Thursday 10 July 2008
After getting a good nights sleep on Wednesday night, we hit the ground running. It was time to get a quick and dirty orientation of the city of Cape Town. It is not a hugely expansive city, at least the central part. We went from hill top to sea shore in about 20 minutes. We also spent some time at the waterfront for a great lunch. Yasu had some business to take care of so I was on my own for a few hours which i thoroughly enjoyed. I wandered around St. Georges Mall. It is a street that traffic has been blocked off from. There is anything from African , fish and chips, hawkers, and of course large and small store fronts along the street. I even made my way to an underground shopping area that was, how shall I put it, depressed. I saw and Woolworths and was curious. The department store which has branches all over the city sells your basic stuff. What it had that was a little out of the ordinary was a food store. I was walking back to where I was to meet Yasu and I saw a store front that captured my eye. There were pieces of fabric that had the most amazing brilliant colors and patterns to them. I walked into the store to find three women in the process of stitching, ironing and fitting customers in traditional African clothes. There were some very stunning pieces on display. I tried on a few but because i did not have alot of time, I told the woman I would probably return some time next week. After regrouping with yasu and Godfrey we went to the waterfront for lunch, the deli we went to was good enough. I had a salad with a twist. It was a mixed green salad topped with superbly fried chicken livers. The description said it was inspired by a similar dish from Sylvia’s in NYC. I have not been there in a while so i can not say if that is the case but I was very happy with my choice. The livers were nicely spiced and cooked perfectly. The waterfront area seems to be one humongous indoor mall. We walked around a bit, I exchanged some money and then we left to see more sights. We ended up on the top of Signal mountain. From there we could see the whole of Cape Town. The city is surrounded my large mountains a distance from the water with housing and businesses carved into what looks like a basin. The weather was not cooperating so I did not get good pictures at that time but i am going to make an effort to get back there before I leave to get some pictures. I think a night visit would be best. I just hope I can manage to get the adjustments on my camera to work so the pics look half way decent and not like some blind child took them. We headed home after getting some food and alcohol supplies and Nando’s Chicken take away for dinner. Believe it or not, I have not done any cooking yet. I might actually get away with being a true tourist for the whole time I am here.
Friday 11, July 2008
Still trying to get adjusted to the time here. We did not get up and about until 1000. Yasu again had a little bit of business to take care of so I told him to drop me in the neighborhood he was headed in and i would catch up with him in an hour and a half or so. I had to find an internet cafe to mail out the first installment which you all have received by now. I hope there were no problem opening the attachment. I will try to avoid attachments going forward, as much for my benefit as yours. It took me an hour and three internet cafes to get that first message out. The first two places i visited just did not have compatible software for me to send the Word document. Not such a simple task I found. Anyway, I did finally get the message out. Once all of the process type work was done we were all ready to eat, again. We went to Camps Bay, a sea shore beach area that reminded me of Hampton beach in New Hampshire. Small but with a nice warming feeling, nice restaurants and a great view of the ocean. We arrived just prior to the crowds. We found a parking space and as we began to walk towards the restaurant, the ever present “meter maid” asked how long we would be. We guesstimated a few hours for lunch. She told us it would be 10 rand. (that is just over a dollar) We all looked at each otehr and once out of her ear shot we commented that we did not think that she was an official parking monitor. It looked like she just added a yellow strip to her jacket and started to stake her claim along the beach front area. What is interesting around the city is that there are people whose job it is to monitor parking and collect fees. I supposed it is a way to get people employeed. Anyway, we had a nice lunch and indeed we did take a few hours. We are really in no hurry to get “there.” Wherever there may be. We ended up back at the apartment to hang out for a while. A quick nap and some planning for the next day out of the way we went out to dinner. Yasu and I opted for Japanese food this time. We went to one of his favorite places where he is still notorious...I have not found out the whole story behind that one yet. But I will. I am not promising to pass all along the juicy details...unless they are REALLY juicy. We called ahead for reservations but there was absolutely no need. Being winter here the places are just not as full as they might be. We were seated in a room maybe 20ft. X 20 ft. We were the only people in there space. It was a great space, just very empty. And there was an echo. And a bit of a chill. The later was sorted out by a small space heater being brought to us, much like a portable fireplace just for us. We also had a waitress who I there had no other customers. I could feel her hovering on the other side of the room. She was nice enough. The food was great. From sashimi, to an unusual seaweed salad, broiled fish and them some sushi. When the chef / owner noticed yasu, he came over for a nice little chat and after they got reacquainted, he sent over some of the best otoro ( fatty tuna) I have had. It just melted in your mouth. We completed the meal with red bean ice cream and left stuffed and buzzed...Did I forget to mention the bottle of wine and a nice bit of hot sake, just to keep us warm of course, you know, medicinal purposes. I think we were there for three hours. The time flew by. As it turned out having our own space made for a special time for us. We got back to the apartment and had plans to go out to a few bars and or clubs but....we sat on the couch and before we knew what hit us, we had a blanket wrapped around us and that was all she wrote. The next morning was to bring our first visit to wine country.
