The Cape's East Coast and Penguins!!!

Our priority over the next few days was to climb Table Mountain, which was very weather-dependent (the wind had become rather over-powering as of today). Also, we wanted to climb Table Mountain with the yet-to-arrive Canadian, Glen. He didn’t show up at the airport when his flight came in, and there was no record of his having checked in at London either! With some of Mark’s friends (another South African called Mark, would be too confusing to go into any more detail!) searching for the missing Canadian, we headed south to explore some of the coastal towns near Cape Town.

First stop – Muizenberg, a once-popular seaside resort nicknamed “Jewzenberg”, it had fallen into dis-repair, but was undergoing re-development (as evidenced by the construction work we witnessed). Nevertheless, the town had plenty of character, especially the brightly-coloured huts along the beach.

Beach Huts

Next stop on our tour around the Cape Peninsula was Kalk Bay, a picturesque fishing village. We wandered along the harbour wall, spied some seals playing the choppy waters, and passed by fishermen fixing their lines. Colourful boats, fresh fish being sold, and seagulls – just what you’d expect from a fishing harbour. Our appetites whetted by the sight of freshly caught fish (and its being around noon), we had some delicious fish and chips at Kalky’s, which proudly promised to serve the best “Feeesh und Cheeeps” in Cape Town :) And it probably was.

Kalk Bay Harbour

Our hunger sorted, we headed on to the main attraction (for me at least) – Boulders Beach, and the colony of African Penguins. The car park by the beach had these amusing warning signs:

Penguin Warning Sign

Walking from the car park to the main tourist beach (Foxy Beach), we saw several penguins lazing around in the shrubs and dirt just behind a fence, a good hundred metres or so up and along from the beach. How and why they ended up here we weren’t quite sure. At the entrance (the beach is a National Park), we purchased our Wild Cards (to be used for Cape Point National Park and the Kruger Park), which was considerably more expensive for non-nationals. Ah, don’t you love tourism? There were two boardwalks down to Foxy Beach, which brought us quite close to the masses of penguins resting on the beach, or entering/exiting the water. Needless to say, I lingered as long as possible and took as many photos as possible, until my friends dragged me away!

We then returned towards the car park and headed down to the Beach (which we later found out was the actual Boulders Beach). It was a small golden sandy beach, with far fewer people were than at the boardwalks – only a few families with children paddling in the water. Of course, there were big boulders, so the Three Musketeers proceeded to climb them, get wedged between them, and lose their shorts. (It was only on returning to the car that we discovered a spare pair of swimming trunks, AND a sign telling us not to climb on the rocks – oops x2). While the rest were taking a welcome climbing and swimming break (the East Coast waters of the Indian Ocean are a few degrees warmer than the Atlantic Ocean on the West Coast), Lauri and I were entertaining ourselves watching the penguins lazing on the nearby boulders. I became very friendly with one penguin in particular, and was even kind enough to pose for many many photos, with me, and on his own. A model in the making…

Penguin

Penguin and Claude

Penguined-, rocked- and swam-out, we headed back to Cape Town to enjoy our first fine sunset, from Signal Hill. Howling winds did little to dampen my spirits as I snapped away at the beautiful golden light shining on the side of Table Mountain, and got the first of many great sunset photos.

Table Mountain lit by the setting sun

Sunset from Signal Hill

Beach & Botanic Gardens

With 30 degree heat, and a light breeze, we headed for the beach, knowing full well that the water temperature (at Clifton Four, on the Atlantic Ocean side of the Cape Peninsula) was only about 15 degrees. While some of the braver ones (i.e. Ryan, Mark & Abi) went for a proper swim, Lauri and I were happy to dip our feet and throw a Frisbee around. As was to become quite a regular occurrence, the Three Musketeers climbed the rather large rocks at Clifton 1st Beach, while I was happy snapping away at waves, sand, boulders, and crazy people climbing rocks.

