Hi y'all! Gary decided he'd just need to "lean into discomfort" as he was snapping pictures of me hosting glasses of champagne to Denise's birthday in Newark, Frankfurt and on our flights. The guy next to us taking photos on the Continental flight ALSO has a girlfriend with an April 15th birthday. Really. Would he lie to us??? I'll have to post them when time allows ..

We had a good adventure in Frankfurt finding our day room hotel at the Sheraton in the midst of on and off rainstorms. Language lesson for the day? "zug fallt aus" means "there is no train coming anytime in the the foreseeable future:.

SAA lounge in Frankfurt is fully decorated with (taa daah!) chocolate covered matzo for Denise's birthday. Also .. a few Lindt chocolate bunnies and brightly colored Easter eggs. Arrived 5 am and crashed until noon at Bishops Court. Cloudy, cool and windy. Overcast skies.

Enjoyed a lovely dinner with Ray and Penny. In honor of Ngaire (South African Minister for Lamb Population Control), we consumed large servings of melt-in-your-mouth lamb shank. Meanwhile, Ray was a quick study when it comes to Korean drinking customs and red wine.

We fell back into bed around 11 and rousted ourselves at 9. Our host Paul took us on an amazing township tour. The pre-school was in full session. The children (ages 3 to 6) were delightful. They gathered together to sing us songs (one in English and one in the Xhosa language) (to the tune of "alouette") We are special.. we are special .. so are YOU! .. so are YOU! It was wonderful. A very small 3 year old in a bright orange "Star*Girl" fleece jacket approached me tentatively to carefully touch my skin. She's not used to white skin on people and was checking it out. Very special, indeed.

We joined up at Cape Grace. Marc and Arlene were the welcoming committee; Suzanne arrived moments before us. We gathered as a group for a late lunch and a nightmare for the waitress to figure out our checks.

Ngaire and Ken are reported to have arrived; we have finally begun this magical trip.

Wishing you were all here, CHEERS! Anne