Wednesday March 16th 2011

I woke up, showered and decided that in order to get my bearings on the city, I was going to take the hop on hop off city sightseeing bus. (Emma’s flight left this morning so she was no longer at the hostel) I got on at a stop a few streets over from my hostel and stayed on until the bus got to the Table Mountain Cable Station. I bought a two way ticket because there was no way I would be hiking that mountain by myself. The cable cars themselves fit 65 people and the funny thing is people will all try to get the best place to stand, which is by the open window areas, but as soon as the cable car starts to go up, the floor starts to rotate so everyone gets all the views. The cool thing is that the cable car itself doesn’t rotate just the floor where the people stand.

Once at the top I basically wandered around. There are little trails all throughout the top. I stayed mainly on one trail but also went for a little while in the klipspringer trail which is longer and less domesticated. The views are amazing up at the top and there is a surprising amount of vegetation. Some of which that can only be found up there. I came back down and got back on the bus and ate my sandwich while riding. I was on the top at the very front but this bus didn’t have a covered top part so I was right in the sun. Hence the tan I’m going to come back with. I rode the bus around to Camps Bay, a beautiful beach area where sometimes celebrities can be spotted. We passed more beaches as we moved our way up the coast and I then got off at stop number one. The Two Oceans Aquarium stop. I liked this aquarium but it’s not the best I’ve ever been in. It did amuse me for a few hours though and I absolutely loved the giant spider crab exhibit (these things are huge!) the kelp forest exhibit (which is just plain beautiful) and of course the predator exhibit (with the ragged tooth sharks). I also loved that when they switch the rockhopper penguins between their outdoor and indoor habitats, they walk them straight through the aquarium. I was by the touch pool looking at the starfish when three little penguins quite happily waddled in front of me, following their keeper.

After the aquarium I bought some granadilla/mango ice cream (which for some reason had grenadilla seeds all throughout it; like watermelon seeds) It was still good though. I then wandered a little through the V&A Waterfront area, looking into the various shops before hopping back on the bus near the clock tower. It took me to greenmarket square, where all the craft vendors are. These were all things I had seen before though so I didn’t buy anything. At which point I headed back to my hostel. I hung around, cooked dinner, and headed off to bed at 10 again. (My poor body is so confused about the times because for a week and a half I was getiing up at 5:30 everyday and being in bed by 930 and then the last few days I was getting up around 7 and then not going to sleep until 1 or 2 in the morning.)