"Adventure is out there!" ~Ellie from Up
Well, we made it! We arrived safely in Capetown this morning, and our first tour guide, Andrew, picked us up and took us to our hotel. He is a very nice British man. Just between you and me, I heard my mom subconsciously picking up his accent at different times throughout the day.
Cindy:
Our flight from London was a little different than our first flight. It was technically 9pm, but it was the middle of the day at home, so I stayed up all night watching movies. Side note: the movie "Her" with Joaquin Phoenix is just plain strange... And long. But anyway, I got this shot of the moon hitting the clouds somewhere over Algeria:
I finally fell asleep at about 4am, and when my mom woke me up, we were about an hour from Capetown. When I finally got the courage to open the window blinds and let the light pour in, this is the beautiful view that I had:
It is absolutely gorgeous here. When we got off the plane, we were met by two very nice ladies holding up a sign with our names on it (first time for me! Very fancy...) and they helped us get through the immigration and customs process. Then we met Andrew. He is so full of knowledge! He makes me want to be a tour guide... That might actually be a lot of fun. Anyway, he drove us to the Mount Nelson Hotel, where we are staying for three nights before we move on to Johannesburg. Andrew gave us a run-through of our itinerary, as well as some trinkets like a safari hat and necklace, and then gave us time to get acclimated and settled in.
The hotel is just gorgeous. It was originally a private estate built in the early 1800s, and has been renovated only just a little to bring it into modern times. You feel classy just being here. Here's the view from our bedroom window:
And here's a view of Table Mountain from another one of our windows:
And here's an elevator decorated to look like a library (warning: this picture is not suitable for book lovers. Many books were harmed in the decorating if this elevator.):
We also made some bird friends today. We have no idea what they are, though. We just know that some of them sound like crows that are on drugs:
Today has been a wonderful day. Tomorrow, we get to go to the Cape of Good Hope and see penguins! Honestly, I don't even care what we are doing for the rest of the day as long as I get to see penguins.
Last but not least, we captured a shot of the moon rising over the city before the sun went down, and it is worth sharing!
Well, as you all heard, we made it. Long flight. The hotel is beautiful and our room is spacious and very comfortable. We had dinner tonight with Andrew, our guide for this part of the trip and learned a lot about the Cape Town and surrounding area. Tomorrow we start our adventure with a trip to the top of Table Mountain by cable car (adventure for me) and then onto the Cape of Good Hope - so watch for our blog tomorrow - hopefully, with amazing pictures.
Coming in from the airport, we were both stunned at the level of poverty in the shanty towns that line the highway - very sad. The government is trying to providde housing for these people, but it's pretty overwhelming to see and hear about. Downtown Cape Town is very pretty - looking forward to seeing more tomorrow after a good nights sleep.
Hugs to all....
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