South Africa Part 2

I guess I had better clear up the dates. I actually arrived in Capetown on March 18 and Gene & I will fly out from Capetown tomorrow (Apr 2) and should be back in Ocala on Sat. Apr. 3.

Usually I post my blog on our laptop when we're traveling, but I'm posting from an internet cafe - R5 for an hour - which is very reasonable.
It does put a time restriction on me, thus the hasty departure on last blog.

To pick up where I left off---Last Wed. after we left the internet cafe, we went to Mariam's cafe at Holiday Inn Express for another taste treat (for me). It was Chips Gatsby. French fries and ketchup are put inside the sandwich bun with lettuce, tomato and cucumber. It was delicious. We walked through Trafalgar Street where the flower vendors have the most amazing display of flowers for sale. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me. It was sensory overload with colors and fragrances of roses, beautiful lilies and many flowers I did not recognize.

We walked over to visit Evelyn at her booth, and she asked me to pick out something I liked. I found two candleholders with intricately carved elephants. I asked her how much and she said she was giving them to me.
What a blessing!

On our way back to our room, we stopped at Mr. Pickwick's for a milkshake. Gene had said they were delicious, but he understated it. It was almost a pint of ice cream in a little liquid. We shared it as neither one would have been able to master it on our own. That was our supper!

We met the girls in the room next to ours. One girl is in the Peace Corp here and her sister had come to visit from Atlanta, GA. She had been on the same flight on the 17th/18th as we were. It was a little strange hearing an American accent after the variety of accents we've been enjoying such as German, Scandanavian, Asian and a wide variety of English.

Thursday we did laundry R10 for the washer & R10 for the dryer. Afterwards we walked down to Green Market Square to give pictures to Evelyn, Sean, Phineas & Gerald. They really enjoy receiving the pictures. I guess not many tourists bring pictures back to them.

We took a minivan taxi ie suicide taxi down to Victoria & Albert Waterfront and took pictures of the harbor, Table Mountain, South Africa fur seals again and then went through the Aquarium. We watched the 2:00 feeding of the African penguins, then feeding of the predator fish. A mama stingray had given birth to 6 "pups" the night before and we were able to see them in a special tank. There were so many species of acquatic life that I had never seen before. I was enthralled with the box jellyfish. They are tiny, translucent creatures that seem too fragile to survive - until you consider the 4 long, trailing tentacles. My other favorite was the seahorses with their little fins propelling them around.
Gene's favorite was the ragged tooth shark (not man eating). We finally dragged ourselves away and walked back to our room. A longer walk than I had anticipated - about an hour, but on top of the walking I had already done, I felt like my little legs were nubs. I slept really well that night.

Friday was another exciting day. We took a taxi to lower cable car and rode it up to the top of Table Mountain. Gene had hiked part of it previously. I knew better than to even attempt it. As our car went up, the cloud cover came down. When the cloud covers the mountain, they say "the tablecloth is on the mountain". Very appropriate because you cannot see a thing. We knew this was my only chance to see the city, harbor, bays, etc below, so we stayed and prayed it would lift. We purchased a heavy scarf for me and cap for Gene in the gift shop. It was breezy, damp and cool. We spent our time walking the paths. I took some interesting pictures of rock formations in the mists, little flowers growing out of rock crevices and "dassies" - a rock badger. We had hot chocolate & oatmeal cookies, (met a delightful young couple from Switzerland who had been to Florida) then pizza later. After 3 1/2 hours of patient waiting, the cloud lifted and we were rewarded with the dazzling sight of the ocean on one side and the city below on the other. We took pictures as fast as our little fingers could press the buttons. Forty minutes later, the mist came rolling in again. We took the cable car down and I set my camera on "movie". The floor of the cable car revolves, so I was able to get a wonderful panorama coming down the mountain. We took a taxi back to our room and since I still had some life in me, we walked to Caramello's for supper. I had Fillet Medalilons (beef) in red wine & mushroom sauce with potato wedges and salad. Gene had Chicken al Furno also with potato wedges and salad. For those of you who know I was restricting my carb intake to shed a few pounds, I'm eating all the carbs I can get to keep my strength up! My dessert was a chocolate eclair - oh was it ever good!

I will bring this segment to a close while I have time to sign off properly.
The remainder of our adventures will be posted from home.

God's blessings to all.