I’m calling today “Day 3” with Days 1 and 2 being travel
days. Monday evening I flew from
Minneapolis to Amsterdam. While still
at the airport in Minneapolis, I learned the bad news that Brad “left” OC in
Uptown. The place is becoming way too
corporate.
It was nearly noon Tuesday when I finally made it to Central Amsterdam. Didn’t do much other than lunch and dinner, it was somewhat cold with some snow/sleet in the air. I crashed early as I’m on the tail end of a cold and didn’t want to aggravate it. Up early Tuesday for a 9:30 flight to Cape Town, an 11 plus hour flight. Finally finished reading Dan Brown’s “Lost Symbol” on the flight. Even being an 11 hour flight is was pleasant; I decided that KLM provides better service than Delta (not really a surprise). Arrival in Cape Town was nearly 10 PM and it was just after 11 when I arrived at the hotel. Killed about an hour catching up on the world before heading to bed.
I took a 2 hour hop on/hop off bus ride around town to get a lay of the land. After the ride I wandered around V&A Wharf for a few hours, including lunch. V&A Wharf is modeled after San Francisco and Sydney wharfs, maybe a little more here. It’s only about a decade old, they did a good job.
Lunch at a brew pub named Mitchell Ale House, it’s along the lines of Herkimer’s or Town Hall in Minneapolis but with better food. Very reasonably priced, I had a sample of their 6 beers for 50 Rand and a pint of one of the better beers from the sampler for 27.5 Rand (about US$ 3 at 9 rand to the dollar). Including a sea food platter I spent just under 200 Rand (just over US$20) including tip. No, this is not an expensive city.
The ocean is amazingly blue, however, cold. The winds are such that the water off the beaches is colder in the summer (now) than in the winter. Surf boarders wear wet suits with the water temperature being in the 60’s degrees F.
Perhaps by the end of the trip I’ll have learned how to fix the light in the photos.
I took all of the pictures, I own the copyrights.
It was nearly noon Tuesday when I finally made it to Central Amsterdam. Didn’t do much other than lunch and dinner, it was somewhat cold with some snow/sleet in the air. I crashed early as I’m on the tail end of a cold and didn’t want to aggravate it. Up early Tuesday for a 9:30 flight to Cape Town, an 11 plus hour flight. Finally finished reading Dan Brown’s “Lost Symbol” on the flight. Even being an 11 hour flight is was pleasant; I decided that KLM provides better service than Delta (not really a surprise). Arrival in Cape Town was nearly 10 PM and it was just after 11 when I arrived at the hotel. Killed about an hour catching up on the world before heading to bed.
I took a 2 hour hop on/hop off bus ride around town to get a lay of the land. After the ride I wandered around V&A Wharf for a few hours, including lunch. V&A Wharf is modeled after San Francisco and Sydney wharfs, maybe a little more here. It’s only about a decade old, they did a good job.
Lunch at a brew pub named Mitchell Ale House, it’s along the lines of Herkimer’s or Town Hall in Minneapolis but with better food. Very reasonably priced, I had a sample of their 6 beers for 50 Rand and a pint of one of the better beers from the sampler for 27.5 Rand (about US$ 3 at 9 rand to the dollar). Including a sea food platter I spent just under 200 Rand (just over US$20) including tip. No, this is not an expensive city.
The ocean is amazingly blue, however, cold. The winds are such that the water off the beaches is colder in the summer (now) than in the winter. Surf boarders wear wet suits with the water temperature being in the 60’s degrees F.
Perhaps by the end of the trip I’ll have learned how to fix the light in the photos.
I took all of the pictures, I own the copyrights.