Arrival and high winds

Booking an evening flight is always lovely in theory: "I won't need to book the day off work" etc, but the reality of dragging a suitcase along icy pavements in mid-January as the sky is starting to get dark is not the most exciting start to a holiday. particularly when, like me, lists are running through your head of all the things you might have left behind. SS of course is always relaxed at this stage of a holiday as he knows I have booked everything, I have the confirmation emails, maps, directions and spreadsheets of deposits paid, dinners booked and so on. I still would rather be me than him at that point.
Once you get to Terminal 5 on a weekday evening everything seems to make more sense - the terminal is quiet and empty, checkin takes 30 seconds, no queue at security, and a quiet hush in the airport lounge. Bliss. Qantas is determined that I will once again be a frequent flyer. About 8 years ago I was doing a lot of travel for work, and ended up with a Qantas platinum membership. I managed to keep it a couple of years as once you are on the top tier, it is easy to maintain if you do some flying as you earn four times the credit of a regular traveller - makes no sense to me at all, except I suppose they want to retain the frequent flyers but keep the barriers to entry to the regular flyers as high as possible?
Our plane was a 777, and we were in economy seats 21E and 21F (in the middle 3 seats). We got an overhead bin to ourselves, and settled in for what turned out to be a very pleasant flight. Our special meals arrived promptly (Asian vegetarian - highly recommended as you get curry for every meal so SS is in heaven, and you get fed first so can get to the loos whilst everyone else is still eating so I am in heaven). We both watched District 9 which was actually quite good. As usual I watched it in half the time of SS as he does like to regularly rewind and rewatch bits when his attention wanders. Then lights out, seats back. I dozed mainly but SS did get some proper sleep, there is something about being in a moving vehicle that puts him to sleep very easily.
Our breakfast curry arrived on time with a yoghurt and satsuma - lovely breakfast. We landed on time in Cape Town at 12:20pm. Immigration was effortless, and the customs man was friendly, chatty and efficient. SUCH a change from the US where they are surly, grumpy and distinctly lacking in charm. We got our bags after literally having to elbow people out of the way, and then joined the interminable queue for the car. I think First Car must have had a BIG sale, as everyone was waiting there whilst the people at Hertz and Budget just looked bored behind their counters. Took us an hour in the queue, we got to the front finally and they had no record of the booking. Luckily a phone call later and it was sorted out, and off we went on the 20 minute walk to the car rental corrall. We were both a little excited as SS was so hoping we would get a VW Chico (the Mark I Golf basically). Alas we had been upgraded - to a Renault. Our chariot was black, plasticky, and called a Sandero (I promptly started calling it the Sombrero for the rest of the trip). Horrid car. We later found out it is made under license from Renault in Romania!
We settled into it, and this is when we found out that SSs GPS system had not loaded its maps after all. This was after a long evening in London of swearing, throwing, banging keyboards and finally calling my sister to advise over the phone, on how to download the silly maps. And for some reason the maps were on the laptop at home, but they had not synchronised across to the GPS.
Luckily, I had gone old fashioned and BOUGHT a touring map of the Western Cape.

This was enough to get us into Cape Town, then my blackberry and the written instructions enabled SS to guide me to An African Villa to check in.
It was hot and sweaty, we were still in our travelling clothes, and so we were very happy to be checked into our lovely airconditioned room by Louis,

particularly when we saw the view of Table Mountain out the window. Louis suggested we relax and then come down in 10 minutes for some tea and so he could give us maps, suggestions etc. He did not reckon on SS's tried and tested check in routine. The arrangements promptly became Louis bringing up green tea for SS to the room, and we would come down in about an hour to discuss maps etc.
So we showered, and I unpacked and read the guest folio (my part of the routine) whilst SS searched the TV channels for Bloomberg (his part of the routine). We had a lovely rest, and then went back down to Louis.
I hadn't planned anything beyond accommodation, so we were happy to have Louis' suggestions on what to do. We decided on a quick walk down to the local Woolworths Food, then Table Mountain that afternoon, and I had already booked us in for Miller's Thumb restaurant that night. The following day we would walk to the waterfront, and see the newly renovated Cape Coloured Quarter which was not all ritzy (ie full of gay bars and architects), and then on Sunday drive down to Cape Point and stop in camps Bay for drinks and dinner. I like to have plans. We were so exhausted by this that we went and had another rest!
We finally dragged ourselves up, and headed outside to the Sombrero.

