We left Pretoria at 6:50 am on Friday - we were off to Cape Town. Yay! Neil drove us to Jo'burg (about 35 to 40 minute drive) as he had to go back to Pretoria and in to work for a meeting. He will join us in CT around 16:00. At the airport, the parking system entails booking a valet to meet you in a designated spot and he takes the car and parks it until you return. Usually washing and cleaning the car are included in this process. You call them on your return and they bring your car to you. At the car rental place, George and Sheryl were at the desk making some changes to our contract so Sheryl could be the primary driver -she is a good driver. Grant and I were watching the top 10 of animals and golf courses on a TV monitor screen. Number 3 was a sea gull picking a golf ball off the green and dropping it into a pond. This question was not answered: where does the golfer play from? Our car was a white Lexus which had all the bells and whistles.
Our place was in the de Waterkant area which is pretty upscale and uphill. Lots of skinny alley-like roads. Parking again was a bit of an issue at that time of day so we finally went into a parkade and walked to the check-in place. We toured our apartment and decided it was perfect and had all the things we needed and wanted. Grant and Sheryl went to move the car closer while George and I relaxed. Sheryl brought us watermelon and mint drinks which we enjoyed on the top terrace. Luckily there was an umbrella to keep the sun off our heads.
Lunch was at "Table 13". The presentation of our meals was delightful. Avocado appears in most sandwiches. The greens are called "rocket" and usually accompany every food. Also spinach is on the menu in many places. We started on the patio but soon moved out of the sun. I have a kind of ugly hat that I planned to wear in the sun but it was nixed! We visited the "Spar" grocery store so breakfast would be covered. Then back to the airport to pick up Neil. He was pleased with the Lexus.
A Cooking class of Traditional SA food: what could be finer! We arrived at Leopard's Leap, a winery near Franschhoek--lovely landscaped place with an outstanding winery house. The decorated Christmas trees were interesting--made of branches that were cut and arranged in a triangular shape like an evergreen tree and then decorated. George took a photo so maybe I will try to make one sometime, next year? We were met at the door with refreshing cocktails and proceeded into a room that was like being in a TV cooking show. Pieter, the chef talked and demonstrated what we would cook. He is an Afrikaner (descendant of the Dutch and Huguenots) and used words from the language and also spoke to some of his staff in Afrikaans. He made some lamb sausage in the fashion of my childhood memories of making sausage. (I thought this was way beyond what I thought we would do!) However, after the demonstration we were served some which was lovely. Our first job was to make an appetizer using figs, blue cheese, puff pastry, biltong, pea shoots, spices and a wine sauce which we also made. There was avocado and cream cheese dip for garnish. We were in groups of four wearing large white aprons and each had their own station. What fun! After the prep, we joined the rest of the group of 13 and ate together. We met a couple and their two kids from the Utah who had been in Jo'burg for 3 years and were on their way to Geneva at the beginning of January. At the other end of the table with Sheryl and Neil were a couple from Durban, a woman from Germany and a father and son who lived nearby. Our next task was to cook venison (from Springbok) which we were to butterfly and stuff with Feta, Dijon mustard and celery leaves and then, wrap in "net vet" which is the fatty stuff that covers one's stomach. Of course, it was already washed and prepared so all we had to do was touch it and wrap it around our piece of meat. Sheryl needed to only touch the meat with one finger which complicated the butterflying procedure. It was very tasty but a bit of a challenge to get it cooked so it wasn't running red, right Grant? Mine was cooked too well on one end and not so much on the other end. The chef also made a salad with samp (a sort of pasta), snoek (a fish which was smoked) and other stuff salad. After each cooking, we sat together and ate what we made with some additions from the chef and his minions. Oh yes, the beef tongue! Pieter had prepared and cooked it although it still looked like a giant tongue. He cut it with grace and ability and then added a marinade and arranged it with aplomb on a place. I could hardly watch this! Surprise!! It tasted really good--kinda soft and beefy and the marinade was the finishing touch. Did I mention wine was presented and enjoyed at every possible minute! We were treated to Malva pudding with custard which is very traditional and resembled Sticky Toffee Pudding. Yum! And really, who could complain about custard. There was also specialty coffee and tea. What a wonderful experience. Yay.
Parking is a source of income for many here and in other parts of the country. The way it works is in parking lots or on the street, there are men, well, mostly men, who help with parking for a tip. This probably includes insuring that your car is safe in some areas. Anyway, upon arrival the Parker guy will wave you forward and in the direction of where they is a spot in his "area". You drive to where the spot is and he directs your parking. You either give him a tip when you leave the car or when you return. He will also direct you out of the spot. Well, we arrived at the Good Neighbours Market with thousands of others and parking was hard to come by. Unfortunately, we were spotted by two Parker guys nearly at the same time. Neil turned down a street toward one Parker guy's spot and the other thought we were his. The two nearly came to blows. Using the wisdom of Solomon, Neil offered to pay them both. Parker guy 1, insisted that we indeed go with Parker guy 2. (Maybe Parker guy 2 was more senior in the job, maybe tougher, who knows!) Finally, Parker guy 2 went back to his area with some outrage but accepted the money. We parked and scrounged up some change--the payment is usually between 5 Rand and 10 Rand which is between 50 cents and one dollar. In Pretoria, N & S keep a cash of change in the car for this parking game but we were driving our rental Lexus in Cape Town, so we paid both Parker guys and went off to the Market. This little dance happens in any parking situation, whether on the street or in a parking lots.
