suz-mae: Out and About in Cape Town

13 November 2012

Out and About in Cape Town

After our chill days at our hosts’ home, we were taken on our first outing to downtown Cape Town. We were given a vehicle to drive, buuuuut it required a lesson first.

IT WAS LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD DRIVING… AHHHHH!!

Mike did very well. He had a great lesson from our host and after that I was almost always on high alert to warn him when he was about to veer into the curb or cross the center lane line, or turn into the wrong lane. Yikes! I have to say it was a bit stressful, especially at the beginning. By the end of our trip he totally got the hang of it. I never really attempted it, save one three minute ‘just do it so I can say I did it’ session in a residential area once.

This different-side-driving was also made complicated by the fact that the vehicle was a standard, meaning he had to learn to shift on the opposite side too. He was a champ, only occasionally jolting the vehicle and all of its inhabitants from choosing the wrong gear. Way to go!

Girlie didn’t seem to know that our safety at the point in time was a bit questionable. Ha!

That afternoon we were treated to lunch at this lovely establishment. The Grand Beach.

It was right on the coast… duh! And the furthest south I had been in my life up to this point. It was a lovely overcast day. I say lovely because in our home city we mostly get sun sun sun! Which is great, but a cloudy day is wonderfully comforting and refreshing to this mid-western girl.

I love restaurants that have space for kiddos to play.

Empty bottle cap = Hours of entertainment.

Tiny sandy toes and ruffle jeans. Love.

We then drove up a narrow curvy road to the top of Signal Hill to see the view of the city and coast. I tried to remember to breathe as my husband continued his driving lesson on the challenging road with steep drops just feet off the pavement.