Totally Unauthorized

Mike was late to dinner tonight.  Throughout all the decades we’ve been friends, he’s always early, I’m the one skating in just under (mostly) the wire.  Tonight, he decided to take a shower when it was really time to go and was 6 minutes late to the restaurant.  That may not sound like much to you, but it completes my life.

Back to the beginning.  A quick 11 hours of sleep got me pretty refreshed.  We met the family for lunch in the hotel–this is what they think is a club sandwich:

This huge pile of chicken, bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado and a flood of tomato aioli is what they think is a Club Sandwich here.

So it isn’t what you got at Woolworth’s counter, but it was pretty edible and I choked most of it down.

Then most of us got on the the city tour bus–Mike and Linda went walking, of course.  It’s one of those double decker busses you can get off and on for the whole tour, although we never did get off and explore any areas.

We saw the usual touristy sort of things:

The original castle of Cape Town, from the 1600’s

Interesting engraved stele on the side of the bank building.  The artist reputedly used his friends for the faces.

Engraved stele

We sat on the top of the double decker bus, natch.  The front third is covered and has windows, the rest is open to the fresh air.  The air in Cape Town in June is very fresh–it was about 60 degrees out.  Gail sat under the cover.

Granddaughters Chloe and Demi

No tour would be complete without a trip up Table Mountain, the massive monolith overlooking the city.  We got about 3/4 of the way up the hill to the base of the gondola.  Some will be going up the gondola tomorrow.

Panorama from the bus park on Table Mountain

Then we headed down the mountain, through a pass and out to the ocean and Camps Bay, where the rich folk go to party, or so the tour guide said.  From there you can see the back side of Table Mountain.

Table Mountain from the back, with a gondola just reaching the summit.

There are more stone cliffs, all in a line, extending along the coast.  There are called the Twelve Apostles, which is odd because there are 17 of them.

Looking south towards the coastline and the Twelve Apostles

Eventually, the bus got back to where it started and we walked back to the hotel.

The marina behind our hotel, Table Mountain in the background.

That’s enough for now.  Nap time.