Friday, December 1, 2006 I drop off Will at 7:00 AM at the V & A Waterfront to pick up Robben Island tour ticket cancellations. Back to Drive Africa to pick up the truck – now packed by Leon (their friendly and knowledgeable SA mechanic) with all of the camping equipment. Will meets me at Drive Africa with two tickets! We make plans to go to the Table Mountain cable cars at noon and Robben Island at 3:00 PM. We take a kombi downtown. We eat at a place we found and like and get a cab for the cable car station but are disappointed to learn from the driver that the cable cars have been closed due to high winds (and more clouds). We substitute a scenic overlook tour via the cab. The driver provided a running commentary which was a worth the extra fare – never mind all the beautiful overlooks.
(Will and our cab driver looking out over Table Bay, Robben Island in the distance)
(The Foreshore and wharves, Table Bay, Cape Town)
(The Central Business District and Devil's Peak, Cape Town)
We walk down to the ferry only to be told that the Robben Island tour is canceled due to bad weather (too much chop in the bay). We absorb this disappointment (after three days of trying) and after some more walking (to the train station) we board a commuter train for Fish Hoek.
(View from the commuter train looking south over False Bay toward Fish Hoek)
This turns out to be fortuitous as the afternoon provides fine weather. Fish Hoek and its approaches on Kalk Bay remind me (in miniature) of certain seaside towns in England. We return but leave the train at the Rondebosch Station in order to walk around the campus of the University of Cape Town. Will is considering the International Baccalaureate program – possibly in South Africa -- so this is doubly interesting.
(A view of the central, formal part of the campus, University of Cape Town)
(And two views of the informal campus: students "get up" on a pedestrian underpass, University of Cape Town -- second image shows defacing/erasing "The Homos Still Govern")
(A football "pitch" and another view of the formal campus of the University of Cape Town)
We end up at the Chinese Restaurant (again) unexpectedly as Observatory is the site of yet another movie shoot and the Indian restaurant we had hoped to visit is reserved for the film crew. We saw four different movie location “shoots” while in Cape Town (this includes the one we had just encountered at the University). Will is desperate for “ethnic” food after weeks of cooking for himself in his village in Namibia – so the Chinese food is not entirely unwelcome.
(Cecil Rhodes statue: "I dream my dream...." -- looking north at University of Cape Town)
Labels: Cape Town, Fish Hoek, University of Cape Town
