SP came to town! Day 5

I was told that the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens were a must-do in Cape Town. So, consequently, I obliged, and took SP there for both our first times. 

The opening view.

It's exactly what its name describes: acres of exotic plants and lush gardens artfully arranged. SP made a key observation: the gardens aren't "artfully arranged" like a completely manmade pedicure, but rather, "organically" cultivated. They look like a natural outgrowth, all the more charming for it. 

Here follows a whole bunch of photos of flowers and plants of Kirstenbosch:

I believe the significance of this tree was that it was really old... or something...

Statues of dinosaurs with mountains in the distance.

Cactus! Except it's not... something related though... (maybe?)

I really liked it, but SP loved it, so we spent a good amount of time here. We then proceeded to Milnerton to lunch with my beloved Tita and her family, feasting on tons of game:

After which SP and I hung out on the beaches of Table View, to view Table Mountain at sunset:

Always left breathless.

We ended the day with a performance by Alvin Ailey. Truthfully, I had never heard of them until SP told me a friend of a friend of hers was the principal dancer in the group and that she had seen them perform before in DC, and was moved to tears. Here is the said dancer:

She was incredible. And not only that, she was exceedingly generous: she secured free tickets for me and SP. And the performance was awesome. I was most impressed by the variety: acts ranged from classical ballet to hip hop with a real narrative. I actually liked the hip hop narrative the most, called "Exodus" -- personally interpreted it as having parallels with #blacklivesmatter. 

Gardens, game, Table Mountain, dance theater. All in all, a great day. 

SP came to town! Days 3 and 4

After SP's conference, I picked her and a couple of her new friends up and took them upon request to a nearby cheetah reserve. One of her friends and I had already done the cheetah thing before, so only SP and the other friend actually petted the cheetah while we hung back. No pictures here. Afterward, SP and I went to Pot Luck Club, a fancy tapas style restaurant near Woodstock (hip neighborhood in the eastern part of the city):

I do not recommend it. It certainly had some quality dishes, but nothing really wowed me or made me think that I had gotten my money's worth (my first and perhaps only real expensive restaurant expenditure thus far). SP generally agreed. I felt like we could have gotten more value and joy from just buying food at the food market at the Waterfront, which I will describe in a later post as it was certainly a favorite lunch haunt for me. 

Anyway... the next day we took a day trip to Hermanus, about 1.5 hours away, in search of whales:

There is a long walking trail in the town of Hermanus where whales are often seen. SP and I saw only one whale, but nonetheless, it was exciting! And to be honest, the best part is just the trail itself:

Spectacular clouds, mountains, sea. And a great friend! 
It really lets you get your mind off things. 

After eating a quick snack, we headed back and decided to take the scenic route, dropping into Betty's Bay, hearing of more penguins. At first, we found a beach that reminded me of Dover in England:

Very quaint and serene, but not what we were looking for. We drove a bit more and realized we had turned a little too early... and after a bit more searching, we found them:

The park was technically closed, but we were still able to get delightfully close to the penguins this time around. They were actually a little more interesting than the colony in Simon's Town because their habitat here, with numerous walls, bushes, and natural rock formations, forced them to move about in interesting ways, whereas the penguins in Simon's Town generally were just hanging out on the beach. 

After we departed the penguins yet again, we stopped a couple of times along False Bay for yet more spectacular views:

If I remember correctly, we ended up watching Still Alice once we got back to the apartment. I really did feel like Julianne Moore earned her Oscar there. 

A lovely day! Days 5 and 6 to come. 

SP came to town! Day 2

Day 2 was a journey in search of penguins and breathtaking coastline up and down the Cape peninsula:

After a hearty breakfast at a cute bakery (Olympia Cafe) filled with good coffee and seductive chocolate croissants, we followed the tracks down south...

...to arrive in Simon's Town, searching for penguins:

At first we only saw beautiful, rock-filled beaches with mountains in the distance, but upon looking more closely...

Penguins!

After satisfying our penguin-viewing ambitions, we went further south to reach the Cape of Good Hope -- not the southern most tip of the continent, but still an extremely windy, gorgeous place to hang:

Looking up to the lighthouse:

We decided we had to go down there! The view looking backwards:

Turns out there's another lighthouse down below:

Accompanied by a monkey on our way out:

I had gotten SP to sign up for paragliding off Signal Hill (right next to Lion's Head), so we headed back up the peninsula, this time sticking to the western coast for different but still similarly majestic views:

The famed Hout Bay:

Once we drove up Signal Hill, we settled into waiting for the right winds for our paragliding venture, and found just the right frame:

#collegefriends

After waiting for about an hour or so, we jumped off! Truth be told, this was perhaps the most disappointing part of SP's entire visit. The glide lasted the minimum amount possible -- maybe three minutes or so -- and SP's knee was aching and slightly injured due to the climb up Lion's Head the day before, which her tandem paraglider utterly ignored. We perhaps could have lingered a bit more down the peninsula if not for the paragliding session, but alas. At least it did offer a fantastic view of the city, even if only for a short while:

That pretty much ended our day. We relaxed for a bit at the apartment before going out for dinner in Hout Bay (advice for future travelers: not worth it to try to find a restaurant right next to the water for the sake of dining during the sunset, stick to more established places). The next day, we drove over to Stellenbosch early in the morning to drop her off for her conference, thus concluding the first half of the adventure!