Cape Town: The sequel
A'ight kids, Laura here, ready to guide you through the second part of our wild and crazy adventure. I believe we've reached Monday, April 10 in the play-by-play that is our Cape Town tale.
That day we woke up excited to meet our Robben Island tour guide for lunch. We figured he'd want to meet downtown, so we headed down there earlier in the morning to check out the downtown scene. While we haven't put any pictures up of Durban's downtown core, I can assure you that these two place might as well exist in separate universes. Well, what we've seen of both of them could, anyway. We only really went up and down one street in Cape Town: Long Street. It was full of cute shops, coffee shops and restaurants, hostels and bars. We cruised around for a few hours spending money we don't have, and then met up with Modise at a cute African cafe for lunch. It was really interesting to hear him tell all that he's managed to accomplish in his life since his time on Robben Island. He's turned a horrifying experience into a positive force by using his notoriety to further his education and benefit his community. It was inspiring! And lunch we delicious (I had to put that in there. It really was SUPER delicious).
Once lunch was over, we were cruising around with not much in mind when we came upon a South African High Court (kinda like our Supreme Courts). Being law geeks (apparently, cuz who else cares about such things?), we decided to go see if we could catch some court in action. Unfortunately court was over that day, but we were introduced to a nice lawyer (Andre) who invited us to his office ("chambers") for tea and a chat. After an hour of learning all about the South African court system, our geekiness had gotten its fill and we jumped into Ed's car, eager to return home for dinner. His parents being pet lovers (they have a million birds, a cat, and 4 dogs), we decided it was high time they saw 'Best In Show'. So we settled down for a chill evening with the fam.
The next day we woke up, went out for some brekky and bummed around the neighborhood mall a bit, checking email and the like. We were waiting on Ed to hear about when we could come pick up his car, because he was generously giving it up to us and taking on a rental car from his sister's company so that we could have our own transportation free of cost. (That gives you a small glimpse into how amazing a host Ed is. Go Camp Chateaugay!) Once we got the OK, we took 3 minibuses into town to go pick up the car. We felt pretty proud of ourselves for navigating the system, and it let us see some parts of Cape Town that we likely would have missed.
That night we went out for dinner at the Africa Cafe. Unbeknownst to any of us, it was a flat rate, eat all that you can sorta place. Although we were planning on going to a buffet dinner the next night, we were too far in to stop so we gave it our best shot. The meal first involved a taste of everything on the menu, after which point we could order anything we wanted again. It was totally made for a person like me! We managed to roll ourselves outta there after an hour or two and went to a karaoke bar. Karaoke in South Africa is much like karaoke in Canada, except they have WAY better videos. Or did they have way worse videos? I can't actually remember. In any event, even if they were better, they were still SO BAD. Example: A song from the Killers is playing, and the video is all about sheep. Sheep in a pasture, sheep being herded by a dog, shots of the green pasture, shots of more sheep ... You get the picture, I'm sure. What's up with karaoke videos anyway? Do they just tell their photographers to go out and shoot absolutely any random thing they come across cause that can be made into a video? If I were a karaoke video filmer, I'd be filming the other people who are working in the computer lab right now. I bet I could sell it for millions. People logging on computers, logging off. It's gold.
But I digress.
The next day (where are we? Ah yes, April 12) Christina and I decided to hike Table Mountain. Allison, feeling sick, opted for the cable car up. We had been warned that the hike could take anywhere between 1 and 8 hours, which made us realize that locals don't hike Table Mountain. But we wouldn't be deterred. So in the heat of the BLAZING sun, Christina and I began what we've now termed "the death march up Table Mountain". Having been in a desert once, I can tell you that to walk through it with the sun beating down on your head incessantly and no shade to be seen for miles in the middle of the afternoon just isn't a good time. Well, that's where Christina and I might as well have been. It was SO HOT and this hike was basically a staircase going up the mountain. The only shade we could see was a solid 45 minutes up (although I must admit I considered squishing myself into the shade cast by one stair on another stair more than once cause it was SO HOT). We managed to drag ourselves up to the shaded spot, just barely surviving. I got to witness Christina's approach and lemme tell ya, it wasn't pretty. We did not move from that shaded area for a solid 45 more minutes. You'll notice the one picture we put up of the hike is of Christina's back because both of us refused to smile for anything at that point. Thankfully we were only 20 minutes from the top (note to Cape Townians: It takes an hour), which meant 20 minutes from the cable car we intended to take down. At the bottom of that ride, I insisted we take a cab the 10 minutes to our car cause I was D-O-N-E, that's how tiring it was!
