A few years back,2003 to be exact I went to the first 46664 concert in Cape Town, South Africa. The tickets were sold out, but we (we were: Hanne, Lydia, Sergey and Johanna.

Johanna and I, were in the prossess of hooking up actually,which is a totally different story) were able to get a few despite the sellout.

In connection with Nelson Mandelas 90 years of life on this earth there was a followup concert in Hyde park London yesterday. In a 2003 article from the concert Cape Times: Aids: world goes to war writes a summary of the purpose behind the concert and celebration.

The world’s war against HIV/Aids has begun. And the first shots were
fired at the packed Green Point Stadium on Saturday night.

Former president Nelson Mandela and music icons – including
Bob Geldof, Bono, Brian May, Annie Lennox, Beyoncé and Anastacia -
threw their weight behind the 46664 “Give a minute of your life for
Aids” campaign, which kicked off at the city concert.

The aim of the campaign, launched just before World Aids Day is
celebrated today, is to raise awareness globally about HIV/Aids, to
raise large amounts of money and to exert political pressure on
governments to join the fight.

The story behind the number is found on 46664.com

Nicholas D. Kristof of the New York times writes the following from a recent visit to the holy land.

He draws up two contrasts with the bad and ugly on one side;

“It is here in the Palestinian territories that you see the worst side of Israel: Jewish settlers stealing land from Palestinians (almost one-third of settlement land is actually privately owned by Palestinians); Palestinian women giving birth at checkpoints because Israeli soldiers won’t let them through (four documented cases last year); the diversion of water from Palestinians. (Israelis get almost five times as much water per capita as Palestinians.)”

and the beautiful, dynamic and life changing on the other;

“Yet it is also here that you see the very best side of Israel. Israeli human rights groups relentlessly stand up for Palestinians. Israeli women volunteer at checkpoints to help Palestinians through. Israeli courts periodically rule in favor of Palestinians. Israeli scholars have published research that undermines their own nation’s mythologies. Many Israeli journalists have been fair-minded toward Palestinians in a way that Arab journalists have rarely reciprocated.

St. Peter's Church

Not Long ago my Wife Johanna and myself were a few days in magnificent Rome.Preparing for a trip takes time and effort, and is part of the trip itself. It was enjoyable reading up on Rome. Books, Blogs and travel sites were all a part of the planning process.

Johanna,two pizza boys and myself

We decided to live just outside the City center in the Trastavere area. We found a wonderful place to stay, where Mother and son, Anna Maria and Mike rents out a part of their apartment. It was clean,comfy and very easy to get to from the Airport. The city center was 15 min by tram. Anna Maria was all one could desire in a host. A small, talkative Italian lady with  perfect English to compliment her very Italiani

shness.

The best part about living here was the sense of being alone as tourists. I actually didn’t see a single one in the area where we stayed. The prices and people were all very Italian.

Day one we settled in. We went to a resturante down the street and ate the first of many pasta and tiramisu dishes.

Johanna and me where wondering which of the two islands in the Indian Ocean, Lamu or Zanzibar we should visit for a vacation and decided on the one i have not been to…

we are on our way there in a couple weeks but I found some nice words about the place in an American newspaper:

Why islands, when there’s a continent to look at? Because my time is limited, and islands are like short stories: compact, quickly taken in, but, if they’re good, complete in themselves. And each of these places — Lamu, part of Kenya, Zanzibar, off Tanzania — is very, very good, my son tells me. Each contains a living, vibrant Swahili city with its own character, a city that has existed in something like its present form for centuries. Both have survived and absorbed layer upon layer of conquest and culture — African, Indian, Asian, Arab (primarily Omani), Portuguese and British — and this range and mix of ethnicities and histories are visible in their people, and palpable, too, in a kind of unsurprised curiosity and ease they seem to have with whatever comes along. Lamu was at the peak of its civilization from the 17th to the 19th century, Zanzibar slightly later, and both faded in wealth and power as the slave trade died. They are especially worth seeing now, Ben says, because they are fragile, their very physical being as well as their way of life threatened by age and growth and the pressures of increasing tourism.

Tomorrow at 14:00 we leave our home in majorna for out new home

in Muizenberg,Cape town!

It will be great!!!!