Midweek Break

While last weekend was the official full moon hike on Lions Head, I went for my own on Wednesday. Grant and I have been working pretty long hours (and he's an earlier bird than me!) so I planned a break for Wednesday. After work, I did a quick change at the apartment and raced to Lions Head hoping there would be enough people around and it would be light enough to hike. I made it to the parking area by 7pm and there were at least 20 cars. There's really one path up (excluding the chains shortcut) and I felt comfortable with safety in numbers (even though the numbers were strangers). I made it up in 30 minutes and the sun had already ducked behind the clouds at the horizon. I started talking to 2 guys at the top who started down as I stretched and sat to take in the views. On the way down, I caught back up with them at the chains. Since they offered to walk together, I came down slower pace and used the headlamp once it was dark.

All safe and well and a much-needed midweek release.

Complete Disbelief

I still cannot believe that I'm back. I arrived last Tuesday morning (one day late) and within the first few days, overcame the jetlag and moved into an apartment in the Waterkant district.

Driving on the left still keeps me on my toes and I have walked to the wrong side of the car a couple times. The first time it happened was in London and it was the sharp reminder that I was actually going back to Cape Town. On Day 1, the biggest surprise was not the radio playing the latest hits like New Kids on the Block's The Right Stuff - the radio still leaves much to be desired - but seeing the people at the next table get rand (instead of dollars) out of their wallet. Cape Town is so familiar to me in terms of the city, the accent, and the culture that differences catch me off guard.

My first weekend was full of Cape Town's finest: early Saturday morning hike up Platteklip Gorge on Table Mountain and took the ride down. It was my first ride in the cableway and it was beautiful (and much faster). In the first picture, you can see the new stadium for the World Cup on the right of the picture.

After a fabulous breakfast with Grant, we went to Franschhoek to a few vineyards and a picnic at Rickety Bridge. We took a different route home and found an Afrikaans monument near Paarl and stopped for a look.

That's the end of my pictures; Sunday was store visits, grocery shopping, Australian Open watching and a few afternoon beers, and an evening dinner watching the sunset on Camps Bay.