A leisurely day in Cape Town.

As promised, today was a relaxing day (vacations are exhausting, so every few days, one has to just stop and do nothing….).  We got up at 8:30am – I can’t remember the last time I’ve slept so late, I have to say the bed at the Taj is really comfortable!

We then had a leisurely breakfast and strolled though the pretty gardens across the street from the hotel – just beyond St George’s cathedral:  these are the old Dutch East India company gardens – which are now just a pretty place to walk around.  We took pictures of the local fauna – although I have the distinct feeling that to the locals, we look like Japanese tourists in Central park, taking picture of the squirrels….  In other words, we look funny – why would anyone take pictures of this very common ducks for instance…. 

 Well, we did, because it’s not common to us (neither, I assume, are gray squirrels to Japanese tourists…..).

Then we walked down to the harbor, where we saw a lot of statues – some you would expect, like the one in honor of Queen Victoria – But some were very odd and hard to explain:

A water buffalo, made out of small beads, with extremely accurate genitals also made out of small beads (we choose to take a picture of his head instead).

A bronze African statue- with Bart Simpson’s heads stuck all over it?????

A very large man (about 40 or 50 feet high) made entirely out of coke crates – and surrounded by the heroes of modern Africa???

The harbor itself is beautiful. 

And we were happy that we had chosen yesterday to go to the top of Table Mountain, because today it was in the clouds.  And the Robben island ferry was not going today because the sea was too rough – so we really lucked out.

The weather was actually OK today, except around lunch time, so we had to take a leisurely lunch, with several glasses of wine and dessert – while the rain showers passed by (Dessert was banana tarte tatin, which is an inspired idea: tarte tatin is a caramelized apple tart – which is good.  But bananas go really well with caramel – so it’s even better!)

Then we just strolled back to the hotel, had a simple dinner, and now are packing.

Tomorrow, we fly to Kruger National part, where we are spending 3 nights at a “camp” (not really camping – but still, in the park, and close to the animals).

We may not have internet access, so no pictures may be posted until we get to Durban in 3 days!  Until then, have a good week!!!!