A visit to UCT and then to Simon's Town

Monday morning and the sun was shining.  Business to attend to:  walk to Rondebosh (this is the University town), buy more airtime and talk to the car rental guy.  I decided that I wasn't comfortable driving the "student" rent a car on the Garden Route so I arranged to rent a new vehicle and needed to be back to the B&B by 11:30.  I had a lovely breakfast, packed my bags and went to check out.  When Yves tried to put through my credit card it was denied.  Funny I'd gotten a call from one of the other hotels I'd booked on the Garden Route saying this same credit card was also denied.  I thought it strange, just paid with a different credit card and then walked into town.  It was an easy 10 minute walk. It felt good to walk.  This was the first time since arriving in Cape Town that I was in a place where I felt comfortable walking on the street.  I went to the Vodacom store and purchased another 40 rand of air time.  I couldn't talk to the car rental guy because he wasn't going to be there until 2.  

When I arrived back at the B&B, I got online to check my Wells Fargo Credit Card and saw that it had in fact been "temporarily shut down" and I needed to call to see what was what.  I used my local phone to make the call, because on the back of my credit card it said it was a free call.  Good thing I just bought more air time, because 1/2 way through the conversation I was cut off.  Even though it was technically a free call, anything international gets charged.  So I used my iPhone to call again.  During the first call I learned that there are been charges made on-line that the fraud department thought looked suspicious so they shut the card down.  Thank you fraud department for being on the ball.  One of the charges was $790.00 worth of cosmetics, that's  funny, obviously the thief doesn't know me. The man on the phone said Wells Fargo would fed-ex a new card to me in South Africa but I decided not to since I have 3 others.  Best to keep that one clean for now.  Oy, what can I say.

The new car rental company came to the B&B to deliver a nice new VW sedan.  What a difference and I feel so much better about taking this car on a long distance drive.  They even have road side assistance for any problems.  It's only money, but safety is important, especially in this country.  

The safety issue here is the hardest part for me. Not being able to walk alone for sure at night anywhere and even during the day in some places.  It is their way of life and I'm glad I don't have to live it and in my jaded mind don't think anyone should have to live this way.  Most houses have gates, the windows have bars and don't ever think of leaving anything visible in your car.  Not for me, thank you.

With the morning sorted out I was now free for a few hours to walk around the University Campus, UCT, I think I previously called it CTU.  Emily was taking her last exam so I wanted to see the campus.

The campus is magnificent, built under the mountain.  

I wanted to find the student store to buy a UCT sweatshirt.  I took the Jammie (the local UCT bus to the upper campus.  The University is split into Upper, Middle and Lower campuses.  I met a nice girl on the bus from Kenya.  She was kind enough to show me where the store was.  Unfortunately there wasn't much choice so I wasn't able to buy any momentos.  I did enjoy taking photos of students and others congregated outside the food hall.

 The courtyard outside the food hall.

  

lots of smokers, great faces.

These trees are from the lower campus.  The trees fill the campus and make it a beautiful place to study.  The mountain hugs everything in Cape Town.

Emily fininshed her exam and was completely done with her semester.  Hard to believe she only has 1 1/2 more years before graduating.  

We had a bite to eat at Cocoa Wah Wah then drove over to visit with Eunice (she's the one who heads Sister's for Sister's) .  We were a bit later than planned and when we arrived, Eunice asked us to take her to the plastic store, not far from where we were, so she could buy little bags for the bracelets they make. She recieved an order of 500 bracelets that needed to be delivered by the next day.  We drove her to the plastic store where she was going to buy 500 bags but when I discovered that 1,000 was $6.00 I bought her the 1,000 so they could have another 500 after this order went out.  She was so happy she just hugged me and thanked me profusely.  I felt great to be able to do this small gesture (for me but grand for her).  On our walk back to the car I told her her price was to wait while I took some photos of this water faucet sculpture inside the "Community House" grounds.  She obliged me.

On the opposite wall was this mural.  My observation is that there is no shortage of space for people to draw and make statements here in Cape Town.

After our short visit with Eunice we headed to Simon's Town, a small town about 1/2 hour (with no traffic) outside of Cape Town.  It had been the British Navy's headquarters until they left South Africa.  Now it is used by the South African Navy.  The other attraction is Boulder's Beach where Penquins live.  