Abi, Mark and Ryan climbing rocks

In the afternoon, we headed up to Kirstenbosch, Cape Town’s impressive Botanic Gardens. The weather can be rather variable at different points around Table Mountain, and the Botanic Gardens (on the other side of Table Mountain from the beach) were shrouded in low cloud. We enjoyed a picnic on the lawn, with some nice guinea fowl (running around, not for lunch!). We wandered around the gardens, which are beatiful on their own, but enhanced by the omnipresent Table Mountain hanging over it.

Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens

We chose this Sunday to visit the gardens as it was the last summer concert. The low-lying cloud turned into drizzle as I was wandering through the sculptures in the gardens, but stopped just as The Rudimentals took to the stage, with their reggae- and message-filled music (use a condom, don’t get AIDS). Hundreds of people enjoyed picnics on the hill, as the young fans jumped and waved in front of the stage. Oh, and the bassist sported the longest dreads I’ve ever seen.

Kirstenbosch Summer Concert

On the way home at night, we drove up to the Table Mountain cable-car station to admire the Cape Town nightscape. Back at the apartment, we watched Armageddon (most people hadn’t seen it yet, made for great entertainment), and had an air-time paper plane competition (from our 7th floor balcony). FinnAir beat South African Airways, with BA crashing rather dismally.

Die Strandloper Beach Restaurant

Mark’s parents had made a reservation for lunch at a great seafood restaurant. Called “Die Strandloper” (the Beach Walker), tt’s an hour’s drive north of Cape Town at Langebaan, and there’s normally a several week wait for a table. One the way there, we stopped at Bloubergstrand (Blue Mountain Beach) for the oft-photographed, postcard-perfect view of Table Mountain and Cape Town.

Table Mountain

The rest of the drive was through vast swathes of the Cape’s infamous Fynbos, and passing the occasional ostrich. The restaurant far exceeded my expectations – I’d been told that it was a great seafood restaurant, but I wasn’t prepared for what I found – completely open to the air, driftwood benches and tables, fishing boats and nets and buoys all around, and an incredible view over the boulders out to sea. There was no menu, no waiters, no cutlery – just several friendly staff preparing fresh bread, and multitudes of fish, and mussel shells with which to scoop and cut. They prepared over half a dozen different fish, and mussels and crayfish, one after another, all cooked to perfection on an open fire. I wouldn’t normally consider myself a fish fanatic, but every fish tasted different and amazing. To accompany the fish were warm farm-bread loaves and various jams. Any bones were to be thrown on the rocks for the seagulls to devour (in seconds).

Die Strandloper

Die Strandloper

Die Strandloper

In the late afternoon (after we’d eaten our fill and could walk again), we returned to Cape Town to drive along the famous Chapman’s Peak Drive, along the rocky Cape Town coastline, with stunning views of bays and cliffs.

Flying to Cape Town

Not being one to do things by half, I wasn’t going to let the little matter of travelling to the other side of the world stop me having some last minute fun. Having packed my (19kg) suitcase and treble-checked that I had all the necessary documents and travel items, I made my way to the ADC to enjoy Nick Mohammed’s excellent one-man-show “The Forer Factor” with some friends. They then kept me company (or vice versa) until I had to catch my coach at 1:30am.
With the coach due to arrive at Heathrow Terminal 4 at 4am, I lay down at the back of the coach for some much-needed sleep. The next thing I heard was “Anyone else for Terminal 4?” being called at 3:30. Oops, almost missed my stop. KLM’s check-in didn’t open ’til 5am, so I did a little more (conscious) resting before my daytime flight. Clear weather and a half-full plane allowed me to get some great photos of the French Alps and the Sahara desert (photos below, more on CantabPhotos). The sun set somewhere over the Equator, and with nothing more to see out of the window, I settled back into my 3rd film of the flight (The Weather Man, Aeon Flux, Crash).
Upon exiting customs, I was surprised to find a driver waiting to take me to the nearby hotel I’d checked into (the rest of the my friends were arriving the following morning). He was called Arnold, and was an entertaining introduction to Cape Town :)

The Alps

Sahara Desert

Sahara Desert

Sahara Desert

More aerial photos on CantabPhotos

Prague

Lucky, lucky me.

