Hello from Cape Town

After a long but comfortable flight from LAX via London, we arrived in South Africa. After we quickly settled in to our 'Backpacker's' guest house in the area known as Seapoint, we put on our walking shoes and took a scenic hour's walk towards Camp's Bay. The wild coast of Cape Town is a wonderland of spectacular vistas.

Above is a view of Clifton Beach, an area of magnificent homes overlooking sandy beaches.

There are many imaginative and beautiful ways used here to keep out unwanted intruders, including this lovely metal landscape screen.

Absailing over the sandy beaches of Camp's Bay - a chic and sunny beach with sidewalk cafes and beautiful people. The clouds are settling in on the 12 Apostles.

Camp's Bay is also home to a large and active cricket pitch. South Africans
in general seem to bask in their balmy summer weather.

Milnerton Dunes Beach with it's view of Table Mountain and surfers in the
foreground. The waves were high today. Kite surfing is also
available here.

It turns out that this Sunday Cape Town will host largest bicycle race
ever. Lance Armstrong is among the 35,000 cyclists from all over the
world who have come here to compete. I have learned that the question
to ask is their start time, as that will show their rank. We rode in
from the airport with a Brit who had promised himself to participate in
this famed race 10 years ago at age 50. His start time is 6:47 am, so
he must be a fast and fit 60-year-old. Needless to say, the hotels
and cafes and streets are full of people with lycra cycling suits.

This delicious breakfast of eggs over a dark rye with sweet cherry tomatoes
set me back 20Rand (at 7.5 to the dollar that comes to less than $3).

At lunch, we ate at a restaurant with a 'gangster' theme, as evidenced by
this wallpaper in the ladies room. The waitrons wore black fedoras.
Waitrons is a quaint South African term for servers.

We went to the Milnerton Flea Market and met this pair of rescue pups.
Originally from Bloomfontein, these dogs charmed their owner - who had
never had dogs before. They are quiet and friendly, and were happy to
be petted. The owner says they are a Maltese and Jack Russell Terrier
cross.

This Border Collie fetches sea weed tossed from the balcony above by his lifeguard buddies.

This Chow Chow enjoys the sea breezes.

There are a few interesting signboards here in Capstad. Of course, Africa
is famous for their barbershop signboards, but so far this is the only
one I have seen in practice, but it is a doosy! That large gaping
mouth on the right is part of an adult bookstore.