May 7 - We've arrived in Capetown

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The overnight flight (14.5) hours from Washington to Cape Town was great – very little turbulence, lots of choose from on the entertainment screen (I watched “The Whale” with an Oscar-winning performance from Brendan Fraser), good food and actually some sleep (at least for me) in our lie-flat seats.

We arrived in Cape Town to lovely sunshine, blue skies and warm temperatures. This is just the beginning of autumn here in South Africa.

We got through passport control with no problems, then retrieved our bags and found our representative from Thompson Tours. He guided us to our driver who whisked us to the Victoria and Albert Hotel. Along the way, we saw the dichotomy of South Africa – lovely houses on one side of the highway with mini-villages of corrugated steel huts on the other side of the road. There was a minor hiccup with our reservation – Colette and Sylvia will be at a sister hotel not far away for tonight; they will transfer here tomorrow night (then it became two nights). In my room with Sandy, the bed was made up as one king-sized bed. Nope. Housekeeping came and decamped us to two singles with one end-table moved in between the beds. Colette sent us champagne - we thought it was from the management as an apology for not getting the reservation correct the first time!

We rendezvoused about 6:30 p.m. and explored the charming waterfront area of Cape Town. There are lots of little shops and artisan boutiques that we will explore tomorrow. We saw two children’s choirs performing. So charming! We found a lovely restaurant by the water and dined al fresco. Great fish and chips! We called it a night shortly after 8:00 p.m. Sylvia and Colette came back to our room for a look around our digs and for a celebratory glass of champagne.

Our plan for tomorrow is to meet for breakfast and map out the day from there. All we have on the agenda is a dinner reservation at 6:30 p.m. Pickup is at 5:30 p.m. Lots of time to explore this vibrant city.Read more