The Wandering Chocoholic

Rainy morning

I awoke this morning to the happy news that Chicago had defeated Boston to win a well-deserved Stanley Cup. Overnight in Cape Town was windy, rainy and stormy, and the day loomed grey and dreary. I’d had all sorts of vague plans to see and do stuff today, but it didn’t take much convincing for me to decide to just be lazy.

So I basically hung around all morning. I did a load of laundry. I repacked my bags, with the lovely added challenge of fitting two bottles of wine into my checked luggage. (Traveling with wine used to be much easier in the days when you could bring it carry-on.) I confirmed my flight for tomorrow (and a good thing, too, since the time had changed by 6 hours and nobody bothered to let me know. Welcome to Africa.) I downloaded and watched the season finale of Mad Men (and all I’m going to say about that is HOLY CRAP!)

Museum day

Somewhere around noon, I started feeling guilty about all this laziness. So I took a taxi down to the city centre to check out some museums. I’m not normally much of a museum person, but with the lousy weather and my lazy mood, it seemed like a perfect way to spend an afternoon.

First, I headed to the Jewish Museum, which was pretty much what you might expect. It had one section on the history and modern-day South African Jewish community, and another building which was a Holocaust Memorial Centre. Actually, it wasn’t half bad as far as museums go, although I had some issues with how certain things were presented — I won’t get into them here. The most interesting part wasn’t actually a part of the museum at all; it was an art exhibit by children against xenophobia and racism directed at refugees from Zimbabwe or Somalia. I also visited the synagogue on site, which is a beautiful building both architecturally and in terms of its setup, and has an active community of about 800 members.

From there, I headed next door to the National Gallery. I didn’t actually go inside, but I spent some time visiting the lovely gardens out back, since the weather had cleared a bit and the sun was peeking through.

The neighbourhood seemed quite safe and there were lots of touristy-looking people milling about, so I felt comfortable walking around a bit after that. I headed in the direction of the District 6 Museum, stopping along the way for coffee at one of the most hipster-like cafes that I’ve ever seen. It was a large industrial-like space, and it had a steampunk theme throughout, with old typewriters at the bar, restored fixie bikes hanging from the ceiling, and a giant assembly-line contraption of gears and pulleys to make the coffee.

Next, I visited the District 6 Museum, which was incredibly fascinating and well put together, and was staffed by former residents of the district. For those who don’t know, District 6 was a mixed neighbourhood of Cape Town that was declared to be ‘whites only’ in the 1960s under Apartheid, and its non-white residents were forceably evicted from their homes. The white residents largely moved out as well, since the neighbourhood had become a ghost town. By the 1980s, it had been bulldozed and destroyed, and remains essentially empty until today, though some developments have taken place via land repatriation claims.

Last night in Cape Town

I wandered over to Long Street for a beer after the museums, but things were pretty quiet there so I took a taxi back to the hostel. I ran into Aussie Dave, fully recovered from his epic hangover last night and hard at work renovating the bar into a TV viewing area. We walked down to this great little deli for some dinner, and then came back to the hostel, where everyone was returning from their days out. I poured myself a glass of wine and got a rousing card game going with two Canadians from Nova Scotia (we’re everywhere, I tell ya!) and an Australian who’s been living in Zimbabwe.

At one point, klutz that I am, I knocked my wine glass over and some of it spilled on my laptop keyboard. Now, this little netbook of mine is over three years old and has served me well on trips to a half-dozen countries. I was a bit worried that this might be the end of it, but some quick thinking from one of the hostel desk staffers, an emergency dry-out operation, and about six hours of letting it sit upside down seem to have done the trick, and it’s working nicely now with maybe only a hint of red on some of the keys. Hopefully it will survive the rest of the trip, but if the blogging drops off, you’ll know why.

I basically just chilled out this evening. I watched a movie with the Australians, and helped the Zimbabwe guy repack his suitcases. Those of you who were hoping for stories of wild parties will just have to live with the disappointment. But the homey atmosphere at this hostel is really great, and I’ll be sad to leave tomorrow.