Year's End, Trip End

Early morning sun at Boulders Beach Lodge.

Wednesday morning we got up fairly early, to a bright and gusty day in Simonstown. We took a walk in Willis Walk just above the beach so we could get in some more penguin viewing. There were quite a few in the forest on the dune, just on the other side of the fence/rail from the walkway. On the other end of the walk, the entrance to the boardwalks in the Nation Park were not yet open, so we walked further up the street to the public beach and back to kill some time. When we got back to the park entrance Gywen was sufficiently windblown, so she went back to the room while Barry and I explored the boardwalk. We took too many pictures and read all of the signs to learn more about the African Penguins and their several breeding colonies. We spoke briefly to a park employee to learn that the population here is growing (now over 2000), but the other colonies are still declining and things don’t look positive for the species overall.

Penguin defending his turf.

Fresh tracks.

Catching some sun.

We walked back to the lodge for breakfast in the restaurant, then Barry and I changed to go back down to the beach. By this point, around 9:00 am, the beach was really crowded, with a line out the gate and families scrambling to find sufficient space to park themselves for the day. We looked around some and climbed some of the boulders before I spent a little time wading in the water and watching a couple of penguins. We ended up sitting on a boulder for a while, slightly sheltered from the relentless wind, just taking in the views. After about an hour, and just before high tide, we headed back to the room so we could shower, pack, and check out.

Getting close-ups.

On Chapman's Peak Drive.

Upon departure we headed across the Cape of Good Hope toward Chapman Peak Drive. Our first good views of the western coast and the open Atlantic Ocean were of a long, very wide beach stretching southward toward the lighthouse. Soon we were climbing up the winding, dramatic, and absolutely gorgeous road around Chapmans’s Peak toward Hout Bay. We stopped at one of the first vantage points for photo opportunities, then went further, pat the peak, to a lovely picnic area overlooking Hout Bay. There we stopped to eat the last of our delicious Fairview cheese with some bread, meat, and apples. This spot had tables, shade, and great views, but the never-ending strong winds battered us as we ate and we couldn't linger too long.

Hout Bay

Nest we drove through Hout Bay, over the pass, into Camp’s Bay, and up over the Lion’s Head/Table Mountain pass into the city bowl of Cape Town. At this point it wasn’t far to our hotel, so we checked into the Hippo Boutique Hotel just off Kloof Street on Park. The staff was very friendly and helpful, the rooms were very large and nicely decorated, and ours had a large balcony overlooking the street. We got settled and rested a little while before heading out on foot to explore the city and, most specifically, the Company’s Garden. The views of Table Mountain were beautiful, of course, even though the gale force winds coming off False Bay caused a thick tablecloth of clouds cascading over the edge and obscuring the entire top of the mountain. The Garden was busy with people and we ran into a family with strong IU connections – multiple IU degrees, a new teaching appointment in the School of Media, and ties to the Global Village residential community.

Table Mountain.

Parliament Building & Table Mountain.

From the Garden we walked past the Parliament buildings to the Cathedral, which unfortunately had no open entrance and no posted hours. We forged onward another two blocks to the market at Greenmarket square. It was interesting to see and a lot of booths had lovely large canvas paintings, but we didn’t need to purchase any more souvenirs and the vendors were a little too persistent. We didn’t linger long. In spite of the wind, it was quite warm so we stopped in a nice bar to have a sit and cool drinks. After our rest, we began the walk back to the hotel. It was, of course, slightly up hill and a bit farther than Gywen remembered walking, but we made it. After another rest in our rooms we set out just down the street to Emily’s Bistro, which we had read about in Marty’s Eat Out magazine. It was a small, quiet place with French-inspired décor and music, but with creative and delicious African food and attentive service. (We had chakalaka chicken and Gywen had bobotie. Best food yet.) The/ young man who served us was new, and nervous, but he tried really hard. The other guy (maître d?) was good. We were trying to figure out the role of everyone there when an elderly gentleman walked over to say hello. I asked if he owned the place and indeed he did. He told us they used to have a large high-end place on the Waterfront but they opened this restaurant as a retirement project. He then showed us a couple of cookbooks he had written and through that we discovered that he has known my aunt Marty for years. What a great coincidence! After dinner we went back to the room and hit the sack early. I think the wind and walking did us in.

