CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA 

August 31, 2024

Today we have a free day until the evening when others on our tour arrive. There were supposed to be 8 in the group but apparently there are only 3 others. Since we had nothing on the agenda our guide suggested we go to the botanical garden. We headed off around 11am and got back just after 4. It was a very interesting place with many plants and flowers we’d never seen. Below are just a few. It was a huge place with many visitors having picnics and enjoying the day. It appears they host weddings and other events there and, as we were leaving I say a young bride entering with her gown in a bag over her arm. I guess this was her day!

 CAPE TOWN SOUTH AFRICA

August 30, 2024

Off for our scheduled wine tour. Lucia, our guide, picked us up from the hotel at 8:45 and off we went. Our first wine tasting was at around 10am in the morning, early even for us! The owner of the Mitre’s Edge vineyard talked us through her wines and the processes involved in producing good wines, not just the vinting but also the cultivation. We sampled several reds and whites.

After that we headed to a small town and did a little walk about while Lucia bought us a bag of the most delicious chocolates! Then off for lunch and another winery and tasting. On the way to the next tasting we stopped at a farm/ranch owned by a wealthy man who owns a huge car collection. We toured through 4 buildings but, apparently he has others somewhere on the property and rotates them into the buildings for display. 

We then had a nice lunch at another winery but no tasting and, as we left there the winery workers were cutting and chipping the old vine branches. Lucia likes to make her own grape vine wreaths so she asked for some and we loaded them into the car.

Off to our next tasting at Thelema Winery.

And one more winery to finish off our tour, Ken Forester Winery. Here too we had several tastings, all very good. We’re not really wine snobs so we don’t always like the most expensive wine but most that we sampled were very good!

It was a long but enjoyable day. Our guide is extremely knowledgeable and also very friendly and easy to talk to. We very much enjoyed our wine tasting experience. On the drive back, as on the way to our hotel on the first day we arrived, we took the highway that passes the shanty town area. There obviously is still a lot of poverty here and quite a discrepancy between the have’s and have not’s.

 CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

August 29, 2024

We had to check out of the hotel at noon so we left our bags in storage there and went out for coffee and a snack. We arrived around 4:30 at the airport and it was packed! We had a pass for the lounge but it was also packed and they would only allow us 2 hours and recommended we come back later. So we did that and finally boarded the plane at 10:30 pm. We arrived in Cape Town at 11am and were met by our guide at the airport. 

It is freaking cold here, sunny but 12 degrees. Our hotel is lovely but our room is also cold…still trying to figure that out. Below are a couple photos of our hotel. Tomorrow we will head off early for our wine tour.

London UK

 August 27&28, 2024

We tried to take in the Natural History Museum but it was a bank holiday so it was NUTS!! Thankfully it was free and spending only one hour didn’t break the bank. A beautiful building and we’re sure it had many great exhibits but we  couldn’t deal with the crowds.

After escaping from the museum we headed to the graffiti tunnel. We were very impressed with the talent but it seems wrong to paint over some of the great art. A painter told Ralph that the great ones usually last a while but others only a few days.

Then we did a little walk about before finding dinner and going to the Michael Jackson musical. We enjoyed the dancing and singing but didn’t enjoy the whole production as much as Back to the Future. We wouldn’t recommend it.

We couldn’t believe how many buses there were…transit and tourists. Very busy time!

2024 OUR TRIP TO AFRICA AND EGYPT WITH A STOP IN LONDON

August 26th, 2024

LONDON ENGLAND

We left home August 23rd and arrived the afternoon of the 24th. We’re here 4 days, then fly to Cape Town to begin our African adventure.

We took the tube from the airport to our hotel in Paddington. After checking in we went out for pizza and because we were dealing with jet lag, we packed it in for the night.

August 25

We had breakfast in the hotel and tried to come up with a plan for the day. We wanted to book a free visit to the museum but all the spots were full so we booked for the 26th.  We then  tried to figure out the subway system/routes in order to get to Leicester Sq. to find the discount ticket box office and see what shows were available for today. We booked BACK TO THE FUTURE MUSICAL for 3pm and did a walk about in the square and Trafalgar Square as well. There was a great female busker singing a song by Adelle in the square. We did an enjoyable walk through the canal area nearby (Little Venice)and another walk beside the Thames.  We then headed to the theatre for the show at 3pm while wondering how it would be possible to actually produce a musical about this movie that we love.

OMG…it was amazing! We couldn’t believe how they managed to follow the movie so closely…it had a live orchestra with unbelievable music, singing, acting, sets, costume changes, dancing, and background screen displays that allowed us all to “go back in time “! ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS! We weren’t allowed to take photos but below are a few of the outside of the theatre, the display by the bar inside as well as some  others from our walk-about beforehand. Just a terrific day!