Day 41
Catching Up
Checked out of the hotel that Viking had put us in, as our time with Viking was officially over this morning. Got a cab and got dropped off at our new hotel, one that I chose because it’s in a good location and because it was considerably less expensive. It’s called “Hippo”.
Now, considering the price of the place, it’s no real surprise that there’s no included breakfast, no on-site bar, not even an ice machine…. but the location is fantastic, surrounded by restaurants and funky shops, and the room is really nice.
Plus, a rain shower and a giant soaker tub? Yes, please!
No time to explore (or even unpack), though, because we were greeted at noon by Magda and Ernest, two dear Capetonian friends I haven’t seen in more than twenty years. Off we went to their house for some catching up (and to introduce them to Rob, who hadn’t met them before).
They prepared a delicious lunch for us all- salad, pap casserole (like cheese grits, but way better), lamb, game sausages, and an eland steak. I haven’t had a proper South African braai (meal from the grill) in many years, it was a real treat. We also met guard dog Delilah, who was eager to help with the cooking.
You may remember a few days ago, I talked about buying a painting that looked like the view of Table Mountain I saw on my first visit to Cape Town. I also posted the photo I took then, which was grainy due to the low-res camera I had at the time. Well, I got to update it today.
Extremely lucky to get good weather for that shot today. I’ve had many other times when the mountain was obscured by clouds and the picture was OK, but not as good as that. We spent a nice, long afternoon, then they drove us back to the hotel. We got unpacked and settled in, then headed across the street to a tapas bar for espresso martinis.
It was a nice place, even sitting under a disco ball. We picked it because tapas are very small portions and we were still full from lunch. As it turns out, the martinis were just enough and we were both exhausted, so we headed back to the hotel and crashed.
OK, we headed back to the hotel, then I sat up long enough to post this, and then we crashed. See you tomorrow.