Ocean liner Queen Mary 2 leaving Cape Town. Get the best view here !

CLICK images to see LARGE

The Queen Mary 2 who was only one night in town caused quite a stir in Cape Town,  she was mentioned on the news.... I even got calls from friends to alert me :) and  people were grinding to a halt and parking on the streets where-ever they happened to get sight of  her !

The QM2 is on a 108-day world cruise after leaving Cape Town she sails for St Helana Island, Rio de Janeiro and Miami before heading back across the Atlantic to Southampton.

Frankly I was like a jack in the box myself :)  I was on my shoot from 4.30 till 7.30, drove  between top of Signal hill and  top road of Signal Hill to the  Radisson Hotel then the pier near the Table Bay Hotel, also nipped over close to the stadium to shoot the workers closing the Western side gap in the facade, then when she was leaving at 6 PM I walked around the base of Signal Hill, away from the mass of other people and started shooting till after dark

I saw the original Queen Mary, which is now a floating hotel in Long Beach, California and have been on many an ocean liner as a child, cruising from the Caribbean, where I grew up, to Europe, so I am fascinated and always interested to see them
Here is an interesting review with photos ofrom someone who took a cruise on her

                              The massive Queen Mary 2 attempts one of the more tricky manoeuvres
                               a three-point turn in Cape Town harbour

She is one of the biggest ocean liners

if not the biggest ..

Captain ! Not much room left aft !

Finally ready to go !

Bon voyage !

Really special to witness this :)

                                                                     What a sight to behold !

and she sailed right between Green Point and Robben island

and this is where I suddenly got distracted by the beauty of our own  Queen

and forgot all about QM 2 who rapidly disappeared into the sunset

when I arrived home minutes later all I could see were her lights fading away

 in to the night

Rising Sun.Super yacht.Stunning.Sunset.Stadium.View Green Point.V&A Waterfront.Mountains.Green Point Urban Park.Three Anchor Bay.

                                                                  Radisson Blu Hotel

                                                                           Click to see large
                       It was a hazy evening but I was hoping the sun would break through
                                                                         Unfortunately it didn't

    Table Bay Hotel (5 star) with the blue roof and the super yacht

 Rising Sun  moored

along the quayside in front 

You can just see the stern of the Rising Sun at the top of the photo

All the above photos are from yesterday

                              This afternoon I decided to go shopping for clothes in the Waterfront
                              but soon lost interest and wandered outside in search of Haagen Dasz ice cream
                             and did a double take when I saw the sky /sunset ! Ofcourse I whipped my camera
                             out of my bag in seconds but had no tripod with me
                                 I will get a gorilla pod for my SLR
                                 I have a small one already for my Point and Shoot very handy
                               when I am at a concert for example or traveling

                                              

Aww ...if only I had had my tripod with me :(

Rising Sun (yacht)

The yacht is the 6th largest in the world with a length of almost 138 meters (453 ft).

 It reportedly cost over US$290 million to build.

The bow

Everything looked like it was brand new !

Capetonians are pretty blase about these kind of "touristy" shots

but not me Guv :) There are things I can never get enough off and this is one of them  :)

Just FYI...The yacht has :

82 rooms on five stories with a total living area said to be in excess of 8,000 square  Onyx countertops Jacuzzi bathrooms A gymnasium/spa and sauna An extensive wine cellar A master bath/bedroom an indoor swimming pool  A private cinema with a giant plasma screen 3,300 m² of teak-layered deck space  A basketball court on the main deck (can be used as a helicopter pad if necessary)

I had no tripod and the light was fading fast + the bridge

 I stood on,was wobbling with people stomping by :)

so I am surprised it came out at all !

                             

From the garage roof

I gate crashed a cocktail party but didnt steal any canapes :)

                                         The website Blogger is playing up
                                          I am battling with the alignment
                                          of my text and images
                                            So it looks messy now Grr !

Green Point Urban park

Yesterdays photo

Three Anchor Bay , which I can see from my bed remember :)

Indus_collectibles stole my images of Cape Town Stadium Post cards; Euro 2 on Delcampe .net

I have found 2 of my images on this website  write "south africa" in the search box and you easily recognize them They have been stolen from me by Indus_collectibles
and cropped off my blog address
selling them as post cards from South Africa for 2 Euro per post card

this one :
Peter Mokaba Stadium, South Africa Venue Soccer Fussball Fifa Stadion worldcup 2
Seller: Indus_collectibles [100% (740x)] PK

stolen from here
and this one :

Green Point Stadium, South Africa Venue Soccer Fussball Fifa Stadion worldcup 20
Seller: Indus_collectibles [100% (740x)] PK
from here
and he sells this lot for 15 Euro

Allthough I had a good shoot this evening

and was pleased to show you my booty

I am a little upset

it feels the same as when people steal your money or break ito your house :(

UPDATE March 26

 I got a reply from Delcampe to my report of the theft
 "We will close these sales and contact this member. However, to prevent such things from happening again, you could leave a mark on your images which makes it impossible for other people to use."


You must all agree :) that is great advice !
Jeez Never thought of that !

Cape Town we need your help to make it full house ! The biggest event in the Cape Town stadium before the WC starts

Deputy mayor Ian Neilson said the final test event, the Cape Town International Challenge, would "stretch the city to the limit" in testing its readiness for the soccer showpiece.

"I want to urge the people of Cape Town to attend this event in their numbers. We need your help to test the city's readiness to host the biggest event of all," he said.

If you are going, please let me know ?

Cape Town Stadium will host a final test event for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, when four national under-20 teams take part in the Cape Town International Challenge on April 10.

South Africa’s upcoming stars will take on their Nigerian counterparts at 1630 hours and current under-20 world champions, Ghana, will play ten-time champions, Brazil, at 1900 hours.

Tickets will cost R20 or R30 and will be available exclusively from Computicket. No tickets will be available at the gates.

This will be the first event at night and a full house 

Read on here

Of the eight games scheduled to take place at Cape Town Stadium during the 2010 FIFA World Cup , seven are at night so it is important to work out the best ways to get spectators home after the matches.

All the tickets for the Cape Town matches during the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ are now sold outthe Cape Town International Challenge is an affordable way for those without tickets to see a game at the new stadium there will be 65,000 seats available

V&A Waterfront

I took this shot on the way to the movies which I usually watch in one of the cinema's in the Waterfront

I like the fairy lights

Hallelujah ! Prayers at the Cape Town Stadium

Around fifty thousand people attended a religious event at the Cape Town Stadium

 as part of a security test  at the stadium in preparation of the 2010 Soccer World

There was and is a hell of a wind blowing as you can see in these photos

A video of Cape Town Stadium on a sunny saturday afternoon (March 20, 2010)

You can see it here on Youtube

Two beautiful icon's of our Mother city

Oh and almost forgot..there was a chill in the air

and sure enough.. I saw fresh snow fall this morning in town,

which is ofcourse very strange since it is still summer here ..

You can see how the people were flabbergasted by it

 The man on the left actually kneeled down to feel if it was real :)

It was real !

Cape Town Stadium an exquisite architectural delight at night !