Day 58: The Two Oceans Aquarium, Cape Town Waterfront and Our First Braai at “Home”

We awoke early to rain, which was nice for this drought-ed place.

We actually got up and out the door because on Mondays and Thursdays, Angeline and Tuffy, the cleaning/garden folks, come by our rental. It was a nice kick in the arse for this jet-lagged crew.

We had breakfast back at Cafe Paradiso, then drove to the spectacular Two Oceans Aquarium on Cape Town’s waterfront.

This place is very, very cool. I’ve been to the aquarium in Vancouver, which is awesome, but this went well beyond that. I feel like aquariums are often a small tank here and there with lots of signage and explanations and never quite the wow you’re hoping for.

But the Two Oceans Aquarium blew us away. Enormous two-story tank after enormous two-story tank of stunning salt-water wildlife, all presented as beauty, yes, but also with this major sense of urgency, like, hello people this is allllll going away in a matter of years if you don’t get your shit together.

We loved it and stayed for several hours.

After that we wandered around the touristy but surprisingly pleasant waterfront area. They’ve got a food market somewhat similar to Urban Space in NYC, and a giant “Water Shed” mall/market of stalls featuring stylish African artisans and artists — clothing, poufs, coffee cups, chandeliers, bowls, shoes, baby clothes, toys, etc. Wanted everything, bought just 2 toys for the durn kids.

We also got smoothies, which ended in tears when James, jealous that his sister still had some Berry Blast in her cup, threw an elbow and tossed smoothie all over the place. Fun times!

We went to De Waal park near our house to burn off some energy.

While there are no pics from this, the kids had a hilarious time throwing balls for the many, many, many dogs romping around after work. Sheep dogs, Dobermans, a Collie, a fat chocolate lab, some mutts, some super groomed lap dogs….a true herd of funny pups having a blast in the early evening. The sign said “dogs must be on a leash,” but we didn’t see a single dog on a leash.

Toward the end, Willa and James played with a little girl named Mia. When it was time to leave, Willa told Mia’s parents, “We’ll be back…we live nearby!”

I wish!!

Once we got home, I popped out to the supermarket for some dinner fixings — tonight we broke out the charcoal grill to do up our own braai aka SA bbq. On the menu: chicken/pineapple kebabs.

When I got all the way to the front of the long after-work weekday line and had just about checked out, I realized I’d forgotten charcoal. When I mentioned it off-hand to the cashier — totally prepared to give up the whole braai thing because of the hassle — she said, “Oh I’ll grab it for you!” and ran off. Two minutes later she was back with a huge bag.

I was so stunned. Can you imagine a cashier in the US offering to pop out into the vast supermarket to grab you that last

item you’d forgotten??

Once home we had G&Ts, kebabs from the grill (success!) and retired for writing and reading.

Another lekker (aka awesome) day.