Day 30

Day thirty
Saturday 15th February 2020

Current position
Cloud 9 Boutique Hotel
118 Lower Buitengragt St Gardens Cape Town
8001
South Africa
S 33°55.77024'
E 18°24.50328'

With blue sky and sun so we spent the morning relaxing on the sunbeds and after lunch we sidled off to visit the Silo Art Museum and Hotel. We were lucky that we arrived just before the three o'clock tour. We registered and waited for our guide at the foot of the atrium with the large sculptured concrete silos towering above us.
There were only a handful of visitors on the tour and to break the ice our guide asked us to give our name where we were from and what animal we would like to be. The first animal that came to my mind was a gorilla and Ros chose a leopard. With introductions over our guide proceeded to give us the history of the Silo which was built in 1921 to store grain on the  harbour side as it waited to be exported around the World. In 1923 the structure was described as a “grey towering slab of concrete". Internally a large part of the several large five metre concrete silos had been ground away to form a huge Atrium in the shape of a corn on the cob with three glass tubular lifts to the left transporting visitors up and down to the sixth floor. For support the  remaining parts of the tubular concrete walls had been reinforced with a mixture of concrete and granite in the same style as the original using granite quarried from Table Mountain. All the ground edges of the concrete had then been smoothly polished making a striking contrast against the original rough surfaces. With sunlight cascading down from the glass tops of the towers it was a spectacular sight to behold.
The latest addition to the museum was a huge red tapestry hanging from one wall. The guide being an intellectual kinda chap gave us an in depth explanation of the tapestry and what its symbols represented. While he was speaking I was looking and wondering what it was saying to me. When the guide said any questions I chirped up and said that the blue represents the sky or water the red and yellow are fire and heat and the frilly bits represent the passage of time or the flow of water and your African symbols old and new are standing firm against this tide. I think he was taken aback by this depth of thought coming from some Englishman sporting a blue Ronnie's Sex Shop Tshirt wearing shocking pink crocs. Still my grand finalé was when a lady asked how well will the cotton fabric last. The guide gave his explanation then I piped up saying that up until the time the tapestry was hung on the wall its creator was in charge but once on the wall it has a life of its own and time alone will shape what becomes of it. With that I shut up and our guide lead us up to the first floor where after giving us information on the various Art Exhibitions he left us to our own devices.
Ros and I decided to have a cup of afternoon tea at the restaurant on the sixth floor. The young waitress let us sit at a table laid for eight as long as we didn't make a mess. We had pole position with a great view over the working part of the harbour. We had no sooner sat down with our cups of tea than the guide who must have followed us appeared to have a chat. We had an interesting conversation about Art and he thanked me for my earlier comments which he said he will add to his tour in the future.
We finished our tea had one last longing look at the view then hit the Art Galleries. The Artists were all African and one artists work took up two floors. His art made no impression on us at all as it was all very similar with figures and faces drawn with black paint or ink. His work was so similar we thought we'd been on the first floor previously. Art is ideas and this poor old artist needs more.
We were one of the last few to leave the Silo when it closed at six and by chance we again met the Austrian Couple who were staying at Kimberley Backpackers who we have since met several times in Cape Town.
The Silo Hotel is part of the old Silo building but not the part used for storing grain. We didn't manage to persuade the lad on reception to let us go up to the rooftop bar but managed to get to the bar on the sixth floor where we had a drink 0and nibbles.
We then made our way back to Cloud 9 and after a five minute rest we were off again to the restaurant described as 'top of the notch' by the young girl on reception.
Well the restaurant was near but not quite top of the notch the food was good but as usual the service was too quick they drove me mad asking half a dozen times if we'd like to order our main course. Ahhhhh.