Lunch on Saturday was at Devil's Peak. It is a craft beer place which pleased Grant and Neil. George ordered a taster which was five shot glasses of different beers. They served lovely hamburgers with rocket as part of the garnish. I requested a strawberry milkshake. It arrived and was blue and had no strawberries. We all agreed that it was tasty. When we quizzed the waiter about its contents, he said they were out of strawberries so he choose what he thought was the next best thing.
Imagine Kirstenbosch Garden with a hillside of 2000 glo sticks waving in time to the music. That was the end of a Christmas Carols evening we attended. We took a picnic as did nearly everyone else--others's picnics included wine and wine glasses that sat on a stand that was pushed into the ground and had a loop at the top to hold the glass. Picnicking here is serious business. There were many lovely Christmas carols, angels and all the characters from the Nativity scene. Imagine again a soloist singing "O Holy Night" in the coming darkness--spectacular. The last song, of course, was "Silent Night" which is when we sang and waved our sticks. All the lights were turned off so it was pretty dramatic. Another parking story--finding a parking spot at first, was quite a challenge and we were all glad to stop the car and as Neil put the car in park the GPS person's final instruction was "drive to highlighted route". She was a tad behind us.
Sunday, coffee and breakfast at "Origin" a cool breakfast place. Some of the waiters had t-shirts which had " Some like it Black" on the back. "Origin" was near our place--lovely coffees and teas. The teas came with a small black teapot with tea leaves to add and a timer. Then we drove to the Waterfront and experienced the "parking dance". Although this one had an added component--the Parker guy, while riding his bike, lead us through the underground parking garage to a spot where we parked. He rode along waving us to follow him and then he waited for his tip. Later, we wandered around downtown, through Company Gardens by the Parliament and into a book store. One of the books I looked at was "Zuma, Goodnight" It was fashioned after "Good Night Moon" a childhood fav. George looked at one called "Where is Zuma" fashioned after our kid's childhood fav called "Where is Waldo". We hear a lot about Zuma on the news, he is the not so popular president of SA. There were some marches on Reconciliation Day last week that included some "Down with Zuma" sentiments. Lunch at "Truth" cafe which is a place we have been to before--sort of a warehouse decor with many tables and one long table with extension cords coming down from above resembling old time light bulbs. These are for charging cell phones.
We had a mountain top experience on Sunday afternoon. The weather was perfect, clear and cloudless. We drove up to Table Mountain, a must experience when in CT. We took a cable car to the top. The car revolved so we had great views of where we had been and where we were going. There are many paths to walk and see the views at the bottom of the mountain. The only wildlife is the Dassies (read dussie). A child called it a badger and an adult was heard saying "some varmint". We wandered and enjoyed and then waited an hour for the cable car to return. If there are clouds that cover the top of the mountain, it is called the "tablecloth".
A marvelous dinner at the Taj hotel--you can guess the ethnicity of the food. Some friends of S & N joined us and it was a party. We ordered a variety of Indian food and each tried everything, kind of like a family dinner. George and I are not too experienced with this food but really enjoyed all the flavours and textures. A highlight was between the appetizer and mains--it arrived at the table in a seemingly smoking dish. In the insert was mango sorbet and in the outside dish was dry ice. What a delightful treat. There was also some yogurt to cool our spice-hot mouths. It was fun to be included in this fantastic dinner and evening.
Monday, we had another sit on the top terrace and then headed out for a drive along Chapmans Peak--many stops for photos along the way. The scenery was breathtaking. Then a visit to see SA penguins at Simons Town. Love the way they march like shuffling soldiers not moving their arms(?) We poked along in the kiosk markets stalls. Lunch at "Lekker". The word seems to be a noun and a verb and an adjective and means like or good. Continued the drive back to Cape Town to visit a comic shop that Grant had read about. He wasn't impressed so we headed to a winery for a tasting.
As we approached the site, there was a security guard who Neil chatted with. The guard admired our car and Neil told him that unfortunately it was a rental. The guard suggested we give it to him, tell Hertz it was stolen and he would lend it to us the next time we were back at the Constantia Winery near Cape Town. Driving down the lane to the winery house was so green and lush with purple flowers and giant cork trees. I think we all had a feeling of peaceful relaxation just viewing it all. I was happy to skip the wine and sit on the front terrace.
Then back to the airport--had to stop to gas up. I think we can all relate to the stress of trying to find a gas station to fill the tank before returning a rental car. There was one at the exit to the airport but not at the entrance. Getting to it could be quite involved. At my suggestion, we made a slightly illegal turn and saved a bunch of GPS instructions. Our flight was delayed an hour so by the time we got back to Pretoria, it was midnight. Good night, Moon!
What a grand time. Sheryl did some great planning. Neil was the primary driver--a task he is master at. Grant helped with setting up the GPS. George had booked the car and he and I were the encouragers. Great group to travel with and a great weekend.
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