That night we went to the coolest restaurant ever: Cafe Moyo. It was at the Paarl winery, in Stellenbosch (South Africa's largest wine region). We were lead to our table, which was set under HUGE trees, outside and well-equipped with blankets and candles. There were tables in tree houses and a huge tent with tons more tables under it. The place as magical! It was fully lit with pretty lights, there was live music and dancing, and best of all ... IT WAS A BUFFET! The food was incredibly delicious, and Christina and I got to try antelope (springbok) and ostrich (for our second time). We all ate to the point where we could do nothing but relocate the group to the benches under the trees and lie down on them (following a sleeping 8 year old's example). We lay there in a semi-coma for a half hour before someone motivated to leave. I would've happily slept there and woken up for buffet #2, but it was not meant to be.
The next day was not very well planned, and what was supposed to be a day in wine country ended up being an hour at one winery. But, to its credit, it was a nice winery that belongs to Ernie Els, who is apparently a golf player that people-in-the-know know. Golfing dads, eat your hearts out. The wine and cheese dish we partook in was delicious, and what we got to see of the area was beautiful. Fields of vineyards set against a background of huge, rocky mountains. What a life! We rushed outta there to return Ed's car to him in town, and we spent more time shopping (this time refraining from buying. It helped that most of the stores closed before we could get to them) and having coffee. That night we cooked Ed a well deserved dinner and then headed out to Sobar (sp?) and danced/drank the night away (to super fun music, this time!).
Well folks, that's all for now. Stay tuned for part 3 of the saga when Allison's bit is posted. Seeing as she's been waiting on me to get my act together and write this, it shouldn't be too long now ...
Congrats to all you law grads out there. Party hard and drink some beers for us cuz we're thinking of you and are with you in spirit!
Luv Laura
That day we woke up excited to meet our Robben Island tour guide for lunch. We figured he'd want to meet downtown, so we headed down there earlier in the morning to check out the downtown scene. While we haven't put any pictures up of Durban's downtown core, I can assure you that these two place might as well exist in separate universes. Well, what we've seen of both of them could, anyway. We only really went up and down one street in Cape Town: Long Street. It was full of cute shops, coffee shops and restaurants, hostels and bars. We cruised around for a few hours spending money we don't have, and then met up with Modise at a cute African cafe for lunch. It was really interesting to hear him tell all that he's managed to accomplish in his life since his time on Robben Island. He's turned a horrifying experience into a positive force by using his notoriety to further his education and benefit his community. It was inspiring! And lunch we delicious (I had to put that in there. It really was SUPER delicious).
Once lunch was over, we were cruising around with not much in mind when we came upon a South African High Court (kinda like our Supreme Courts). Being law geeks (apparently, cuz who else cares about such things?), we decided to go see if we could catch some court in action. Unfortunately court was over that day, but we were introduced to a nice lawyer (Andre) who invited us to his office ("chambers") for tea and a chat. After an hour of learning all about the South African court system, our geekiness had gotten its fill and we jumped into Ed's car, eager to return home for dinner. His parents being pet lovers (they have a million birds, a cat, and 4 dogs), we decided it was high time they saw 'Best In Show'. So we settled down for a chill evening with the fam.
The next day we woke up, went out for some brekky and bummed around the neighborhood mall a bit, checking email and the like. We were waiting on Ed to hear about when we could come pick up his car, because he was generously giving it up to us and taking on a rental car from his sister's company so that we could have our own transportation free of cost. (That gives you a small glimpse into how amazing a host Ed is. Go Camp Chateaugay!) Once we got the OK, we took 3 minibuses into town to go pick up the car. We felt pretty proud of ourselves for navigating the system, and it let us see some parts of Cape Town that we likely would have missed.
