Cape Town

January 22....

Last night we ate at Masala Dosa for a delicious Indian Dinner.

We each had the "dosa" (a thin rice and lentil pancake which is filled with either meat or beans)

Tom's appetizer...  indian bread (naan) with curried chicken, spices and hard noodles..  excellent !

In the restaurant -- huge manaquins  :-)

Then we headed to a bar in downtown Cape Town.. that had free wifi and let me blog for free for awhile (the Holiday Inn Express is stupid expensive for wifi).

Notice the Zebra skin in the background store window...  Very cool but also over $1000 USD.

This morning we went to the Iziko South African Museum and Slave Lodge.  This building, completed in 1679 was built to house 9000 slaves, convicts, and the mentally ill.  The tour was very interesting.. it was 'hosted' by a man who really lived back into the 1600's who guided us through the various rooms.  His tour is based on his diary he wrote when he lived in Cape Town and delivered salt to the slave compound.  

At that time, the Dutch were constantly bringing in fresh slaves from Africa, India, China, and Indonesia.  About 10% died on the trip to Cape Town, and then once they were here 10-20% died every year due to the retchid conditions.

By law, Slaves were not allowed to wear shoes,  talk to other slaves in the streets, etc.   Non-Christian marriage was tolerated because it led to slave babies who could be sold off for profit for the Dutch (Dutch East Indian Company).

Along with slaves, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) - no idea how they got those initials... started a garden (farm) in Cape Town to supply their ships rounding the horn of Africa.

 Here I am at the begiining of their garden... still present today and quite lovely...

Here's Tom in a huge rubber tree... hundreds of years old...

Just so that you know our vacation is not all 'fun and games', we went to Joe Soap Laundromat to do our dirty clothes today.  This dog was waiting patiently outside in his car as his master did their clothes as well.

Tom was working on his computer inside the laundromat...

As you can see in the distance, Table Mountain was cloudy when we started our laundry.,,,

and when we were done, it was clear !

After laundry... another walk and then a rest at a cafe.

While we were at the cafe, a very freindly gentlemen with an outrageous oufit joined us.    He told us he is the 'Egg Man' and that Nelson Mandela was calling me....

After the Egg Man, we did some shopping and then got hungry.  We then found the Caveau Wine Bar.

This was a delicious tapas restaurant -- probably the best dinner we had in Cape Town !

At this restaurant, they have one of the oldest wine vines in South Africa...  dating form 1781!  It is just 'hanging out' in one corner of the courtyard restaurant. 

After tapas, we ordered the house special of Bread and Butter Pudding...  it came with homemade vanilla ice cream.. amazing !