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"GOEIE MORE" (Africaans for Good Morning) from beautiful Cape Town (February 4, 2016):

After 2 cloudy days at sea, we woke up to a sunny day and a gorgeous view of Table Mountain. We couldn't wait to explore this City.

We were able to walk to the “Hop on Hop off” bus station. Since there are 4 different routes on the bus, we took the red line. It turned out that was a good choice. That route did not only show us the city sights, but also went up half way to Table Mountain. Wow what a hair raising experience up the very curvy road. It reminded me so much of Switzerland Mountain driving. I even got to speak Swiss, because in front of us sat a couple from Rapperswil, which is near Zurich. The bus stopped at the base of the cable car base, which takes you on top of the mountain. Since we had tickets to do that the next day, we just took a break from riding the bus and looked around. We took a few pictures of Cape Town below us. What a difference a port makes! All the ports since Chennai, India have been downright shabby . Cape Town is a very progressive and beautiful city. We can sense there is order around here.   

When the next bus arrived we hopped on it and off we went around Lion Head Mountain, behind Table Mountain, where we were able to see the mountain range of the 12 Apostles. The bus took us down the mountain through the wealthy part of Cape Town. A house at Clifton, Sea Point and Three Anchor Bay costs a measly 15 to 20 Million US $. This house, if you can call it that is more like a villa/estate, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The local call this place “The Yuppie Town”. However, the view they have is truly a multi-million $ one. Also the beaches are beautiful. In the City itself a one bedroom apartment will set you back 1.5 plus US $. Yes, there are places to buy for a more reasonable price, behind the mountains, but forget the ocean view. Again, like in other places in South Africa, we noticed the Portuguese, French, English, Danish and Dutch influences in architecture, food and languages . But also there are plenty of modern buildings which mingle with the historical ones just fine. It took all morning to finish this route. Therefore, we went for lunch and a siesta on the ship. Jim had a runny nose and needed some rest. Yes, there are many more on board who have the sniffles now. A ship is like an airplane. We all breath everybody else’s breath eventually.  

However by 4 pm off we went out again and opted on the blue route. We missed the last blue bus so we hopped onto the yellow line bus. That route was interesting also. Next to other sights, we saw the Town Hall where Nelson Mandela gave his speech when he got released from the prison on Robben Island. We got caught in the evening rush hour and we missed the last bus back to the ship. In other words, we were stuck downtown. Taking a cab was the only answer to our situation. We were pleasantly surprised, that the cost was only US $ 5 ($70 RAND) for the two of us.

While on the taxi to the ship, Jim asked the cab driver if he could use his cell phone . He agreed, but when Jim tried to call, the lines were jammed. I guess the phone system was overloaded. We were trying to reach a couple (Dany and Claude) who live in Cape Town. Dany’s sister who we met on our flight from LA to Sydney gave us Dany’s number in Cape Town and even gave us some souvenirs for her and her husband. Oh, well, we still had tomorrow to call.

  

 After dinner we went out again but this time just to attempt to send out all our pictures. The visitor center on the dock should have been the place, so we were told. But for some reason, the Wi-Fi didn’t work right and even though we tried different ways we got kicked out every time. After 2 hours we gave up. Only eight pictures were uploaded. If you want to see them, you will have to go to the SINGAPORE blog, January 14, 2016.

Our first day in Cape Town was a long day. We closed our laptop, walked to the ship and went to get our beauty rest. More later on our second day in Cape Town.

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.6:30 AM, February 4, 2016. We are about to make port in Cape Town at about 7:00 AM. Depending how long it takes to debark, we will call you this morning from the first land phone we can locate. Most likely we will try to call later in the morning. Thanks for your patience.

Sorry our email did not work while on board the ship. We will explain later.

Hope to make contact with you today. Nelly and Jim

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