A Day at the Cape

Back in the day, i had been to Cape Town, but had never spent much time there - so it was great to do some driving around and seeing the sights. We went to the Cape of Good Hope which is in the Table Mountain National Park. Seeing as i hadn't seen any Proteas in a while, i had to take a picture of one. The King Protea is South Africa's national flower - this is not a King, but it looked cool.



The Cape of Good Hope has some significant nautical history - it's not the southern-most tip of Africa, but it does signify the point at which sailors could stop heading directly south. In the 1400s, a couple Portuguese explorers left some landmarks. Below is a replica of the one left by Vasco da Gama. The information sign said the original was placed in 1488 and that it's whereabouts are unknown - so this has been erected in it's place.



Closer to the coastline there is a lighthouse with a path winding up a series of WWII watchpoints. It turns out that Toby is not all that fond of heights, but he hid it well and even got some 'over the edge' pictures.



How could we resist a hike to a lighthouse on the coast?



We got another picture with Susie's hair pretty much straight up in the air from the wind, but i've been "requested" not to post it.



We didn't stop at it, but there is a second similar landmark that had been placed by Bartolomeu Diaz (not sure what year).



We drove around the rest of the park as it is more of a nature reserve. We saw some animals that i didn't expect to see - bontebok, tsesebe, eland, ostrich, and white deer.

We arrive in South Africa

Paris was a great stopping point, but to reach our destination we had to catch another 10.5 hour flight. When we had selected our seats, the plane looked relatively empty, so we were hoping for some stretching room. Things started out looking good, but before long we realized the flight was pretty much full. Susie and i sat next to a South African lady that now lives in London. It was great meeting and getting to know her a little bit.

We landed in Johannesburg at O.R. Tombo airport and after a quick lunch with Guy - a guy that sat next to Toby and Lynne'e - we boarded another flight to head down to Cape Town. Interesting bit of trivia for you all ... both Tam, the lady we sat next to, and Guy went to school in Pietermaritzburg ... yes, the same city i went to boarding school in. It's a small world!

The Cape Town airport is being overhauled for the 2010 World Cup, so it wasn't much to talk about, but the plans for the new airport looked impressive. We picked up our rental car and headed to our first couple night's stay in Wellwood Lodge in Fish Hoek. After a good night's sleep and a great breakfast the next morning we set out in search of some penguins. So to Simonstown - The Boulders - we went.



We found a place to park (and someone to watch our car as long as we were willing to tip them) and headed to the water. There is a really nice wooden boardwalk setup to assist you in your penguin search; and along said boardwalk were some very descriptive bins.



After trekking a while (about 5 minutes) we came upon some birds on the rocks.



Along with another helpful sign.



The area is setup as a sanctuary, but is a good mix of allowing you to easily see the wildlife without encroaching too far into their space. Part of the incentive not to encroach was the nasty green sludge that the penguins were hanging out near. We couldn't figure out what the deal was, but i hope it's not what i think it is.



Susie did find some non-sludged ground to get down and bridge the gap between human and penguin kind. It's a good thing she did, lest relations run afoul (get it ... a foul?).

Africa trip - touring Paris

After hitting the Cathedral Notre Dame, we headed to the Eiffel Tower - what trip to Paris is complete without seeing that? I'm not sure if it's standard fare, but there was a circle of stars on the front - i don't recall ever seeing those in pictures, but maybe i hadn't been paying close enough attention?


Just in case you were wondering, it was a tad chilly, especially when you're armed with a wardrobe that's ready to head to summer in South Africa. I might have mentioned this in the last post, if not, i might say it again sometime, it was pretty stinking cold.

Once we were sufficiently amazed by the tower, we headed towards the Champs-Elysees (i would spell it with all the accents, but i can't find them on the keyboard) in hopes of seeing the Arc de Triomphe. Oddly enough, we headed in the correct direction and intersected the avenue about half-way between the arc and the ferris wheel (i prefer paris wheel). I would have preferred that a French car had been in the picture, but in the grand scheme of things, you can't complain when a BMW shows up.


Lining the avenue on both sides were stands with people selling Christmas goodies. I didn't check, but i'm guessing most of the goods being sold were made in China, but it was a really cool atmosphere. We wandered down to the ferris wheel. We never did figure out if it's a permanent ferris wheel, or if it was brought in specifically for Christmas. It sits on the Concorde with the Obelisque de Louxor.
After a brief shuffle down the Tuileries Palace - or should i say the remains of it from it's destruction in 1871 - we found the Louvre. Of all the things in Paris, the Louvre is the one thing i HAD to see. I wish we could have spent a couple days there, but we only had around 2 hours. It was just enough time to hustle through some of the more famous displays [ the Main Entrance, the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, Aphrodite (the Venus de Milo), etc ]. We also spent a little time in my favorite paintings - 17th century Italian! There is so much more i wish we could have seen - i believe i could spend a week just in the Louvre and still not feel like i saw everything - but i'm very glad we did get a chance to pop in.

Time was starting to run short, so we bolted the Louvre, hopped back on the subway and scooted back to Charles de Gaulle. Turns out the subway got back faster than we expected, so i took the chance for a little catnap.