserve electricity. IT unfortunately isn't a 9 to 5 job, so you can imagine how annoyed the staff must have been to learn that if they work late they have to walk the 9 flights of stairs to the ground.

Personally, I think it's pretty smart of the company to encourage their staff to work off the extra kilojoules added by the overtime-pizza run. :)

A windmill in Durbanville

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A windmill in Durbanville
I meant to post this image a few days ago - but my day job railroaded me and because a day/night job for a few days.

So, this is the full picture of the windmill that I showed you in my previous posts. The mill was built in the 1840s. The roof, sails and machinery were removed in the early 20th century and the mill was converted into a horse-mill. Can you imagine how boring it must have been for the horses to walk in a circle all day, grinding flour?!

The mill is located in a small, and beautiful, middle-class cluster-housing complex. Isn't it just a great addition to the look and feel of the complex?

According to the plaque on the door the mill was restored to its current state in 1984 by the Natal Building Society.

A grain mill – of course

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A grain mill - of course
Perhaps because of the angle that I took yesterday's photo at it wasn't quite as obvious that the photo was of an old wind-powered grain mill.

As I indicated in one of my comments on yesterday's post - I wasn't even aware that Durbanville had such a mill and only by chance caught a glimpse of it as I drove down a road, in one of the town's residential areas, that I don't normally use. Do you know this mill, and could you point it out on a map?

Pastel blue buildings

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Pastel blue buildings
I took this photo on a recent trip to Riebeek Kasteel (map)- which is about 90 kilometers (or a little under 1 and a half hours) from Cape Town.

This building reminded me of the first house that Kerry-Anne and I owned. She convinced me that we should paint the exterior pastel blue. Being easily swayed by female charms I agreed to this... instantly regretting the choice after the first wall had been painted.

We moved a couple of years ago and painted the exterior of the new house last year. This time we chose a non-pastel, neutral, earthy colour. However, our painter made a mistake (actually, I think he pulled a fast one on us) and painted the house a light brown colour that has a slight pink hue. :(

Pillars and leaves

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Pillars and leaves
I took this photo at Oude Molen in Stellenbosch. The Dutch words "Oude Molen" mean "Old Mill" and presumably refer to the old water-driven mill once located on the property.

I took a walk around the property and unfortunately couldn't find the mill; which I presume means that it was really really old and either fell apart or was replaced by one of the other buildings. I searched for information about the property but could find nothing much, except for references to Stellenbosch University's Oude Molen men's fraternity.

If you do know anything more about Oude Molen in Stellenbosch, please do leave a comment on this post.