We’re staying at the Cape Grace for three nights. Today is the first full day, and we made some plans to fill the day. But before that, let me give you the obligatory review of our accommodations.

We booked three rooms: one for Sally and Me, one for Abs & Trey, and one for the three youngins. All are equal (1), but our room is more equal than the others.

Our room consists of the following areas:

• A large bathroom/closet/vanity area
• A large bedroom with two club chairs
• A large living room with a couch and dining table with four chairs
• A small bar area off the living room

So, a large suite. This was an upgrade; I don’t know how Sally manages to get us upgraded perhaps 50% of the time.

The other two rooms didn’t have the bar area and were smaller, but still plush with separate bed and living rooms. And also upgrades.

The rough plan for the day was Table Mountain in the morning, and wandering around the V&A Harbor area in the afternoon. Interspersed with appropriate meals and snacks.

Table Mountain is a must-see Cape Town sight, written up in all of the guidebooks. There are three ways to enjoy Table Mountain:

1. Just look at it from the city. It’s really big, and visible everywhere. You can guess from the picture above from whence it got its name – the flat top or table.
2. You can take a cable car ride up, and enjoy the views from the ride, from the summit, and can also take some short hikes on the summit. Four of us: Abs, Squeakers, Sally and I chose this option.
3. You can hike up on one of five different trails. The hikes are only 2-3 miles long, but climb a bit over 2,000 ft. The remaining three – Trey, Munchie and Bassgirl – took this option.

Unfortunately, the picture above is the mountain as seen yesterday; today, the weather was not quite as cooperative. It’s hard to tell, but (a) these two pictures are approximately the same view, and (b) Table mountain really is in the second picture behind that thick cloud.

Anyway, when you’re on vacation, why let a little cloud interrupt your plans? So the three hikers left around 8:30, and the softees planned to arrive at the summit via cable car around 11:00 to meet them.

By the time we reached the summit we realized that our stay would be pretty short. Waiting for our cable car, we saw it appear out of the cloud. When we disembarked at the summit, the weather was dreadful. Cold, windy, mist blowing in our faces. You could see maybe a hundred feet or so.

Suffice it say, we waited for the three musketeers to reach us and then we all went back down on the next cable car. In fairness, the hikers did say that the weather was fine for most of their hike. It was just near the top that it got really nasty.

We made a quick stop at the hotel to regroup and change clothes if needed, and then headed back to the V&A waterfront for lunch and to do some shopping. There’s always lots going on there: musicians, singers, We also bought some stuff. Sally bought some small bowls to match ones that we got last time we were here; Sally and Abs both bought winter coats to wear on the safari drives later this week and next.

I should mention the food here. We’re generally enjoying it. Like everywhere, some is better and some is not so great, but overall it’s been very pleasing. The hotel has a nice buffet breakfast. In advance of the trip, we had our travel agent make reservations in three restaurants, one for each of our Cape Town evenings. Wednesday night was a “casual” place in the V&A waterfront, which meant jeans (2) are acceptable. Last night we ate in The Black Sheep. We were all a bit skeptical, as the menu was unusual and it was supposedly upscale. However, we were very impressed – we had several dishes and they were all good. Despite the billing, we found that jeans are acceptable.

Also, the food here is very inexpensive. Draft beers are $2-3, local wines are $18-25 for a bottle in the restaurants. We had dinner for 7, with drinks appetizers and deserts, for $209 !

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(1) see Animal Farm (G. Orwell)

(2) Due to our severe packing constraints, jeans form a major part of everyone’s wardrobe. I have two pair of pants, one of them jeans.