Tuesday in Cape Town

The mist started early. Soon after we got up we could see the wet pavement outside our window. The B&B staff started clearing the outdoor tables and table cloths because of the misty rain. We ate our breakfast inside.

Hindsight is 20/20 but if we could have done the tour of the peninsula on Monday in the brilliant sunshine and then the sight seeing bus on Tuesday under the cloudy weather that would have been the best. But who could know? As it was we headed out up past the roundabout that takes one to the Table Mountain or Signal Hill or the roads that lead to the coast line. Soon we were on our way.

This was to be my first major drive with the opposite everything; opposite side of the road, opposite side steering wheel, stick shift, clutch, etc. But to my relief all went well. No accidents to report (at least not by my driving).

On a clear day there could have been many places to stop to view the beautiful scenery, unfortunately with the low hanging clouds there was not much to see. So we stopped occasionally for a few photos and at a 100 year old cast iron lighthouse.

Off we drove south, down, down, down to the very end of Africa, the southern most tip. We made our way past towns until there was nothing but scrub brush, fynbos plants as they are called. The weather hadn't cleared completely but it was better.

At the 'end of the world' was the famous Cape, originally named the Cape of Storms by Vasco Da Gama when he rounded it in 1492 or so. But King John of Portugal wanted a better name for the route that would bring the Portuguese wealth through trading, he wanted it named the Cape of Good Hope. When a king changes a name it sticks. But many a vessel has been lost around the

Cape. Did you know that the phrase, women and children first, came from a shipwreck off the Cape peninsula from British naval officer whose ship hit a rock or shoal and began to sink? All the women and children's lives were saved, but the men lost their lives. And did you know that the legend of the Flying Dutchman originated right off the Cape of Good Hope? Great stories amidst all the tragedy.

The science station on the Cape declares that this is the cleanest air in the world, where the breezes of the Indian and Atlantic ocean to the south blow away the dust and pollution. Indeed it sure smelled clean to us. We saw a trail in the ocean that looked like a division between the Atlantic and the Indian, we saw off shore several kms away a place where the ocean water was spraying, rising and falling. Shipwrecks had happened there, a dangerous place.

After spending time walking the paths up to the old light house and the path to the look out point we finally made it back down the mountain back to our vehicle and off to find penguins and food. We found both eventually with the little Jackass Penguins in Simon's Town (which also happens to be the home port of the South African navy). These little guy didn't look all that imposing until they opened their mouths to call. And sure enough, they sounded like the donkeys we hear all the time in Addis Ababa! We found a restaurant that we had looked up on TripAdvisor online called The Salty Sea Dog Restaurant, great fish and chips of course! We ate until we were full (in my case past full).

Our trip back to CT was a bit harried since we hit traffic during rush hour. We had planned to stop at the oldest winery in South Africa but missed the exit, so much for that. We also thought about stopping in at the Kirstenbosch gardens, a must see we were told, missed that turn off as well. We were told there would be plenty of signage to indicate where to turn. Nope. I did see the turn off for the Cecil Rhodes Memorial on Table Mountain so we turned off there. It is a huge memorial but not much more. A large statue of a horse and rider and half a dozen large bronze lion statues and a columnaded memorial. The view was impressive as well.

I'm getting better at finding my way around CT. It is ironic, of course, that I will get to know it just as we're leaving. We found our 'home' at Tintagel quite easily in spite of the rush hour traffic. Just us and an old fashioned map. It was great. We relaxed for a while then headed out for an evening snack. I wasn't hungry at all (since we finished eating at 4 p.m.) but Wanda was. We thought of just buying fruit or a sandwich at the local supermarket (Woolworths) but in the end Wanda suggested McDonalds down the street and that is where we went. Wanda got a 'happy meal' size meal and I ordered 2 ice cream cones. That was enough.

OK, time to start this day and climb every mountain (here in CT) . . .