Bronte Garden Hotel and an African Amusement Park

 

Hotel Bronte, named after Emilly Bronte author of "Wuthering Heights", Downtown Harare, a beautiful historic colonial British/Rhodesian-style hotel with amazing gardens. 2023.10.07

We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the Bronte Garden Hotel (132 Baines Avenue, Harare). I had a wonderful butternut squash and avocado salad with pumpkin seeds, and Bruce enjoyed a seafood pasta. We loved walking around the beautiful gardens and seeing the African sculptures and artwork. It is definitely a place that would be fun to stay if you ever visit Harare, Zimbabwe. We're still in awe at the amazing gigantic Jacaranda trees showing off their purple blossoms all over town. It is so beautiful and magical as I've mentioned before. I think October is still my favorite month of the year!

    Another Saturday "P. Day" full of exploration and adventure. We started out with golfing at Price's Golf Range. I hit about 50:50 on my drives. Bruce has a new method of lining up the balls and hitting them as fast as he can in a row; that way he can go on a run. I slowly concentrate on my swing and the many tips and tricks the golf pros have taught me. I don't think I'll be taking up golf as a regular pastime!

We took Elder Guy and Sister Roz Peterson out to breakfast at the "Bottom Drawer" next to Maasdorp Market. We ate in the lovely gardens again and enjoyed each other's company. It was a goodbye breakfast since the Petersons have finished their mission and going back home to Utah next Saturday, October 14th. They've been serving as humanitarian missionaries for the past 18 months. The church donates funds for many boreholes, school, and hospital projects that help communities. I'm really going to miss Roz, she's been like a big sister to me. We play pickleball with the Petersons three x week and haven't yet beat them. It's our goal this week, the Danes vs. the Swedes! I'm putting together another PowerPoint slide show with goodbye videos from the mission to show next Friday at the Mission Home.  We went to downtown Harare later Saturday afternoon for more explorations on our preparation day.

Peterson's at the Bottom Drawer with this old "Morris" car, 2023.10.07  Zone Conference photo of Sister & Elder  Peterson, August 2023.

Our cute waitress, Phobe at the Bottom Drawer Restaurant. The Jacarandas and blossoms are so beautiful in October. They are really showing off! 2023.10.07

After our late lunch, we went to an African Amusement "Greenwood Park" on Selous Avenue in Harare. Bruce had seen a children's train in operation while driving by and we decided to go check it out. Our grandkids would love it! They had a small train which circumnavigates the park twice. We also went rowing in very small children's canoes. They have a "ghetto" zipline, in which Bruce wants one for our tree house AirBnb. He talked to the owner and he'll weld him the zipline handle and pulley to take home for $75.00. I tried to ride the kiddie merry-go-round and the operator came and said, "You must come here and ride the bow". We didn't quite understand what he was saying with his accent so he had us follow him over to the mechanical bull ride. He showed Bruce how to hop on and then hold onto the broken ears since there was no rope or horns to hold onto. He lasted over 30 seconds, no bull! The fellow Africans had a good laugh at us two old magrungas trying to entertain ourselves!

Our new friend, the ride operator, convinced Elder Anderson to ride the bull and not get "bucked" off. He kept trying to convince Sister Anderson to book a party and they'd cater the food and everything for a birthday. We told him we would definitely bring our grandchildren by when they visit from America. He was quite a salesman showing us around to all the available rides and fun for children and adults. He wanted me to go down the slippery slide, but I didn't really want to get in that water! The kids loved it though. 2023.10.07

On our adventurous Saturday at Greenwood Park, We rode the train, canoe, and bull! 2023.10.07

We also went and looked at two new apartments for rent. One is down the street where the elders stay and is nice and close to the temple, The Bayz. The other is nicer and brand new, The Starz, but a further drive. We like the idea of having more room and a small yard for a garden and patio for evening relaxation. The Judds want us to have a nicer place since we are here the longest of all the couples, 2+ years. It is very generous of them. We are happy where we are, other than the 5 burglaries and lack of repair jobs from the landlords. We also have a very small kitchen, 2nd level, no yard, and not much storage space. We didn't expect anything more as missionaries, but all the other seniors have larger apartments. We'll see if we decide to move soon.