The Cableway is an easy 5 minute drive from An African Villa, and I was pleasantly surprised to find parking really easily. We got out, took some photos of the view down over Cape Town,

and sauntered up to the ticket stations, looking at a cable car making its way down. We found the ticket counters, but ... none were open. SS asked a helpful man nearby and he told us the cableway had just closed because of high winds. Sigh. That explains the easy parking. SS promised we would come back again another day as he was very keen for me to do all the things I had done on family holidays as a child. I think he realised how lovely it was for me to be back in the country where I had all my childhood memories, for the first time in 22 years.

This gave us an excuse to have another rest before dinner, lying on the bed with the doors open, Table Mountain in the distance, and a warm breeze circulating. So of course, after our overnight flight, we both fell asleep. Luckily I woke at 7:45pm, we dressed quickly and headed out for dinner. Miller's Thumb was an easy 10 minute walk. There were evidences of the different sides of South Africa on the way, with two men lying on a mattress clearly not compus mentis with a halo of cannabis around them but still able to beg, just across the road from a buzzing bar full of people drinking.
It turned out at Miller's Thumb that we had got our booking time wrong, but the lovely woman who owns the place had kept our table. We settled in (me with a Castle Light, SS with a Carling Black Label), and chose our food. I had the spinach salad with rocket, peccorino and sundried tomatoes followed by kingklip malay style (chilli, ginger, soy) with fries. SS had the house salad with olives, snozzcumber, feta cheese, and tomato (no egg!) and then the bluenose wasabi style with friednoodles which was fantastic. There was also a lovely olive dip with the bread to start with. Whole lot came to R420 incl tip which was fantastic, huge portions and lovely service.
We were both sleepy again so headed back to the room and ended up watching a strange film with Ewan McGregor in it called "Deception". Lovely first day.
I do have one large confession now - whilst in South Africa the memory card in my small camera (the one that I take all the food pictures with) decided to corrupt itself. So unless my dear sister can recover the files somehow from my hard disk backup, I can't share them on here! All that embarrassment and furtive photographing for SS, and nothing to show for it! :-(

Are you German?

Noisy night with people coming home late and banging around downstairs. Alarm went off at 9am (7am London time) and we dragged ourselves to the shower. At 9:50am we turned up for breakfast, helped ourselves to the muesli and fruit buffet and fruit juice, and ordered a cooked breakfast. It was OK, but not fantastic - nothing stood out as either bad or good. Eating down by the tiny pool outside in the sun was a fantastic change after cold, snowy London.
We finished, and took the property pages back up to the room to read whilst we relaxed.
At 11:40am we headed off for our exploratory walk - me with a heavy backpack full of camera, water, and SS's bits and pieces. It was a beautiful day, and we headed down Kloof Street and then Long Street passed interesting shops and old architecture.

Long Street is the very busy night area for backpackers and students, and in the morning is quite quiet I guess because everyone is in bed still so workers were taking the opportunity to do some maintenance.

We were heading for the market at Greenmarket to look at curios. It was very touristy, and that is where we ran into our first hawkers - the very pushy Big Issue guys in Cape Town.

Most Big Issue guys I have seen in the UK and in Australia have been quite restrained, displaying their magazines and just saying "Big Issue!" every now and then. I do recall the one on Martin Place in Sydney had a particular way of saying "Beeg EESHyouuuuuuuuu" which was quite unique, but none of them were like the guys in Africa. Their catch phrase to SS was "Are you German?". We had 3 separate guys come up in the space of 10 minutes and ask him that. I was thinking he should have just spoken German and that might have got rid of them. They were very pushy and fake friendly, trying to have a conversation and make you take the magazine, so that when you had it in your hand they would refuse to take it back and make you pay for it. We quickly got used to saying "We are not going to buy a Big Issue" and then they would quickly run off and hassle someone else.
We didn't buy anything, and headed off to the old Cape Coloured Quarter where it had now been gentrified and was very expensive - all the old slave cottages had been redeveloped and the area around was full of nice shops, bars and interior design consultants.

On the way between on Strand Street however, you do have to walk past what has not changed since when I lived there - large bottle shops with loads of men just sitting outside it in the middle of the day, doing.... nothing.

The Quarter is lovely, and SS was very taken with it.

Prices reflected the ritzy nature of the are however.

We continued down to Somerset and then on to the V&A - we were certainly alone walking on the streets, and I was keeping my rucksack close to me. We got down there, and found a helpful map.

Heading into the cool interior was a relief, and we found a lovely shop called Melissa's where we got some juice and crisps and then found a Woolworths so I could have my photo taken for old times sake.

We also went into Pick n Pay, so I could get an idea of prices - particularly meat prices, which just made me want to cry compared to prices in the UK.

We went outside and sat in the sun to eat our crisps and fruit, listening to the live music and watching people go by. I think this is probably when our heads got sunburnt...

