So, Beverly decided that getting her nails done took precedence over a tour of Cape Town, so once again I was on my own. I signed up for the included tour, which was OK. It began with a drive through the city, including stops at significant destinations, such as where Nelson Mandela made his very first speech as President. We went next to what they call the company gardens. It’s actually a botanical garden, but it was originally created to grow all the necessary fruits and vegetables for the ships employed by the Dutch East India company. They even left part of the gardens as it was designed originally so that you can see what it first looked like. There were also some significant structures within the gardens, including the first synagogue in Cape Town, a natural history museum, a planetarium and others.
We drove out of the city to the rather extensive, and unbelievably expensive, beachfront communities where 1500 square-foot apartments go for over two million US$. The views are truly incredible. We drove past their soccer and rugby stadium on the way to the V&A shopping complex, a huge Mall with something like 300 stores on three levels. I found Beverly in the nail shop and we agreed to meet at a pharmacy while I took off for DHL to retrieve an important package from home. Google said it was not very far, but after a 2 mile walk, I decided to take an Uber back
By the time I returned with the package, it was time for lunch. The sun was warm but the wind was chilly. We dined outside at a nice seafood restaurant called Quay Four that looked over the pleasure craft marina and had a delicious fish and chips lunch. Finally, we stopped at Woolworths, which is a huge grocery store, department store, craft store and beauty supply. We purchased enough chips to get us through the rest of the cruise. We then took the shuttle back to the boat. Beverly crashed and I spent the next hour all by myself in the swimming pool.
BEVERLY
I couldn’t stand that green nail polish one day longer. Plus the last time I had them done — well, let’s say I could have done better myself. A pedicure and gel polish only cost US$57! What a bargain. Even lunch was inexpensive. The dollar here is very strong.
So what was the mystery package? Apparently we either left a few things at home or lost it. It was medication that I need. Deborah was able to pick it up at home and send it via DHL for arrival on this date. We were really sweating it because yesterday DHL said that it was still in customs. Michael spent quite a bit of time corresponding with the customs agent who said he would do his best to get it to us. We had the one day for this to happen and by golly it actually worked!
The ship was supposed to depart around 5pm this evening, but because of the extreme winds, we are going to overnight here in Cape Town. Unfortunately, since everyone has cleared customs and immigration, they’re not allowing us off the ship.
This cruise is steadily going downhill. Because we couldn’t get into Richard’s Bay, the folks who had planned to do a five day overland safari got canceled. So, more and more people are leaving the ship and are going to do their own Safari. I’m not sure about the entertainment, if they can’t get here or what, but it is lame. Tonight they’re showing the movie Barbie.
Here is a bonus picture of table mountain today with the clouds swirling about it
