Ironically, we did not do anything 'youth' related on Youth Day. Rather, Kirsten, Mimi and I spent part of the day wandering around Hout Bay, a costal suburb in Cape Town. Unfortunately, it was kind of rainy and gross but we snapped a few pics before the real rain started.
We spent the early afternoon in the Cape Town aquarium which was pretty much like any other aquarium I've ever seen although the sharks did get us excited/terrified for shark diving. (We did learn, however, that sharks only killed 4 people last year and defective toasters killed 476 - or something along those lines - so hopefully that puts Mom at ease.)
We had an appointment at 3:30 for high tea at the Mount Nelson hotel - described as "one of the best high tea experiences in the world". I haven't had many "high tea experiences" but this one certainly topped my list. We were shown to a corner of the room with couches that sank as soon as you sat in them while the piano man played song after song. The menu was filled with all sorts of teas and you could try as many as you wanted - vanilla was my favorite but we tried at least 6. That wasn't the best part, though. There was a large table in the middle of the room that was filled with little sandwiches, quiches, cakes, cookies, brownies, etc - exactly what I'd expect out of a tea party. We spent two hours eating and drinking tea and believe we could have easily stayed another two (perhaps with a nap as well) - unfortunately, the tea room closes at 5:30 but it was the perfect activity for a rainy afternoon.
Friday we went for another run along the promenade, made dinner as a group, and then ventured down to a bar close to our apartments and ended up singing "American Pie" with the rest of the bar while a guy played guitar for us on stage.
Saturday morning started very early. We made it to the base of Table Mountain at 8AM and Daniel (one of our buddies from work), Kirsten, and I spent the morning hiking the mountain. We chose the most direct route as it was the quickest way up and had the best views. However, most direct also means steepest - we spent the entire 1.5 hours walking up rock steps that are carved into the side of the mountain (think stairmaster for 1.5 hours on a hard level). Luckily, the weather was absolutely perfect and the views were fantastic. Totally worth it.
[I had read before our hike that during apartheid, Table Mountain was deemed a "whites only" area and as such, many still view the mountain as solely for whites or tourists. I didn't really believe that could still be the case but during our trip up the mountain, it was definitely true. Pretty eye opening to realize that the first democratic elections in South Africa - with people of all races being able to vote - was only in 1994. I was already nine years old.]
Spent the afternoon over a leisurely lunch with Daniel and our boss, Martin (it was Daniel's birthday) and the evening watching a movie we rented from the video store in the mall.
Sunday, however, was not our best day. It started off quite well - slept in late and had a late brunch in a cute little area in CT. We had heard (and read) about this great market on Sunday by the stadium so spent a good chunk of time driving around looking for it - only to finally hear it had been shut down. Afterwards, we made our way to the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens (very Longwood Gardens-esque) which was beautiful. We planned to spend a few hours wandering around the grounds before dining in the restaurant on the property where there was a live concert scheduled. However, it started to pour within 45 minutes of our arrival and after speaking to a few of the employees, learned that the concert had been cancelled and the restaurant would not be opening (we can only assume due to the weather). As such, we headed back to our apartments, made dinner, and went to bed early.
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