Because we left during rush hour traffic it took us nearly an hour to get there but it was a lovely drive along the coast.  We passed through the beach towns of the Western Cape:  Muzenburg, St. James, Kalk Bay, Fish Hoek, and then Simon's Town.  This is the road that continues to Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point.  Some think that this is where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet, but in fact it is not.  There is another place further south called Cape Agulhas.  As much as I would like to, I doubt I will get there.  I'll have to be happy with Cape of Good Hope.

Once in Simon's Town we found our B&B, The Chariton House high above the town.  A great view.  I had thought it was going to be on the beach for some reason, but not to be.  Actually, I've worn more of the clothes I brought for Europe, long sleeves, because it's been raining and cold.  I was hoping for summer but it's still spring.  

This is the door to our room.

Our hostess, Denise was a bit strange but very hospitable.  When she asked us what time we wanted breakfast, I said, "10", half kidding and she said how about "half past 8".  A little passive/aggressive.  Then we saw that the hours of breakfast were posted as 7-9.  She then explained that she didn't like people to come at 9 because then they stayed until 10.  We just shook our heads and said we would try to be there at 8:30.  Really, I'm a traveler and want to sleep in!!

A very sleepy town and seasonal to boot.  When we asked what restaurants were open we were told "Just Sushi" down at the harbor.  Many restaurants were closed on Monday some on Tuesdays and many Mondays and Tuesdays.  We were lucky because Just Sushi was fabulous.

these are called sushi sandwiches.  i'd never seen them before.  they were so good we had to have another order.  Then we had what they call "roses", not only are they beautiful they were delicious.

Not much to do after dinner but back to the B&B and get ready for another day of adventure.

Saturday--November 2--Old Biscuit Mill and a fund raiser

I don't know why but I was up at 6:30 and the sun was already up.  I grabbed my camera, even though I missed the sunrise, it was still beautiful outside my window.

And then I got back in bed and slept until 8 because I needed to meet Emily at the car rental place by 9:00.  Not exactly how I wanted to start the day.  It was an expensive visit.  Even though Emily took insurance on the car, there was the deductible.  Emily had already had a little fender bender the week prior so I had to pay for that and the missing headlight cover.  We got another car and headed to Old Biscuit Mill.  

When we arrived at Old Biscuit Mill we had to park a few streets away.  Here in Cape Town there are parking people who wear yellow vests and watch your car.  You pay them when you return to the car.  I'm a bit overwhelmed with what I can carry and the whole safety issue. When nearly to the entrance, I realized I had my camera but no media card and I'd left my iphone in the car. Emily suggested I use her camera, which was a good idea except that she only had 29% battery.  

Old Biscuit Mill is fabulous and a must do when in Cape Town.  The food is amazing, the scene vibrant with high end locally and hand made: clothing, jewelry, and crafts outside.  There are other permanent stores and restaurants as well, but the more interesting is what is outside and the handmade local food and drink.  We walked around inside the food area and it was so hard to decide what to eat.  All the vendors have samples and you want to try everything but it's not possible.  After so many samples we decided to have, what Emily has had before, a huge potato pancake (latke) with lox and a cooked egg on the top made by the "Test Kitchen".  They actually have a full on restaurant here as well.  OMG so good.

Then we walked around a bit to work up an appetite before having some dessert.  To get to the shopping you have to walk through the hall again and pass all those enticing samples.  Sorry not to be able to show you any photos.  We will go again next Saturday, as it is only open on Saturdays, and I will be sure to have all cameras working.

After our visit at Old Biscuit Mill we needed to check me out of the Hilton.  I'd booked a room at a B&B called the Carmichael House closer to the campus.  We got my bags, paid my bill and off we went.  What a quaint place and in an area I can walk around by myself.

The room is on the second floor and while it doesn't have a view like the Hilton, it's very comfortable and what a bathroom.  The couple who run the place are very friendly.  So far I highly recommend it.  http://www.carmichaelhouse.co.za

    I was able to rest for a bit before going to a fund raiser for the charity "Sister's for Sister's" where Emily has been volunteering.  The organization was started by Eunice to help woman who have been abused or are struggling alone raising children.   This is Emily and Eunice.   

Eunice has worked very hard to grow this organization that started 5 years ago.  The woman come to workshops to learn how to be stronger and independent.  They make and sell bracelets in some of the different street markets around town.  Emily has helped to make and sell these bracelets too.

This is a photo of Eunice and two of her friends who are in the group.  Aren't they beautiful and colorful!

Here are some more of the faces I encountered during the program:

This is little Nancy

This is Mama Nancy

                                              

This is Eunice's daughter.

it was a very nice event.  I bought bracelets and a fabulous patchwork bag.  They had lots of food and musical entertainment.

here are some of the instruments that were used for the entertainment

the neighborhood where the church was had fabulous art on the walls.

