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Published: September 21st 2008
Surprisingly enough, I woke up on Wednesday with no hangover. Sweet!
After two days of constant activity, Jen and I decided to have a calmer day. It was sunny again (yay!) and we decided to walk into the city center to see downtown on a work day, so some people watching, shop a bit and hit up one more market. We each had one more item we wanted to get. The walk from our guesthouse into downtown was just over a mile. It felt so good to strool and window shop and see what some of the stores had to offer. Downtown was busy and moving. We walked down Long Street which is a quite popluar area. There were a ton of fun little shops and coffeehouses and hostels and bars...the buildings were colorful and a mixture of the old and new. I loved the almost bohemian feel with a touch of upscale. It was great! We stopped at one point to help three older English folks find a museum they were looking for. We turned off at one point and headed over to Green Market Square. This was a much smaller market than what we went to on Sunday,
but still had a ton of fun items and things we had not seen yet. We shopped up and down the booths and had some great conversations. At one booth, we met Jolie. She was one of my favorite South Africans. The conversation got really cute when Jen called me CJge (sounds like seige - which is something she has developed over the years from Courtney to CJ to CJge). Jolie stopped and asked what my name was. I explained the progression and she laughed and then we talked about her name and she said that Jolie means beauty. It was such a great interaction. And of course, Jen and I both left with new items in hand :-)
We dipped into a cute little coffeehouse, had a drink and a snach and just relaxed for a bit. I think Jen and I were both really cherishing our time to just hang out and chat. Now that we live at opposite ends of the US, to come together for a week and just be was so nice!
After our snack we continued to walk. We came upon what could be the absolute best store I have ever seen
- Cake on Long Street! What?!?!!?!? A whole store that only serves cake. I have died and gone to heaven! We then traveled over to the Bo-Kap area of downtown. This was one of the old districts set up during the Apartheid. When the Apartheid fell, people in this area painted their homes in an expression of who they were. Before they were under law to keep them white, now that are bright colors of pink, puple, orange and green. From here, we headed back to the guesthouse to drop off our new goods.
For the afternoon and evening we decided to head back over to Camps Bay for a sunset on South Africa and our last dinner. We walked some on the beach, Jen was on a bit of a shell hunt, we chilled on the rocks and just soaked up the atmosphere. We ended up going for dinner at Summerville. A great little restaurant that was upstairs and had an outdoor seating area. We took a seat on the terrace and decided to start with drinks. I ordered my favorite beer, Black Label, and Jen ordered the Dirk Diggler (oh how certain things travel all around the
world). We enjoyed our drinks and then ordered an appetizer. This then lead to dinner. Boy oh boy what a dinner it was. I got a traditional Malay chicken dish and Jen got the three wild game dinner. This came on a large skewer that was hanging on this tower thing. It was unbeliveable! Other people at the restaurant were taking pictures and asking what it was! Classic!!! I tell you what..it was good! If you like to eat different meats, then South Africa is a place for you to travel. The sunset was beautiful! Our waiter was great - George. He's from Zimbabwe and taught us a few words in his native language. It was so exciting! We took a cab (with no incidence) back to the guesthouse and I finished my bottle of wine. Another wonderful day in this great land.
Thursday was our last day. And we really only had the morning. We had our last great breakfast with the best bread ever! We wanted to venture down to the waterfront for one last time. The weather had turned sour again. Grey, rainy and very windy! We ended up getting quite wet on our return trip.
Then there was packing, saying goodbye to Phillip and Thierry and taking the taxi to the airport. It was one of those bitter sweet moments. We just had an incredible week of exploring a new place, meeting new people and spending quality time together. Now we have to say goodbye...each to go on our own separate 20+ hour flights back to our homes and back to just talking on the phone. We both kept smiles on our faces, but there were tears as I walked into the terminal.
Cape Town is a beautiful city. Beautiful in people, beautiful in scenary, beautiful in spirit and history. If you ever have the chance, I suggest you go here. It will touch your heart.
Signing off until the next adventure...Courtney
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Bill Puertas
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I have reached a new level of jealousy... LOL I am so glad you had a great time.. I love the pictures and I am sure you have many more. When are we opening some wine and going throught them? Glad your back safe and sound...