first day in Africa

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So i made it safe and sound after a forver long flight and two days of travel i arrived in Cape Town at 9:30 p.m local time. Pouring rain and thunder and lightning proved that is was in fact winter in South Africa, and that the winds around here can howl with the best of them!

But since i am on vacation, who cares about the weather 😊, so after a cool "good night " beer at the hostel bar, i hit the pillow ready for some much needed sleep.
There is nothing like waking up to brilliant sunshine, and especially if the view out the window is on Table Mountain, so without further ado, i jumped into gear and headed out to explore the city!
The walk along famous Long Street, St. George's Mall down to the Waterfront was fantastic. The many colors of Africa were everywhere! Just like i imagined and yet nothing that i knew it would be like! Cape Town is an amazing city of contrast, so much is clear after just one day!
I had time to visit the District 6 museum today (an area that was declared "whites only" during the Apartheid Regime where 60,000 people were "relocated" to the Table Flats (today's twonships). What an amazing museum that tells the story with so much personal accounts. Sad, but yet very interesting. Then it was on to the Hop on and Hop off city bus tour to get a lay of the land, check out the Castle, and tour the city and surroounding suburbs of the very rich and famous and of course get up to Table Mountain ( well, not quite to the top, just to teh base of the Cable Car, since the Tram is getting fixed during the winter months and is hence not running right now 😞. I guess my idea of hiking up the mountain is out as well, since the weather is very unpredictable right now, and therefore not safe to hike! Bummer, but hey i will enjoy the view from down here just as much.

so after a very full first day, i am off to have some african dinner with the "roommate" from Holland and a few other people from the hostel.

cheers to all (p.s. pictures hopefully tomorrow, not enough time right now 😊)

SL

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