Tag Archives: buildings

Gotham City and the Central Methodist Mission

Central Methodist Mission, Longmarket & Burg
It's hard to miss the Central Methodist Mission church building when visiting Greenmarket Square in the heart of Cape Town's bustling CBD.

Imagine for a moment that all the buildings in the city resembled this one's architecture. Wouldn't that be fantastically awesome and thoroughly scary, especially at nightfall? I guess it would then be mandatory to rename Cape Town to something more appropriate, like Gotham City.

Not that Gotham City looks exactly like that, but you get the idea, don't you? :)

Open gardens: Beautiful buildings

Open gardens: Beautiful buildings
The farm dates back to 1682, a mere 30 years after Jan van Riebeeck of the Dutch East India Company landed to establish the first European settlement in the Cape [1], making it one of the oldest farms in South Africa.

If you have a spare moment, click though to the their website to read the Rustenberg story - surprisingly, it's somewhat interesting. :)

See this post for more about this photo and Rustenberg Wine's open gardens.

Open gardens: The grim Creeper

Open gardens: The grim Creeper
Creepers look pretty awesome, but boy oh boy, don't let them get out of control. We have one at our house and if I weren't keeping a chopping-hand directed towards it, I swear it would cover our house in a matter of minutes. Exaggeration perhaps, but still, there's some truth here. :)

See this post for more about this photo and Rustenberg Wine's open gardens.

Walk this way

Walk this way
I found these three posters outside a shoe store in St George's Mall. Don't you think that the contrast between the grey colour and old style of the building make the them jump out at you? I guess that was the idea, hey? :)

The theological seminary in Stellenbosch

The theological seminary in Stellenbosch
The Dutch Reformed Church's theological seminary was built on the site of the old local government building in Stellenbosch. The original building was erected in 1686, but it burned to the ground in 1762. Its replacement was built in the Cape Dutch style and served as a municipal building until 1827.

Only in 1859 did the Dutch Reformed Church convert the site into a seminary - which begs the question... what happened between 1827 and 1859? Please leave a comment if you happen to know! :)

Espresso Bar in Buitenkant Street

Espresso Bar in Buitenkant Street
This either used to be Truth's espresso bar, or still is. I'm not sure. This photo, taken by @RelaxWithDax only a couple of months ago, shows the Truth name and logo on the front of the building. It is no more... do you suppose Truth has moved on?

Where to walk on Signal Hill

Where to walk on Signal Hill
Isn't it cool how the buildings appear to be rising from beneath the ground? I took this photo while walking on Signal Hill (on Saturday morning). While not exactly the safest area to walk alone, it sure is pretty and I'll be sharing a couple of pics I took while walking over the next couple of days.

In case you're in the mood to grab a few buddies and walk this path, I've drawn a map that starts where I parked and follows a route along a footpath. The walk will take around 30 minutes, depending on how many photos you stop to take. :)

The Cape Quarter cyclist

The Cape Quarter cyclist
I took this photos earlier in the year and never got around to posting it, so do excuse me for posting a photo taken so terribly long ago (just before the Argus Cycle Tour, in fact)!

I saw the cyclist approaching, and tried to quickly take the shot before he obscured my view. I at first thought "Darn, I wasn't quick enough.", but on reviewing the photo later I discovered that I really liked the fact that I caught him cycling into the frame. It's funny how sometimes things that you expect would ruin something actually make them better.

Pulleys lift a heavy load

Pulleys lift a heavy load
The guy who invented the pulley system for lifting heavy objects deserves a prize. Really, he does. Pulleys changed the world even more than Steve Jobs or his newfangled gadgets have done. ;)

If you've ever wondered (as one does) how to calculate how much force is required to lift a heavy object using pulleys then take a look at this quick demonstration and formula on the Dynamic Science site. It's so simple, even I got it!