That night we went out for dinner at the Africa Cafe. Unbeknownst to any of us, it was a flat rate, eat all that you can sorta place. Although we were planning on going to a buffet dinner the next night, we were too far in to stop so we gave it our best shot. The meal first involved a taste of everything on the menu, after which point we could order anything we wanted again. It was totally made for a person like me! We managed to roll ourselves outta there after an hour or two and went to a karaoke bar. Karaoke in South Africa is much like karaoke in Canada, except they have WAY better videos. Or did they have way worse videos? I can't actually remember. In any event, even if they were better, they were still SO BAD. Example: A song from the Killers is playing, and the video is all about sheep. Sheep in a pasture, sheep being herded by a dog, shots of the green pasture, shots of more sheep ... You get the picture, I'm sure. What's up with karaoke videos anyway? Do they just tell their photographers to go out and shoot absolutely any random thing they come across cause that can be made into a video? If I were a karaoke video filmer, I'd be filming the other people who are working in the computer lab right now. I bet I could sell it for millions. People logging on computers, logging off. It's gold.
But I digress.
The next day (where are we? Ah yes, April 12) Christina and I decided to hike Table Mountain. Allison, feeling sick, opted for the cable car up. We had been warned that the hike could take anywhere between 1 and 8 hours, which made us realize that locals don't hike Table Mountain. But we wouldn't be deterred. So in the heat of the BLAZING sun, Christina and I began what we've now termed "the death march up Table Mountain". Having been in a desert once, I can tell you that to walk through it with the sun beating down on your head incessantly and no shade to be seen for miles in the middle of the afternoon just isn't a good time. Well, that's where Christina and I might as well have been. It was SO HOT and this hike was basically a staircase going up the mountain. The only shade we could see was a solid 45 minutes up (although I must admit I considered squishing myself into the shade cast by one stair on another stair more than once cause it was SO HOT). We managed to drag ourselves up to the shaded spot, just barely surviving. I got to witness Christina's approach and lemme tell ya, it wasn't pretty. We did not move from that shaded area for a solid 45 more minutes. You'll notice the one picture we put up of the hike is of Christina's back because both of us refused to smile for anything at that point. Thankfully we were only 20 minutes from the top (note to Cape Townians: It takes an hour), which meant 20 minutes from the cable car we intended to take down. At the bottom of that ride, I insisted we take a cab the 10 minutes to our car cause I was D-O-N-E, that's how tiring it was!
That night we went to the coolest restaurant ever: Cafe Moyo. It was at the Paarl winery, in Stellenbosch (South Africa's largest wine region). We were lead to our table, which was set under HUGE trees, outside and well-equipped with blankets and candles. There were tables in tree houses and a huge tent with tons more tables under it. The place as magical! It was fully lit with pretty lights, there was live music and dancing, and best of all ... IT WAS A BUFFET! The food was incredibly delicious, and Christina and I got to try antelope (springbok) and ostrich (for our second time). We all ate to the point where we could do nothing but relocate the group to the benches under the trees and lie down on them (following a sleeping 8 year old's example). We lay there in a semi-coma for a half hour before someone motivated to leave. I would've happily slept there and woken up for buffet #2, but it was not meant to be.
The next day was not very well planned, and what was supposed to be a day in wine country ended up being an hour at one winery. But, to its credit, it was a nice winery that belongs to Ernie Els, who is apparently a golf player that people-in-the-know know. Golfing dads, eat your hearts out. The wine and cheese dish we partook in was delicious, and what we got to see of the area was beautiful. Fields of vineyards set against a background of huge, rocky mountains. What a life! We rushed outta there to return Ed's car to him in town, and we spent more time shopping (this time refraining from buying. It helped that most of the stores closed before we could get to them) and having coffee. That night we cooked Ed a well deserved dinner and then headed out to Sobar (sp?) and danced/drank the night away (to super fun music, this time!).
Well folks, that's all for now. Stay tuned for part 3 of the saga when Allison's bit is posted. Seeing as she's been waiting on me to get my act together and write this, it shouldn't be too long now ...
Congrats to all you law grads out there. Party hard and drink some beers for us cuz we're thinking of you and are with you in spirit!
Luv Laura
posted by AXL in Africa at
2:35 PM
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