Hi there.
Sorry about the unpleasant comments being posted in response to my entries. I don’t know how to stop the spam.
I’m currently in the departures lounge waiting to have my weekend in Germany to see my chums. It’s an overnight business class flight, so I should be able to sleep tonight, arrive in Berlin tomorrow and see Sandra, catch the train to Muenster to see Ying & Ali, and then fly back to Joburg Sunday night for work Monday morning. Phew!
My memory is dim about what I’ve been up to, it’s been so long since I’ve updated my blog. Sorry about that. Here goes:
After Sun City, I arranged meetings with some key stakeholders in Cape Town on Thursday and Friday, with the intention of staying on for the weekend too. I flew in on Wednesday night, was upgraded to a Mercedes and dined around the place. Meals are very expensive in Cape Town. Thursday & Friday were more or less working and going out for dinner. After work Friday, I met Ronald and his wife, and after I explained that I planned to climb Table Mountain by myself Saturday morning, Ronald’s wife volunteered him to be my guide. Off we trotted up the mountain, while I cursed my decadent lifestyle over here. It was a big climb - just under 1200m and 4.5 hours all up. I think we must have done alright, because we overtook about 6 parties, and only got overtaken by 1. We got to the top, had a beer, and caught the cable car back down again. Apparently this was the route that Jan Smuts used to always walk for fitness. He must have been a fit old bugger. I went back to the hotel to have a nap, and then took off to the Cape. Saw some baboons on the side of the street in the Cape nature park before getting to the Cape itself. I bought a return finicular ticket out to Cape Point to save time, because I had a fairly early dinner reservation at Baia restaurant (really nice). I got to the top with a bunch of sweaty German tourists and then poked around for a couple of hours. It was really interesting. The damned finicular closed 30 minutes early and stranded me needing to walk back. I tell you I was bloody sick of walking by this stage of the day. I hooned down riding on the coat-tails of my rage, got in my car and raced back into town. Got into town late, had dinner (it was superb), then went back to the hotel and crashed.
I got up Sunday morning and went off to Franzhoek, a wine region recommended by my hotel hosts. It was a long drive, and it was very pretty. In retrospect, it probably wasn’t worth going so far, as most of the wineries were closed because it was Sunday. I was surprised, shocked and dismayed. I did have some good wine and some really great cheese tasting, so it wasn’t a total bust. The lunch that I was looking forward to wasn’t worth the wait either. I swerved back to the airport, dropped off my Merc and got on-board. Flight was uneventful and I was back to a Volkswagen again.
Week of work…
The next weekend was a reasonably quiet one. Saturday was raining, so I aborted my original plans to go out the the meteorite crater near Pretoria. Instead I chatted up the hotel information desk girl and booked myself on the Sunday morning tour of De Wildt Cheetah park. I called up Anna & Peter and headed over to their place for some excellent chicken for lunch (Peter’s secret is to inject the meat with the spices - it works a treat). That was great, and then I went back to the Lion park to hear the lions roar at sunset. I didn’t want to pay again, so I parked just outside the entrance gate and talked to the girls who were on the gate. They were volunteers from around the world who came over to do a few weeks playing with the animals. I heard the lions roar and ended my evening.
Sunday morning I went to the Cheetah park and looked at wild dogs and cheetahs for the morning. I then headed out to the meteorite crater and walked about there. I got absolutely drenched on the walk back, and drove home through one hell of a rainstorm.
I did another week of work, and now it’s Friday night and I’m at the airport lounge waiting for my flight to Germany. I’m very excited to see my mates again - should be great! I made a good trade with Peter to borrow a heavy coat in exchange for bringing home some German spices for him (Peter’s German). Gotta get my flight now. I’ve heard Lufthansa business class is pretty average, so hopefully it won’t be too painful.
Cya,
Bryce.