Wednesday, January 13th - Johannesburg to Cape Town, South Africa

We were up early today: the others at 4:30 so they could relax and wake up over their coffee, and me at 5:30.  We had a quick breakfast and were all packed up and ready to go before 6:30 when the taxi arrived to take us to the airport.  Check in and security were quite quickly at the airport so we had some time to relax at the airport and do Internet but none of us could get logged in to our free time so that was useless.  However, we did get about three free newspapers to read so the time passed quickly.

The flight to Cape Town was 1.5 hours and we were served a hot breakfast, which was surprising.  Air Canada can barely get you a drink on that length of trip, but South African Airlines can serve you a full meal and have everything cleaned up well in advance of landing.  It took us quite a while to get our bags and we were just about the last to leave the baggage claim area.  We looked all around for someone who might be meeting us but did not see anyone with our names on a sign.  We got some maps and information from the tourist desk and they helped us get a cab, which we took to the apartment.  Strangely enough, he knew exactly which building we were going to and what the process was for getting in so I guess he has dropped people off there before.

Once inside, there is a security desk.  They called upstairs to get someone to come down with the keys.  The lady who appeared was very nice but didn't speak a lot of English.  The apartment itself is very nice.  Fran and I took the bedroom with two beds in it.  Randy took the couch - said it was easier since he'd be the first up anyway.  The kitchen, living room and dining area are all open in the one area and quite large.  There is a floor to ceiling window along the outside wall and, as a result, the room is very bright.  The view is pretty amazing too as we look right out at Table Mountain.

We relaxed for a bit and got settled in.  Actually, we relaxed for quite a while because the view was so nice and because we were up so early.  Eventually we got hungry so we decided to go for a walk around the local area and for lunch.  The Truth Cafe was recommended for having good coffee and it was only a couple of blocks away so that's where we ended up.  The cafe is quite unique as it appears to be in an old factory building or warehouse and they haven't done a lot to fix it up.  There are pipes everywhere and really strange art on the walls and long tables with benches so you just sit wherever you can find a place.  The coffee was good (I'm told) and the food was pretty good too.  The place was packed and obviously very popular, especially with the younger set.

After lunch we went back to the apartment and sat around a bit longer while we tried to figure out what we wanted to do in Cape Town.  Everyone's first choice was to go up Cable Mountain but we could see very clearly from our living room that it was covered in cloud and you wouldn't see much up there.  When it is covered with cloud they say it has a table cloth on, which is quite appropriate for a table.   And it really does look like a table as it is much higher than the rest of Cape Town and it appears to be perfectly flat on top.  The cloud definitely ruins the view so you don't want to be up there when it is cloudy but you can get there as the cable car does work.  The cable car does not work when it is too windy and the wind blows a lot in Cape Town.  Supposedly the cable car runs 365 days a year but in fact it only actually operates about 250 days because of high winds.  You have to be lucky as a visitor to get up and get a good view.  Today was not the day.