It reminded me of Valparaiso, Chile.

 

                                          

The great art outstanding then I saw this painted on a fence:

So off we went on a drive around Table Mountain to the other side of Cape Town to see Camps Bay and an incredible view from Signal Hill.  There is hardly any where you can be in Cape Town and not see this incredible mountain.

We drove back into town to a neighborhood called Observatory to meet Emily's host family for dinner at Pancho's, a Mexican restaurant.  One of the most interesting shops I saw on the street was the Anarchist Book store.  I'll leave you with a little anarchist art:

Friday November 1--High Tea and another dance performance

A lazy morning.  I slept until nearly 9:30.  Yesterday I had spoken with a cousin of a friend and made an arrangement to meet her at her store.  Her name and the name of her store is Balu.  http://www.balu.co.za    Not only is the store inviting but they also offer juices, coffee and muffins.  Even though I was going for high tea at 2, I had a fresh squeezed juice, a coffee and a freshly made cinnamon crumble muffin.  As Emily taught me, YOLO, you only live once.  Great philosophy. 

 

 When I come back from Simon's town next week I'm going to let her outfit me.  Her clothes are just my style.

When the weather is nice people sit outside on her lovely patio.

Balu was quite busy but she took the time to visit with me.  Her older daughter is a dancer and I told her about Emily's performance.  When i showed her a photo of Emily's teacher she knew who she was.  Balu was so nice she offered me to stay at her house when I return from Simons town.  Sometimes its good not to have made plans cuz you just don't know when opportunity will knock.

I had to get on my way as I needed to pick up Emily and Rose (Koper) to go to the Mt. Nelson hotel for high tea.

Emily thought it would be easiest for me to drive on the Main Road  which went all the way to her home stay.  It was Friday and I was on local streets with so much, yes, TRAFFIC.  I just can't get away from it.  I need to learn how to navigate the highways.  What was suppose to take 15 minutes took 30, but I arrived.  I got Emily then she drove to pickup Rose but we needed to stop at my hotel to get Emily's costumes because she'd left them there last night.  A bit out of the way which made us 30 minutes late.  Not a problem here.  We phoned the hotel and they were fine with it.

We arrived at the Mt. Nelson Hotel, a lovely refined 100+ year old hotel.  The pink color is similar to the Beverly Hills Hotel.  When I asked at reception if anyone had ever told them that, she said, "yes, we are compared to them all the time."

We were seated outside the main dining room on the covered balcony.  The weather was lovely but really windy.    

Emily said we needed to dress up, which we did, but there were many people in jeans.  It was more fun to be dressed nicely.  The spread was incredible.  We were all hungry since we hadn't eaten much all day preparing for our visit.  Here are some samples of what we ate.

First we had savory delights and then desserts.

We were offered to choose one tea and were given our own tea pot.  Here are the choices of tea.  The one I first chose, Lapsong Souche, was out of stock.

The girls had two savory plates before moving to the sweets.  So hard to choose what to try so we tried just about everything.

 in case you don't know what you are eating they made little signs on the different cakes.

As you can imagine after eating our delectible fare we could barely breathe.    

It was a bit after 4 and Emily needed to be at her dance call by 6.  After yesterday's traffic disaster, and being Friday, Emily thought it might be better to wait until closer to 6.  We went to the front desk to ask for directions and the gentleman concurred that it would be wiser to wait.  He said that actually people left work early on Friday and if we left at 5:30 we'd get to campus by 6.  We took his advise and took a walk on Kloof Street and back around to the hotel.

When the car came up from the garage, all three of us noticed that the plastic cover over the right headlamp was missing.

You can only imagine was ensued.  The parking attendant was insistent that we brought the car in that way and that they had the camera to prove it.  They said we could see the footage from the security camera.  O.k. well after waiting 15 minutes and no security person was coming we had to leave.  Are you kidding me.  The good news after this debacle was not having any traffic and Emily arriving 15 minutes early.  Horray.

Rose and I dropped Emily off and went back to my hotel so I could get the tripod for my camera.  I was able to video tape all of Emily's dances.  The show, I thought was better tonight than last night.  Many of Emily's friends and her home stay family attended her performance, which I know made her feel good.  

Rose and Emily went off to "go out" and I got in the car and went back to the hotel.

