My best day

The best day on my trip was my day of sightseeing around Cape Town.  I got up early and started out in Muizenberg.  I took some pictures of the city against the mountains and the coast -- beautiful.  I headed South to Boulders Beach to see the penguins!  That's right, penguins!  African penguins!  One of the coolest things I have ever done!  They have wooden boardwalks that you can walk out and get within a few feet of the penguins.  You come out to Foxy Beach and there are globs of them just chillin' on the beach.  Boulders Beach is next to Foxy Beach and is the beach that you can actually swim with the penguins.  Granted most of them hang at Foxy, but one brave soul wandered over to Boulders when I was there.

Driving further South, you head towards Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope.  Contrary to popular belief, neither one of these capes are where the two oceans meet; that is actually Cape Aquinas -- a few hours west of Cape Town.  Cape Point has an old elevated lighthouse that you can hike up to.  When I was there, it was a beautiful sunny day and I had breathtaking views all around -- of the oceans, of the peninsula I had driven up, and of the lighthouse.  I just took and took pictures.  The Cape of Good Hope is actually only a couple of miles down the beach and is the Southwestern most point of Africa.  I went there, took my picture with the sign, and had a few Ostrich crossings.

Outside of the park, there is another market.  You feel kind of sleazy at the markets although you can get way better prices than the shops.  99% of all shopping experiences go so something like this:

Vendor:  "Hello my friend"
You: "Hi"
Vendor: "Your Welcome"
(Your eyes look at an item for three seconds and vendor sweeps in like a vulture)
Vendor "You like?  I give you good price"
You: "How much?"
Vendor: "Normally 150 Rand, but for you 120"
(You decide you aren't interested and try to walk away"
Vendor: "This isn't a store, How much you want to pay?  You tell me how much you want to pay"

Moving on from the market, I drove along the Coast.  The sun was beginning to go down, so I stopped every five minutes to take an even better photo of the coastline.  I eventually reached the world famous Chapman Peak Drive.  It costs about five U.S. dollars to go on and it's worth every penny!  This drive is built on the side of a cliff face (it is periodically shut down to falling rocks);  I was halfway expecting 007 to come racing around the corner while I was there.  I took some incredible photos here of Houk's Bay that could have been postcards -- wow!  I drove further and caught some people having wine as the sun was going down.  I continued on past kids playing soccer and eventually made my way to Cape Town.  I took some pictures of the Stadium and then my found my way to the beach.  I took some stunning sunset pictures as a sailboat sailed on by.

I then finished my day by heading to the top of a famous neighborhood of painted houses -- called Bo Kaap.  At the top of the hill, I ate dinner at a Malay restaurant called "The High Noon Tea Room".  Malay is a traditional fare that does not serve alcohol.  There was only one other couple in the restaurant so I grabbed a seat outside with the most incredible view of Table Mountain (the mountain overlooking Cape Town).  I ate a meal of traditional fish with some sort of Rose milk drink that was similar to a milkshake -- outstanding!  An absolutely wonderful way to finish a most stunning day.