On the 31^st of December we had breakfast and then braved the confusing public bus system to get to the V&A Waterfront. The buses were fine, but the system is not as straight-forward and user-friendly as public transit in Chicago, or DC, or New York, or San Francisco, or London, or…) We had to purchase ABSA bank debit cards to ride the bus (only good in South Africa) and no one could accurately tell us how much it cost to get to the Waterfront and back. There was lots of standing in line involved, but we did make it. It took much longer than anticipated. At the waterfront we walked briefly the mall before finding the Art of the Brick exhibit, a fascinating exhibit of the work of Nathan Sawaya, an artist from New York who works solely with Lego blocks. It was a lot of fun to see, so the journey was worth the hassle. We grabbed lunch outdoors at a nearby tavern; by this point the wind had died down and the mountain had cleared off completely, but it was warm even in the shade at the restaurant. Too bad we were now too far away, and it was too late in the day for us to take the cable car to the top of Table Mountain.

At the Lego exhibit.

After taking the bus back, Gywen rested in her room while Barry and I explored more of the city on foot. We walked about two miles down to the Waterkant to see if we could find out more about things going on for New Year’s Eve. We ran into an elderly security guard who took it upon himself to walk us around and point out all of the nightclubs which might interest us. We bought tickets to the party at Crew, then went to the Piano Bar (no piano playing) to rest our feet, people watch, and have a cool Savannah Dry cider. We couldn't stay long, though, because we had to walk all the way back up long and Kloof streets to our hotel.

We showered and changed before walking about three blocks to our dinner reservation at Societi Bistro. We ate on the patio in sight of Table Mountain. It was comfortable as the sun was setting and the wind had settled. This place had dozens of very nice wait staff swarming around providing great service, and the food was once again wonderful. Gywen had a nice steak while Barry and I enjoyed creative salads for starters and delicious kudu venison for dinner. We finished with delicious lemon tarts.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel where we planned to enjoy our Methode Cap Classique bubbly on the balcony. The man at the desk said it would take an hour or two to get a taxi back to the Waterkant, and his initial attempts were fruitless but he said he would keep trying. I went back to the room and before we could open the bottle he called to say a cab would be here in three minutes. We quickly said good night and Happy New Year to Gywen and changed clothes to head toward the party. Of course, now we were super early for the party – it was about 9:30 – so we walked for a while before going in. When we finally did go in, the crowd was still sparse, but we got some drinks and explored the large club. (In addition to the tent with a bar and dance floor set up in the street, the club itself had 10 bars on four floors and two dance floors. Our drinks, the “free” ones included with our tickets, were only available from the under-stocked VIP bar on the top floor, so we got plenty of exercise climbing stairs. At midnight we left the bar and walked around the block to catch sight of the fireworks at the Waterfront. It wasn’t the same as being there, but it was fun to see nonetheless, to celebrate our 20^th New Year’s Eve together. When the fireworks ended we went back to the bar and danced on the street for a while before making the long walk through throngs of people back up Long Street to the hotel where we called it a night.

Our final day began with that bottle of MCC on the balcony. It was a very pleasant and quiet morning, with a couple of birds calling nearby including a red eyed dove (of course). We went to breakfast and then packed up to leave, heading out at 11:00. By 12:05, we had driven to the airport, filled the car with petrol, returned it, walked to the airport, checked in, cleared security, and found the gate. So we waited, read, and had lunch. The flight was delayed about 35 minutes, but we had enough time in Johannesburg to walk past the miles of shopping to our gate in time for the flight. The last memory of South Africa was a perfect sunset as the plane lifted off the ground, with the silhouette of the Central Business District backlit by a brilliant orange, under a layer of swirly, gold-lined clouds, under a band of streaky white clouds, under a band of clear sky, under a solid grey bank of clouds. There was no way to capture a photo, so I’ll have to remember it through this description.

I've finished both books I brought on the trip, so the rest of the trip consisted of several TV episodes, a couple of movies, sleeping, a few mini bottles of Amarula, a 3:00 am stop in Dakar, listening to several albums of South African pop music, a nearly-missed connection in DC, and writing this blog post. We’re not looking forward to the end of the trip, the freezing Indiana weather, or returning to work, but we can’t wait to see the dogs and sleep in our own bed. I will have my work cut out for me sorting, organizing and posting some of the hundreds (or thousands) of photos and videos. Stay tuned!