Day 3 Capetown and Winelands

The Table Bay Hotel is beautiful and the location is fantastic - right on the harbor. Buffet breakfast is included, and it is awesome. All kinds of fruit, fresh juices, American foods, mushrooms, yogurt, local foods: the list goes on and on. We spent the morning walking around the wharf (we needed to after that big breakfast). I went to Vodacom and rented a phone for the week – it only cost about $2.50 per day plus $1.99 per minute. I hope I don’t need to use it much, but it gives me peace of mind in case family needs to reach us, or Sharon has an emergency at the office. I can return it at the airport in Johannesburg, so it’s very convenient. (Of course, if my cell phone provider had service in South Africa, I wouldn’t have to rent a phone at all). We had fish and chips for lunch – linefish (equivalent to our fresh fish of the day), calamari, shrimp and snoek. It was a little greasy but very good.













After lunch, we met the rest of our group for the first time – 14 in all.: 2 couples, one mom and her 25 year old son, 4 girlfriends, and a dad and his 12 year old son. We have a very diverse but congenial group. This should be fun! Our tour this afternoon is of the winelands. South Africa is known for their wineries, and especially for pinotage, their signature wine which is a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsaut. The drive was beautiful and we saw our first wildlife: a herd of zebras and ostrich along the way. After wine tasting at Neethlingshof Estate we drove back through Stellenbosch, a college town which was very charming with oak trees dotting the streets. We had about an hour to check out the stores and take pictures before returning back to our hotel. Here is where I made my first faux pas when it comes to currency exchange. I bought a fun little bracelet for what I thought was $5 and I it was really $50. I've got to get this money thing down! I won't make that mistake again.

We had one dinner at the hotel included in our package, so we decided to use it tonight. Dinner was fantastic, with the chef surprising guests with a complimentary appetizer, soup or dessert. We received a complimentary soup (in addition to the soup we ordered) which was fantastic (cream based, but I don't really know what it was). Tomorrow is another full day of sightseeing, so it's off to bed.