Saturday 12 July 2008
Not wanting to just wander aimlessly around the mountains of South Africa, we did some planning last night. Because there were some places we thought would be must sees, we thought it prudent to make reservations when possible. I was up bright and early at 0800. I had my list of places to call and get the scoop. I think I struck out 100%. Every place I called either was closed the day, had a wedding going on so tastings were a no go, lunch was not served until late in July....the list of excuses went on and on, I wonder how they knew we might be stopping by. Conspiracy theorist here. I made a couple of cold calls and I think that was the best thing I could have done, other than just roaming around, which we ended up doing and had a kick ass day. We pulled out of the drive thirty minutes late, it was 1030. We estimated a 45 minutes drive. It took all of 5 minutes before we were on the N2 highway making our way to the Stellenbosch region for a day of drinking and eating.....is ther a pattern here that you folks are noticing....if you are picking it up, just ignore the implications........ Cloudless sky’s, moderate temperature, good music and great company....we were moving along the roadways. Within minutes i noticed something that was out of the ordinary. The countryside bordering the highways began to be cluttered. I was not sure what it was at first but then it struck me. There were “shanty towns” sprawled arcoss the countryside for what seemed like miles at a time. Many of the structures resembled steel containers that had been cut in half. Above about half of them were electrical lines which resembled the infrastructure of a circus’ big tent. Wires cascading down to each of the units to provide some semblence of basic infrastructure needs. Yasu noticed me looking closely at the structures and commented that they are all illegal. Blacks living there to be in close proximity to the city and jobs he informed me. I tried to reason, probably my mistake, that if they aer illegal, how can they have power supplied to them....not computing....From the highway though it was a depressing sight. For literally miles on end I saw these structures that housed people. I would call it a desparate circumstance but i have not been here long enough to make that claim. After about 20 minutes I saw nothing but pure countryside, mountains, some snow capped, others whose peaks were covered in clouds. Thirty minutes later we were seeing vineyards. Our exit of the highway was fast approaching, our taste buds beginning to bloom, and pockets beginning to cry because they knew they would go home with many fewer Rands that they were stuffed with at that time. For those of you who have been wine tasting before you know that even though you are not drinking alot of wine, hmmmm....maybe I should rephrase that because I know some of you and that is exactly what you would be doing. Typicall you taste a wine to get a sense of it complexities, nuances, potentail for aging, resale value, Shelf appeal, and snobbery...oops, did I say that. Yasu and I both prefer red wine so that is primarily what we were interested in tasting. Our first stop turned out to be the best of all. (We were able to stumble through five vineyards). Not to get into alot of details about all of the wines that we tasted but we ended up purchasing a few bottles of a port that had an unbelievable finish. Not too sweet but a perfect balance of tannins, sugar, and fruity body while not being overly haughty....how was that description, should I become a writer for a wine magazine? I may have to hide that bottle once I get home...... We made a few more stops and tasted but did not purchase. We did, however, obtain a substantial buzz quotient. It was time for lunch....and soon. We asked a few of the tasting professionals and one place was a constant. We chose that location, Guardian Peak, for our lunch. We arrived before what was to be a full house and got the last non-reserved table in the house. They specialized in pairing their meals with their wines and they did not disappoint. From the beginning offering, a sauvignon blanc, to the end with a pecan cheese cake, we had a fabulous meal. Can we make it home? I was in better shape than Yasu so I started driving after lunch.......I had no near misses but I just do not like driving on the opposite side of the road. In a pinch I will do it but as a practice, I will let Yasu be the chauffeur this week. We stopped at one more winery on the way home but ther was not much interest on our part at that point. We were wined out. Enough for the day. We did dedicate ourselves to making another trip before we leave. The ride back was uneventful with the exception being two locations where traffic was stopped or severely slowed by the presence of baboons in the roadway. All in all....a great day but a long one. I am tiring now, we have not decided on dinner and it is approaching 2100.
Stay tuned for more.
Cheers,
Craig
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