Meanwhile, in the Congo

Pierre de Brazza was an Italian-born explorer who later in life became a naturalized French citizen. In contrast to Henry Stanley, his friendly manner and respectful approach to locals made him very popular among Africans. Under French colonial rule, the capital of the Republic of the Congo was named Brazzaville after him and the name is still kept until modern days. Congo is the only African nation to have a giant statue of the city colonial founder in the middle of “centre ville” with a museum dedicated to him! Brazza died in Dakar, was first buried in France at Pere Lachaise, by request of hos widow transferred to Algiers and eventually, in October 2006, his skeletal remains, as well as those of his wife and four children, were brought from Algeria to Brazzaville. They were laid to final rest at the Brazza Memorial. The museum is not visited very often. As a matter of fact, I often wonder who visits it, since I hardly ever see any people going in and out of the building. However...

From 1940 until 1943 Brazzaville was the capital of Afrique française libre (Free French Africa), which covered French Equatorial Africa and Cameroon and was part of the French empire under the military control of General Charles de Gaulle. Afrique française libre provided natural resources, manpower and a convenient location for running military operations. There are a few landmarks leftover from that time, the most famous being Charles de Gaulle’s house, which now serves as the French ambassador’s residence, and Saint Anne’s Basilica. The decision to construct the basilica was made in 1936 during an influx of converts to Poto Poto but the foundations were not laid until 1943 when there was a justified need for strong symbols in the capital.  The basilica was designed by Roger Erell, a famous French architect who blended Western architectural styles  with local building techniques. This was also the first time a European architect worked with local artists such as Benoit Kono...

Arrival We arrived in Brazzaville on Friday, July 26th, 2019, with Nala the golden retriever and two kitties. The embassy staff picked us up from the airport, facilitating all parts of our arrival.  What I mean by that is, we were pretty spoiled, we came out of the airplane and went straight into the VIP lounge to relax for a bit while the staff retrieved our luggage and our dog.  Once we had it all, we drove to the house accompanied by barking Nala who protested being in the cage on the way home.   On Saturday, we were invited to the ambassador’s house for dinner. Very private affair, just the four of us. Dinner began at 7 p.m. with welcome drinks on a balcony overlooking the swimming pool.  Since the sun sets at 6 p.m. we were not able to see anything else but were amused by the bats flying around the property.  After drinks, we proceeded to a downstairs, outdoors area, where we started with crab salad and then had salmon with roasted potatoes and avocado...