I took my things to my room and decided I would go to the bar and have a beer.  I just wanted to unwind a bit.  The bar was empty, which I enjoyed, and I ordered a local beer that was on tap called Jack Black.  The story the bar tender told me was that 2 boys from CTU (Cape Town University) found the beer receipe on the internet.  It apparantly originated in Texas.  They started making it in their garage with very small distribution.  A business man tasted it and thought it was great so started a bigger distribution.  Now it's one of the most popular beers in Cape Town.  Amazing what you can find on the internet.  One last note, a very large glass of beer was $2.00.

A lazy to crazy day

Thursday started as a lazy, as Emily says, "chill" day but didn't end that way. 

We leisurely slept in and nearly missed breakfast since we slept until 10. I called down to the front desk and found breakfast was served until 10:30 so we quickly brushed our teeth threw some clothes on and went down for breakfast. The hotel has a nice buffet and a chef who will make eggs.  We both ordered fried eggs and added grilled tomatos and mushrooms.  The buffet is quite nice with cereals, breads, juice and the hot foods.  

After breakfast we needed to go to Emily's home stay so she could get more clothes before our massage appointment at 2:00.  I was able to write my blog with unlimited wifi, as at the hotel I am limited to 120 mb per day.  When I booked the hotel it said free wifi, but I guess that doesn't mean unlimited.  Such is the life of a traveler.  

Talia used almost every spice and my glasses case to demonstrate to Emily how to get to where we were going.  After all her time and energy it was fruitless because Emily took a wrong turn.  We got so terribly lost but, as always,  in the end we got there.  I was quite impressed with how much of the city Emily has learned to navigate through especially since she is driving on the other side of the road. 

Well, we finally got to the Medi Spa and since it had been raining most of the day the walkway was very slick and I turn a little spill onto my right back thigh.  Good thing I was going for a massage.

The room where we had our massages was in a large communal room with 4 tables.  We were the only two so it was o.k. but it could have been a bit awkward to take our clothes off with others in the room. 

We both enjoyed our hour long massage for $40.00.  Because the U.S.dollar is so strong, nearly 10-1, everything is quite reasonable for us.  Food and drink is also extremely cheap for us.  I know it will be quite the opposite when we get to Europe.  We're living it up now.

Since Emily needed to be at her dance call at 5:00 we decided to have a meal after the massage across the street at Arnolds.  

They offered fresh squeezed juice so I tried the "green" juice.  I trying to be good and eat my fruits and vegetables.  We enjoyed a local fish that was grilled and a greek salad.  The portions are large here so we share just about everything and still can't always finish what they serve.

It was about 4:15 and still raining but Emily felt she could make it back to campus.

Then the nightmare began.  The roads were completely gridlocked.  We tried 3 different ways to get around but only continued to get stuck.  You can only imagine how frustrated and helpless we were.  Wait, I'm not in L.A.  Believe me when I tell you that Cape Town has traffic that rivalys L.A.  The only good part is that there are only 2 hours for "rush" time 4-6 p.m. and we were right in the middle of it The rain also did not help one bit.  Given this horrible situation,and by the way we were only going about 10 miles, we arrived at campus at 6:00 p.m. and in desparate need of the toilet.  So much for our relaxing "chill" day at the spa.

I dropped Emily off and went back to the hotel to take a shower and change my clothes.  Poor Emily couldn't have a shower but she was performing and going to sweat anyway.

I was in such a rush that I forgot my tripod to video tape the performance so I used my iphone and figured I'd video tape the next night.  Fortunately there were two performances.

Emily's performance was smashing.  She was in 3 of the 7 dances, and one of the stars (I might proudly add).   This dance group, while classes are held on campus, is a private company that Emily has been taking lessons with twice a week. The classes have been going on for 4 years but this was their first public performance.

Here's some of the first nights photos:

           

                 

After all her hard work, Emily wanted to have ice cream.  Her friend Chiari, who had attended the show and was going out with Emily after, went with us to the Creamery.  Yummy ice cream.  

Emily ordered her favorite, a waffle with a scoop of peanut butter ice cream that also came with chocolate sauce.  These were all hand made ice creams using all natural ingredients.  Of course I was offered to taste every one of them.  The people in the shops and restaurants are extremely gracious and want to make sure you are happy.

I wanted something a bit lighter and had the apple crumble.  It was so cute, it came in a mason jar and on a plate with a scoop of salted caramel ice cream. 

After our sweet stop, I dropped Emily and Chiara off at a club called The Tiger.  Since it was Halloween, even though it isn't really celebrated here, many people were dressed up.  

I on the other hand, drove back to the hotel and after such a hectic day was glad to be back in my room.