Finishing up, we were quite tired, so we walked out, finally found a taxi, and headed back to African Villa. R50 well spent to get back there.
We lay on the sunloungers for an hour or so by the pool, then headed in. I had a bath as my legs were quite tired after all the walking (probably my first bath in about 2 years!).
We shared a beer, then dressed and headed to the Mount Nelson for a drink before our dinner at the Opal Lounge.
After a few wrong turns, a little child on a bike gave us directions to the hotel, and in we went. I was a bit nervous just walking up and demanding a drink, particularly as we were coming in the tradesman's entrance, but SS just did his usual manly thing.
We settled into the conservatory part of the bar (called Planet), which was beautiful, and ordered a voda tonic and a tanqueray and tonic. It came with some nibbles which we hoed into as well, and was the most beautiful, relaxing setting, surrounded by well dressed people and good service.
We had a small wager as to how much the bill would come to, particularly based on London prices and our lack of experience... I bet R200, SS went for R150. The bill was R68! About £6. Amazing.
We would have liked to stay for hours really, but instead we had to head over to the Opal Lounge for dinner.
This was a lovely place - a refurbished old house divided into restaurant rooms. We were seated in one of the front rooms near the window. (I did take loads of photos but as mentioned, my card corrupted :-( ).
We were greeted by the owner who was South African but had lived in Scotland for 8 years - she told us how much she missed the snow! We then met our "server" Jonathon, who was a little obsequious but well meaning - but more of that later. He made some suggestions for his favourite courses (which we largely ignored) and then left us with the menus.
We ended up ordering a bottle of Peter Falke Cab Sav 2003, and I ordered the prawn and avacado caesar salad to start and then the beef fillet. SS had the same starter (since they were out of his first choice) and then the seared tuna.
The started was a deconstructed salad, with cos lettuce leaves threaded through a bagel crisp, and a pile of prawn and avocado like a prawn cocktail really with a parmesan crisp on top. Very nice though.
My main was stunning, and SS loved his seared tuna also.
Jonathon had made some very noisy noises behind us to the other table about how he preferred tips in cash rather than on the card as that took over a month to be divided up to the staff and so he did not see the benefit of it.
Bill was R854, most of which was wine at R360 as SS also had a glass of Ackerman Pinotage after the meal whilst I had a green tea.
Got back OK - SS was a bit tiddly and needed some direction at the corners on the way back, and we settled into our bed watching the last 20 minutes of Monty Python's Meaning of Life. Then off to sleep...

Cape Point and Chinese tourbuses

Very disturbed night's sleep with people getting back late, slamming doors, drinking port downstairs and playing boardgames. Sigh. Still, it was Saturday night so they deserve it I guess. We were down at breakfast at 9:35am (SS giving me bad habits), and had the usual. The cooked breakfast was OK, bit uninspiring really.
Back up to the room for the usual post-breakfast relax and "letting food go down" as SS puts it. Not sure where the food is going down to - probably best not to think about it. We ended up watching a fascinating program on Al Jazeera about the plight of the Marsh Arabs in Iraq, and what happened under Saddam and subsequently. Scary hand to mouth existence where their best option is to join the Army, but because of their religion and history it s usually not allowed.
We collected ourselves together, and headed out the door at about midday.
First stop was supposed to be the Rhodes Memorial, but I missed the turnoff, so instead we took the Constantia exit and hoped to find some signs to Groot Constantia so I could see another site of family holidays. Luckily Groot Constantia does want to be found, and there were signs so that we got there easily. We drove up to the main house and I had some photos taken - very surreal again seeing somewhere I remembered from that age.

I took a few of SS as well, he was wearing his hat all day as we both had the nasty sunburn from the day before - mine along my parting and him all over the top of his head. Quite painful actually.

We had a quick walk around the vineyards, and then headed back to the wine sales. SS did a tasting, was unimpressed so we scuttled back out the door without buying anything. Back up the road and back to the M3.
We headed south, and reached False Bay, taking the Boyes Drive option which was beautiful. Couple of stops on the side of the road to take photographs and take in the view on the way down. It was so windy, the car was getting pushed around the road...

Next main stop was Simonstown - SS refused pointblank to have his photo taken with the town sign, and we passed straight by the penguins at Boulder's Beach as well.

We did stop off a bit further down the beautiful coast to take some photos - I loved the baboon signs altho we never saw any on this drive.

We reached the Cape National Reserve (R75 each entrance!) and then continued down to Cape Point. We parked the car along with 100 of our closest friends, and headed down the road to climb up to the lighthouse. It was SO hot, really baking down, and I felt a bit dizzy for some reason that day. SS on the other hand was very keen for some exercise so I told him to run ahead and I would see him at the top. Off he ran...

