Day 18 - Art for Africa

Today started out rainy and windy, foiling some other plans. So instead we headed to the Museum of Contemporary Art Africa -which is a brand new museum of modern and contemporary art by the African diaspora.  When I say new, I mean the museum opened a month ago.  They are still figuring out their facility (the restaurant isn’t open yet, and bathroom signs hard to locate) but more importantly they are still trying to figure out their curatorial philosophy.   But they had a large initial donation of art and there is a good collection in place already.  Much of it was disconcerting and painful to see - the African experience is complicated - but it was cool to be in a brand new museum finding its place on the world stage.  

Afterward it had stopped raining, but Table Mountain was wearing a tablecloth as the locals say 

We came across another seal hanging around the harbor.

We did see lots of kids out at the waterfront on school outings.  Both little ones holding each other’s shirts in a train. 

And some others who posed (or hid) from my camera. 

We felt sorry for these kids - we thought they were waiting for a show since they were seated in a small outdoor amphitheater-  but really they were just waiting for a Kentucky Fried Chicken lunch (one of the only American fast food purveyors with much presence here) and it didn’t come for quite a long time.  They were really very patient.  

We tried to shop, ate a lot, and went to a “secret”gin bar hidden inside the back of a chocolate shop.  

The airport tells us Christmas is coming - so I guess it is time to come home.  

Hey Cape Town - thanks for all the fun.  

Day 17 - Cape Signs

We ventured out for breakfast today to an isolated farmhouse on the cape peninsula.  We were the only customers, but they made a nice cappuccino.  

They were also very practical in their bathroom fixtures- nothing wasted on a farm. 

The last time we drove around the cape, we skipped one of the main activities, which is the obligatory photo every tourist takes at the sign for the Cape of Good Hope.  That’s because there was a dead stopped probably two hour line to get in. Things were quieter this morning, so here’s that obligatory photo. 

The views at the nearby original lighthouse were good (no longer used because it wasn’t useful to ships due to the frequent cloud and mist obscuring it from view - they built another one lower down to do the naval work and leave this one to accommodate tourists). 

This is how far we will be traveling to get home 

And this is the daily shot of my wind blown crazy Hair. 

Look -Rich gets crazy hair too!

We arrived here my funicular.  Believe it or not, yesterday’s cable car up Table Mountain was smoother. 

Since today’s focus was to get our picture by a sign, I thought I’d share one whose meaning doesn’t require language.  I think this one gets the point across pretty effectively. 

Today we met Kat’s ostrich goal, and found a free ranging sea-view loving ostrich family.  Mom gazing out at the sea,

And at us. 

With 4 babies nearby

Also curious about us 

But the cape zebra remained elusive- this is the only one we saw. 

We stopped at some wineries in n Constantia - at Klein we tasted in the original cellar. The paintings on the wall were done at a party celebrating the end of  the second World War 

At another winery we shared a fantastic cheese board. 

And took note of another sign. 

Then it was back to town to turn in the rental car.  We won’t miss trying to interpret road signs 

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We celebrated a successful driving adventure with a nice Chefs Warehouse tasting dinner in central Cape Town, and wandered around their first Thursday art (and drinking) festival for a while.  It was getting media coverage from the Travel Africa channel. Our traveling Africa adventure is almost over.  One more day and we starts the journey home.  

Day 16 part 2 - V&A to B-K

After our Table Mountain, we got a lunch table looking at Table Mountain, down on the V&A (Victoria and Albert) waterfront, which is a prime shopping, entertainment and dining destination in Cape Town. We were up to that mountain an hour ago!  Cape Town is smaller than it seems. 

We had some friends joining us for dinner - this bird who successfully plucked a french fry off our neighbors plate and swallowed it whole like a worm. 

And this one who was also eyeing our meal.

We had a seal too, though he was more interested in sunbathing and posing for the lunch crowd paparazzi 

He was ready for his closeup. 

if you have been following along, you may remember that our wine tram in Franschhoek had to stop at every driveway and have the flag man get out to stop traffic. It turns out Thomas the (tourist friendly) train requires the same service and had his own flag bearer. 

Though he sometimes has to push poor Thomas along.  

The  waterfront is very safe and tourist friendly, but a bit commercial for us. We wandered and people watched  a bit. 

Can’t escape Table Mountain in.Cape Town. 

We then headed to seaside Moulle Point for the first of two ice cream cones today, this one with a view of Lions Head and the sea.  We had to watch out for “errant” waves (the local parlance for waves splashing where they don’t belong ) but no riptides or errant waves could stop me from completing my cone mission. 

We capped the day off with a walking tour of the Bo-Kaap neighborhood, historic and current home to much of the city Muslim population. Originally brought here as slaves from countries like Indonesia, Malaysia. India and Mozambique, this became the Muslim home base after slavery was ended here by the Brits in the 1800s.  They paint their homes vibrant colors, and it’s a visual pleasure to wander around. 

Some local kids were playing soccer with a tennis ball 

But we just posed for a colorful photo. We had a nice tapas style dinner at Fork and a gelato around the corner, and headed back home.  A busy day in Cape Town.