Franeschhoek....................Villa 27

Steve drove us from Cape Town on Friday to our lodging at the small Afrikanns village of Franschhoek, which means, corner of France and it did remind me of Provence. Our place,
L'ermitage, consisted of about 50 villas and chateaus. The chateau being the larger structure.
Villa 27, our unit,bordered on the foothill of a rough looking mountain that rose about 2000
meters. In the valley below, grapevines sprawled for miles. the major grape at this time
is called, Hannspoort, a grape made into a sweet type of sherry and brandy although
there are many other types grown. Since this is summer in SA, grapes are ready for
harvesting.

Liselle outdid herself in booking us here. We now are residents of a richly furnished villa-
windows all arround with beautiful drapes, no curtains here, a full kitchen, upholstered sofa and chairs in a spacious livingroom and a tiled bathroom etc. You'll enjoy this......a tiled bathtub that is situated between the wide bathroom and the master bedroom open to both rooms. I can
now lie in bed, read my depleted financial account while observing Annabelle take her bath.
Unfortunately, she refuses to cooperate. So much for that. Of course, there are french doors that open from the bedroom and livingroom to wide verandas with magnificent vistas

Who, you may ask(with bated breath) stops at this Motel 6? I'll tell you in secret since the
general polulation may be in the dark. Our fellow guests this week include 50 members of
the SA Parliament who were in Cape Town to hear the opening address by President Zuma,
he, of the 4 wives plus several girlfriends.
I can't wait to see what comes next on this rugged trek through Africa to find Dr. Livingston.

Today, Sunday, we met Johann Pretorious, our guide to the Winelands. Incidently, this
Afrikaans area was settled about the mid-1600s. He took us to Stellenbosch which is
the wine growing hub of SA. Stopped at the largest plant, tasted some of their product and
purchased a bottle of medium sweet sherry which we drank at our villa while having
dinner there rather than being bothered by so many polite waiters eager to overfeed us.

Tomorrow, Johann is taking us back to Cape Town for the next stage of this journey. We travel
to Pretoria, a two day trip on Rovos Train a privately owned group of trains on which one
has to dress for dinner. They say it's Edwardian in style with wood pannelling and
wide open observation cars as well as 5 star service. I keep on wondering what our safari
is going to be like. Will the lions be dressed in tuxedos? Stay tuned to Grandma Annabelle
on Safari.

The secretary has just whispered, "gaan". I think that means she thinks I've used up my
welcome at this computer.