I slowly made my way up the stairs - it was a long climb.

Finally got to the top where he was all fresh and happy, and I felt like I was going to faint with the heat.

We wandered around up the top and the suddenly a whole funicular full of Chinese tourists arrived, in all their glory. They acted like they always do, pushing you out of the way for photos, clustering and shouting to each other and generally making the site unbearable for everyone else. Luckily they never stay long and soon were crowding in the terminus again to go down.

There was also an Arabic couple in full dress - no wonder she was sheltering under a tree - she must have been dying!

Lovely views from the lighthouse,

and then we descended a bit again and went to the gift shoppe (very disappointing stuff). Then the long walk back down and back to the car.
We headed straight out of the park, and headed west to drive up the other coastline.

Through Scarborough and its giant statues for sale, past other small dorpies, and then to Kommetjie where SS decided he needed more water. We stopped at a corner store next to the British Bulldog pub in Kommetjie. Got the water (I looked again in vain for the dark chocolate Bar Ones my sister had asked for), and then we made our way out past the pub which was heaving with nasty backpackers and locals, and with terrible music blaring out (John Mellencamp I think).
We quickly got back in the car was went through some other nasty places before making our way to the Chapman's Peak tollroad which was supposed to be beautiful. It was a marvel of engineering but not the most beautiful road we went along on our holiday.

At R28 toll, not sure I would recommend it really - there was nowhere to stop and take photos for a start. We emerged at Hout Bay and then over to Bakoven, where we hit the traffic. Basically we crawled along for 40 minutes to Camps Bay, with me hot and grumpy and SS catching up on his sleep. Did not put me in a good mood for dinner.
We slowly slowly slowly crawled along in the traffic, finally getting to the main drag of Camps Bay. I was not that impressed with it - reminded me of the Gold Coast in Australia with overpriced restaurants, lowlifes and the beach supposed to make up for it all. Hmmm. I found a parking space as we got to the far end, and a car guard type helped me back in. I was quite happy to give him a tip there and then as he had been helpful with my edging around in very busy traffic to get into the spot. He saw us as tourists to rip off, and looked at my proffered R5 and said "how long are you staying?". We said 3 hours or so, and he said "R5 is only for 2 hours, it's R10 for 3 hours". SS got very manly and said "fine, we'll be back in two hours". And we walked off. You do get tired of these car guards - generally you only pay when you return to the car, but often if they are going to knock off shortly they get pushy about payment then and there, when you know they are just going to walk off and their replacement will try to charge you return to the car as well. Here, we knew he would be gone when we got back, and the R5 was already generous.
Oh well, we walked along the beach checking out the look of the cafes. SS had seen one at the other end he liked (Panzoro), and we got the menu from there. It looked very expensive to me, and I had seen a pizza place back at the other end that looked nice and easy and quiet. So I suggested going back there. SS also saw an old car (Volvo P1800) on the street which got him excited - very like the one he used to own, so we took some photos of this as well.

Got to Col'Cacchios,

and we settled in happily at a table near the window looking west over the beach as the sun came down. It was basically like a Pizza Express but with many more options.

I had a Windhoek Light, and SS a spicy tomato juice.
We started with salad - I had a large spinach salad with parmesan, and then a huge Toscana pizza (anchovies, olives, onion, artichoke) which was nice but too salty. SS had a greek salad to start with lettuce and then a Carne (chorizo, salami, onion, mushrooms). The salads were HUGE, as were the pizzas, so we each took half of our pizza home in a doggy box for snacking on the next day.
We decided to head up to Signal Hill as I had heard that the sunset was lovely from there. SS directed me with a couple of unintended diversions, and we got up there - the place was PACKED with cars and people, very hard to get around and get parked. But I found a spot to shove the Sombrero into, and we walked along the top to see the views and take some photos.

Lovely view down at the Mount Nelson hotel, and to Table Mountain.

We got back to the car, and then queued in the little car park to get out again. As the road up to the car park is so narrow, with people parked along one side it was really only a one lane road to get down, and some cars were heading up to turn around. Terrible. One large BMW nearly ended up in the very deep ditch on one side, but eventually we all wormed our way through tiny gaps and got back to the guesthouse for 8:30pm.
I made some tea whilst SS checked the news on the internet downstairs, then we watched trashy movies and drank the wine we took from the plane.
Busy day tomorrow, with me needing to go out early to get cash to check out (10% discount for cash on the balance!), pack, and head off. Was a very long day with lots of driving, but some beautiful scenery.