Jaffa, Arrival in Jerusalem and Western Wall

Here are a few of the many photos I took in Israel...

This is the only orange tree growing in the old port of Jaffa. It is suspended by wires to the surrounding buildings and grows in a huge pot. The Jaffa orange company now has orange groves in the Negev Desert.

The old city of Jaffa (also Joppa) with the modern skyscrapers of Tel Aviv in the distance.

We arrived in Jerusalem at a viewing place, overlooking the city.

The blowing of the shofar over the city.

Sharing bread and wine together, overlooking Jerusalem. Notice the arrangement of the glasses.

This is the men's section of the Western Wall, taken by Andy. Many Orthodox Jews were in traditional dress, with long curled sideburns dangling beneath their black velvet hats. They never wear colour only black and white. All men had to cover the crown of their heads with a skullcap.

The women's side of the Western Wall is smaller. We didn't have to cover our heads, but modest dress, covering the shoulders and knees was essential.

Women at the Western Wall. Notice the paper pushed into every crevice and even on the floor. Once a year, when the Wall in cleaned these prayers are removed and buried at the Mount of Olives.

One evening we visited the recently excavated Western Wall tunnels. This is the largest stone in the wall, weighing around 500 tons, equivalent to 100 elephants. It extends from the left of the picture right up to the people standing on the right. It is thought to be the closest point to where the Holy of Holies would have been situated in the Temple, before it was destroyed by the Romans in AD70. Notice how each stone has been faced with a inlaid pattern round the edge. These stones are 2000 yrs old, dating back to the time of Jesus.

More photos to follow ...

South African Culture - past and present

My friend Hendriette home-schools her teenage children. A former music and maths teacher, she and I have quite a lot in common, and I really enjoy spending time with the family (her husband, Hannes, works with Andy at CVC).

Last Friday I accompanied them on an educational trip to Worcester, a small town about 100km from Durbanville. We visited a living museum called Kleinplasie, which demonstrates the lifestyle of the early Dutch settlers.

Our journey took us east of Cape Town over the Hottentots Holland Mountain range, where we had panoramic views of the wide valley below. The town of Paarl (it means pearl, which is what my mum, unknowingly called it!), is built in the shadow of enormous granite boulders, the landmark of the town.

The early trek farmers overcame massive obstacles when they ventured into the 'hinterland', creating a path through the mountains, taking their families and possessions on these carts.

This thatched home, known as a Kapstyl House, is an example of the type of temporary dwellings they built on arriving in an area they could settle into.

They built water mills, which powered the mill stones, which ground the wheat, which the settlers used to bake bread.

Once a week the museum staff light the bread oven and we looked forward to eating some fresh bread. It takes several hours just to heat up the oven. Then the coals are removed and the bread is baked. Sadly this was not due to be ready, until we after we left.

There were over twenty different buildings, some of which had been reconstructed on the site, showing how the farmers used the climate, the environment and their skills to cultivate crops and fruit in the lush valleys behind the mountains.

Worcester is on the wine route, so grapes were one of the earliest fruits cultivated here. However, I was surprised to see this floor, which was constructed using apricot stones set in cattle dung! It was really pretty and didn't smell.

Besides numerous chickens and ducks there were a few more unusual animals...

...huge African tortoises....

...a couple of very fat and ugly pigs, whose faces were almost obscurred by their enormous bodies...

...and a large white turkey with its tail feathers fanned out.

We left the museum and drove a further 50km to the tiny hamlet of Magregor to visit a friend of Hendriette, called Amanda - an amazing lady with a fascinating story, which I would love to tell, one day.

It was a lovely day and I learnt so much about the early Afrikaans culture, the later hardships of black africans and the present lifestyle of ordinary South Africans.

Studio progress report

Here are a few more photos showing recent progress on the Cape Town Studios.

The metal outer skin was cut away in preparation for the windows...

...the double panes of glass were inserted into the frames. Each pane is also double glazed, making quadruple glazing to remove outside noise.

On the opposite side, two studios have panoramic views of Table Mountain, in the distance.

Doug, from the USA and Jay Jay, from Johannesburg, work for RCS, the company supplying the software for the playout system. They took over the large meeting room in the basement for the two-week installation process.

Andre and, new employee, Michael, working in a small edit suite, with no windows.

The studio furniture is now being assembled.