Just Don't Feed The Baboons: First Time I Felt Like A Tourist

Today I went into Cape Town and got the Hop-On - Hop -Off Bus at the V&A Waterfront. The bus is essentially for tourists who want to go all over Cape Town quickly. The route I chose stopped at places around the city center. There is another route that goes much farther into the wine lands and into the botanical gardens.

I first went to ST. George's Cathedral. Just a few blocks away from the train station, this massive, beautiful cathedral seems out of place. I felt like I walked into Western Europe when I saw the big stained-glass windows surrounded by old Gothic architecture.

Next I went to the National Art Gallery. It stands next to the Jewish Museum and the Planetarium and is by far the biggest building of the three. I was expecting to be in there for hours but two out of the four exhibits were "under renovation." The two that were open were still quite interesting. The first was a sampling of random art from all over South Africa - no joke the exhibit was called "Random Sample." The other was exhibited displayed photographs of a South African magazine that depicted the life of the rather important Indian population in South Africa. I had no idea that there was such a population but apparently they were quite influential in political as well as social issues.

Because the bus stopped at the Nelson Mandela Hotel, I decided to stop into the perennial 5-star hotel of Cape Town. It was nice but compared to the other things I visited, it was forgettable.

I then grabbed lunch at the restaurant in the gardens across the National Gallery. It is a mission of mine this week to try snook- a local fish of the Cape that, according to every South African I've talked to, I must try. Even the audio person on the bus mentioned that "you should not leave Cape Town until you try smoked snook." Unfortunately I have been going to the wrong restaurants because I have yet to see it on a menu including the restaurant I went to today. Disgruntled but starving, I settled on the grilled hake.

I then took the bus to the Gold of Africa Museum. The gold itself wasn't all that interesting or impressive to me but there was a room that showed the timeline of Africa through the production of gold. It was absolutely fascinating as it started before the Egyptians in 2500 BC and carried across the centuries as the gold market exploded.

The bus then took me through some of the smaller towns in Cape Town and up to Table Mountain. Instead of returning through downtown. It went behind Table Mountain and into Camps Bay and Sea Point. I didn't get off there but I'm planning on going there tomorrow as it looked like one of the most beautiful and fun towns in Cape Town and I have never been there .

After going along the coastline for another half hour, we soon arrived at the V&A Waterfront. I was about to start shopping for souvenirs until I realized that the last bus that going past the train station left in 3 minutes. It is definitely on the list for tomorrow, as well as the District 6 Museum which is apparently "The most powerful museum in Cape Town"

Some site seeing pics: