Nh The Lord Charles Hotel Somerset West

... Mandela remember the feelings of utter joy at watching the new beginning of a post Apartheid South Africa. But I wondered however what it would mean on a practical level in the country. I thought you ...

... last day as a group, we decide to go to a restaurant that specializes in African cuisine -- Karibu at the V&A waterfront. We have a great time and the food is, again, outstanding. Rose has kingklip, a dense white meat fish that is similar to tuna, and Boyd has snoek for an appetizer (a pate made from a local barracuda fish) and venison medallions consisting of warthog, springbok and kudu. What a fitting finish for this trip! Afterwards we head to ...

We made it. 15 countries. 85 days on a truck. 75 nights camping. 4 months without my bed, a decent shower, a hair dryer, something nice to wear, or household chores. Its over. We've reached Cape Town! Cape Town is STUNNING! It reminds me of one of my favorite places in Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia. The city is bustling too.....you can feel the excitement in the air. People are happy to be there and residents are happy to be ...

... black township) * biked to Cape Point and back in a day (100 miles on rented bikes without bike shorts = ouch) * lived (am currently living) with a wonderful Muslim family in the historic BoKaap neighborhood of Cape Town * watched the Rand fall from nearly 8 to the US dollar to nearly 12 (no complaints there) * become addicted to rooibos tea * stood on the pitch of the 2010 stadium ...

... went on to see a pub called Tigers, which had it's own butchery attached, and which provides the hub of the community. We saw three sets of homes, all *so* small. The idea there is that tour buses for years have gone through the townships, with people like us snapping away merrily. The residents, quite understandably, raised the objection that they felt like zoo animals, so offered up access to their dwellings to break down the barriers. We were ...

... depth chat to Davids Dad. Not needing much for dinner after our massive lunch, we fell into bed after our long journey. We're now looking forward to a couple of days cruising around Cape Town and planning our trip along Eastern Cape. Em's particularly looking forward to some more running around the bay here and Al is super pumped to be getting his new board in a couple of days. We'll keep you updated on our journey along the coast. Hope everyone is well. Lots of Love, Al & Em

... out in our make shift upper class seating space and knocked out. But only after we watched the Simpsons movie, of course. Anyway - back to Cape Town. We have a wonderful view of Table Mountain from our apartment balcony. As luck would have it, the weather was stable enough for the cable trolleys to allow site-seers to visit the summit. Woohoo! We knew we had to take advantage of this opportunity. Who knows if we'll ever get lucky with ...

... in Tulbagh, first up to the chocolate factory, which turned out to be one woman in a kitchen, at the top of a damn big hill, but she makes good chocolate so we had a sample tray with tea. Then over to the Twee Jong Gezellen (Afrikaans for "two young bachelors", long story) vineyards where Champagne by the original method is their specialty. A short description of the Champagne process, "done correctly" since I found it ...

... to the District Six museum. District Six was an area of Capetown designated for mostly non-white ethnic groups, known for its music, culture and vibrancy. In the 1960s, the apartheid government decided to demolish the district, and so literally thousands of people lost their homes, businesses etc. and were quickly delegated to the township areas, some of which I visited and discussed above. Presently, descendants of these ...

... again, I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story. But probably the most surprising result for the day was that at no point was I scared, and in fact, having had a most terrible fear of sharks (even in the swimming pool!) since I was little, I think I have finally been rid of it. Not that I would like to run into one in the open water unprepared, but I no longer have the irrational, blind fear of the beasts as before. But let's not go too far, they are not your friendly ...