Catching up on our Capetown visit

Since the boys didn't thoroughly document our time in Capetown, I am going to fill in some gaps with this post. 

Having suffered through the suboptimal food in Bulawayo, we were thrilled to get an approximation of Thai food during our overnight stay in Joberg. We also picked up some French pastries and other goodies the next morning at the French bakery Paul, which was within walking distance of our hotel, before we departed for our flight to Capetown.

Upon arrival, we got our rental car and drove to drop off our luggage at the flat where we'd be staying. It was really lovely with views of Table Mountain, which were often obscured by the clouds as it rained most of the time we were there. It was also exciting to finally have access to a washer, as it had been over 2 weeks since we last cleaned our clothes in a machine rather than the sink! It will be so nice to use a dryer when we get home. Although the electricity situation is not as bad as in Zim, South Africa does do load shedding, so the power shuts off on a schedule at certain times of the day.

We hit Neighborgoods, a local artisan market that I'd also been to in Joberg 5 years ago. After perusing the goods and buying a top for me, we hit the food stalls. Most of them were about to close, but we got some pani puri, samosas, and freshly squeezed juice. 

Later that afternoon, we checked out the colorful Cape Malay neighborhood of BoKaap before going to an Indian restaurant with a set menu called Thali. Each menu was supposed to serve 2, but they allowed the boys to get 1.5 portions, cutting down slightly on the courses. We still had way too much food and took the naan, lamb, and fish curry back to the flat with us. At some point in Bulawayo, we had started playing hearts and spades, so we also played while we were waiting for our food. At home, we typically allow the boys to bring books to restaurants, but they are only able to read on their iPads here because we really tried to cut down on overall weight and bulk. 

The next morning, Kyusik and I were finally able to go on a run along the waterfront. I had been itching to exercise since it had been over 2 weeks since I last ran. Of course it started raining on us mid-run. After returning to shower and pick up the boys at the flat, we set out for the Oranjezicht City Farm market, which had local produce, goods, and food stalls. Since we knew we needed to stock up on food that we would take to Zim, we bought 3 types of jam and cheese. We also bought a lovely woven basket, apple juice, and some passionfruit and had breakfast pastries, a crepe, Cape Malay food, and a pseudo Asian bun with barbecued jackfruit that wasn't very good. 

Later that afternoon, we set out for Kirstenbosch, the national gardens that rightly deserve its accolade as one of the great botanic gardens of the world. It was adjacent to Table Mountain and has a spectacular collection of flora, including many varieties of protea, a beautiful and unique flower. There is also a cool canopy walk along a steel and wood bridge designed after a snake that sways as it winds its way among the treetops. The boys got out a bunch of energy by running around. 

For dinner, we picked up pizza for the boys to eat at the flat and then took off for a very fancy meal just the two of us at La Colombe in Constantia, a suburb of Capetown. This restaurant has made top 50 restaurants of the world lists and was a treat. At the start of the meal, you open a tiny envelope that contains a handwritten note that says, "Food is our theatre. We hope you enjoy the show." that is signed by the chef. One of the courses was a snowcone, where they wheeled this big hand-cranked machine to your table to churn out the ice and then give you a choice of 3 different unique, house-made syrups. I also had one of the best and most inventive desserts I've ever had, where they first froze a long-stemmed rose in liquid nitrogen before topping it with a rose and coconut meringue and chopped cashew. 

The following morning, we had brunch at this fantastic restaurant before setting out for our drive down to the the Cape. The route took us through lovely seaside towns, including Noordhoek, Boulders Beach to see the penguins, and Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. It is deemed one of the most scenic drives in the world. We concluded the drive with Chapman's Peak, just as the sun was setting. As icing on the cake, we went to an Asian fusion "tapas" restaurant on the 5th floor of the same building where we had been for Neigborgoods. We really enjoyed the creative, interesting food. 

The next morning I had to present to the Zimbabwe National VMMC Steering Committee, so Kyusik took the boys grocery shopping to stock up on dry goods for our time in Zim. They returned with peanut butter, a couple bags of nuts, and at least 6 bags of "crisps" to add to our stash that already included a couple bags. I met them at a foodcourt for lunch which was ok before we set off for a quick hike of Table Mountain. It was a rather strenuous hike with a lot of elevation gain (2,400 ft) over a short distance (2.6 miles) but we did it in about 1.5 hours, which is the time it is supposed to take very fit people. We were especially impressed with how quickly Acadian charged up the mountain, even with very large steps. Although Bryce is typically a very fast hiker, he was very dehydrated because we didn't bring enough water along with us, and he didn't have much if anything to drink at breakfast or lunch.   

We had to rush back for Kyusik to do a bunch of work and have meetings, although he dropped the boys and me off along the way to get more groceries. We polished off our leftover Indian food for dinner while also packing to depart for Harare the next morning.