Another week, another conference, another country. This time I’m in Prague, and am relishing the opportunity. Having got up at a ridiculous hour (4am, after 3 hours’ sleep), my colleague and I got into Prague at 9am. Quite impressive, considering most people back in Britain were still enjoying their Saturday morning lie-ins…


The Charles Bridge early in the morning

From the airport, we had the choice of paying the princely sum of 700 Koruna (about £18) for a taxi into town, or of using the efficient (and very cheap) public transport (bus, then metro), for 15 Koruna (30p). I learnt my second word in Czech (Vystup = Exit) – the first Czech word I learned was during my previous visit to Prague, 9 years ago. Somehow, I still remember that ice cream is called “zmrzlina” – maybe I considered it a useful word to retain, or perhaps its run of 5 consonants made it particularly memorable.

We found our way to the conference location, and our accommodation – the Prague Hilton. In a thoroughly modern area of town, away from the charming old architecture, the large glass building looked rather uninspiring from outside. Once within, the reception area opens out onto an expansive and very impressive Atrium, creating a huge courtyard topped by a glass roof 10 floors up. For some strange reason, they only have elevators on one side of the building, and due to the central space, reaching my room involves walking half way round the circumference of the building to reach the other side. The room’s window looks into the Atrium, with plants and waterfalls below, and the glass ceiling above – all very futuristic.

My French colleague and I spent the afternoon visiting Prague, walking the “Silver Route” from the Powder Tower and Municipal House, past the Cathedral and Astronomical Clock on Wenceslas Square, over the Charles Bridge, and up to Prague Castle. Each building we passed seemed more ornate and impressive than the last, and by the time we reached the castle, our reaction to yet another beautiful spired rooftop was rather blasé.

Having walked around for nigh on three hours, we returned for a short nap before setting up our booth in the conference venue for the opening drinks reception, and offering product demonstrations to passing conference delegates. Now joined by our third colleague, we returned to the centre of Old Prague in the evening for dinner on Wenceslas Square, surrounded by the beautifully-lit Cathedral and Astronomical Clock Tower. We had another wander to Charles Bridge, to see the towers and Castle lit up, and to help digest yet more fried fare.


Prague Castle at Night

The bridge seemed a world away from its daytime persona – all of the street vendors and masses of tourists had disappeared. The gold-bearing statues along the sides merged into the night, and you’d see the occasional beggar, lying prostrate on the ground, head almost touching the ground, proferring a cup for charity. Giving the appearing of a meek, unworthy soul, it is certainly a radically different approach to the all-too noticeable beggars of London & Cambridge.

Annecy

I was fortunate to be able to visit Annecy, to attend a conference for work. The conference was at the Imperial Palace, where we also stayed:

My room offered a fantastic view over Lake Annecy, the purest lake in Europe.

On the opening night of the conference, we dined on a boat on the lake, and on the last night, we dined in the Chateau d’Annecy, a 15th Century castle. The pre-dinner entertainment consisted of a pair of fire-jugglers:

Molten Thames

Flying back into London Luton airport at 8:30am, I got some amazing views of Southern England, and caught this great view of London in the morning light – the low sun made the Thames look like freshly poured molten gold. You can see the Thames Flood Barrier, The Millennium Dome, City Airport, Tower Bridge, and the Thames Estuary.

If you are interested in licensing this image, or purchasing a print, please contact me to discuss the options.

Molten Thames

We flew across France at 40,000ft to avoid turbulence; the altitude we kept coming across the channel gifted us some great views of Southern England, as well as some great ice crystals.

Ice Crystals on Airplane Window