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."GOEIE MIDDAG" (Afrikaans for Good Afternoon) SECOND DAY IN CAPE TOWN (Friday, February 5, 2016): Another sunny day! We are really lucky, because just the days before we got into Cape Town their weather was cloudy and rainy and the fog covered the view of the spectacular mountains.

We weren't in a hurry to get out and about, because our tour didn’t start until 1 pm. Also Jim’s runny nose developed into a head cold. Even though he rested all morning he didn’t feel up to going on top of Table Mountain. Some standing in line was part of it. Nothing is worse than standing with a bunch of people, sneezing your head off, etc. He preferred to stay in bed and get well. I took off solo and met up with the rest of the group. The ride to the cable car was again interesting. We didn’t have to wait too long to get onto the cable car. It only took approximately 15 minutes. The cable car ride was exhilarating. The gondola with a capacity of 60 people went slowly up the steep mountain while its floor turned 360 degrees and gave everyone an excellent view . Going up a step mountain hanging on a cable and rotating at the same time isn’t for everyone. I thought it was marvelous and so did a Swiss couple from St. Gallen, Switzerland. We felt like yodeling as we got to the top of Table Mountain. Gee, those Swiss are everywhere!

The 360 panoramic view from the mountain was absolutely stunning. I took a 30 minute hike to see as many views as possible. Too bad, Jim couldn’t see it, it was totally breathtaking. The time allowed on the top went by just too fast and I had to descend, otherwise I would have high tail it down the mountain on foot. I made sure, I wouldn’t miss the bus this time. But of course there are always those individuals who are late, something like 20 minutes. No, it wasn’t the Americans this time, but an Australian couple.

Back at the ship, it was dinner time, and I took some food to the cabin for Jim. Since I took plenty of pictures, he could relive my outing by sight . However my day wasn’t over just yet. I took off to the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. What a fun place. Not only the shopping is good here, but everyone is walking the streets, enjoying the street performers and sitting in the side walk cafés. Actually, I was in search of a public telephone. Good luck with that! Everybody has cell phones now! I finally gave up and asked at the information booth if such a thing still existed. They were so nice and let me use their phone. The reason for making a phone call was, that we met this Lady (Jesse) on the plane from Los Angeles, who has a sister in Cape Town and she gave us two souvenirs to be delivered to her. The call was successful, and we decided to meet at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront at 11am the next day, Saturday. After I strolled through the streets for another hour, I made my way back to the ship with some other fellow ship passengers. By then it was 9:30pm and just in time I entered the ship’s theater to catch the great and colorful Cape Town Folkloric Show. Since Jim was still resting I brought him some more food and hot drinks to the room and finally it was bed time for me too. Sweet dreams.