We’ve been here for nearly a week now and are happy to report that we love our new city! Cape Town is a beautiful, cosmopolitan city, and I really think that we are going to like living here.
We landed on Thursday morning and used some hotel points from my consultant days to check into a Westin. It’s probably not the best place to get exposure to real Cape Town culture, but it was an extremely comfortable landing pad for jet-lag recovery and getting oriented with the city…which we REALLY needed after 3 days of traveling and the luggage catastrophe at Heathrow (we are still waiting for our bags and discovered that, in the frantic moments of unpacking and repacking our bags at the airport, we managed to leave some really important items in our shipped bags and both ended up with a bizarre hodgepodge of clothes…this has resulted in some very “creative” outfits).
After a solid 24 hours of hibernation/recuperation in the hotel, we emerged into the light of day and began exploring the city. Since then we’ve been doing some of the typical touristy outings, while also checking out potential neighborhoods and getting to know the city. Some of the highlights have included: hiking atop Table Mountain (stunning 360 views of Cape Town, anyone?), late afternoon lunch in the BEAUTIFUL seaside neighborhood of Camps Bay (prettier than Malibu), and our excursion to the Cape of Good Hope (where else can you see views of two oceans, an ostrich, a baby penguin and a baboon in the span of 15 minutes?).
I also should report that we feel MUCH safer in Cape Town than we thought we would. Quite to the contrary of what we’d heard from some people before we left, there are NOT gangs of thugs roaming the streets of downtown Cape Town attacking innocent bystanders at random. What we did see, however, during our first day wandering through the city were families picnicking on the grass at Green Point, couples enjoying lunch at outdoor cafes, and moms riding bikes with their kids on the promenade. I felt a little silly for being so nervous when we left the hotel earlier that day. Sure, South Africa has a high crime rate, and yes we are still being careful and using a healthy dose of caution, but we are both relieved that the safety situation in Cape Town is not nearly as dire as the typical American perception.
-Julia
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| From Africa 2010 |
Our beautiful new city!
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| From Africa 2010 |
Stunning views from Table Mountain in a crystal clear day!
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| From Africa 2010 |
Taking a breather from our hike
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The top of table mountain really is quite flat
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Camps Bay
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Self explanatory
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Cape of Good Hope
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Chris and our tiny rental car. We only drove on the wrong side two times that day...
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| From Africa 2010 |
Baboons!
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| From Africa 2010 |
This baboon decided that our car was the place to hang out..for quite a while actually
Click here to check out the full highlight reel from our first week in Cape Town.
4 comments:
Baboons! I love it. Cape Town = safe, Jo-burg = not. Still be careful but I'm glad to hear how beautiful you are finding it!! :)
I meant lions and tigers and baboons...oooh my! Great photo's. Keep them coming. We may get your father there yet. I'm actually disappointed that you saw preambulators not thugs....don't get stuck there.
Love Mommykins
You silly silly Americans ;-)
Baboons!!! That's awesome. Glad you guys arrived safely and I can't wait to read more of your adventures :-)
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