Day 87: Back in Cape Town — Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens — Sundowner at 12 Apostles

I picked up my mom at the Cape Town airport last night around 10pm. She had traveled for 24 hours (Dulles – Dakar – Jo’burg – Cape Town) but somehow looked rested and ready.

We came back to our little hotel / apartment situation at More Quarters in the Gardens neighborhood.

Willa is staying with Lobsy upstairs and James is on a rollaway with me and Margaret downstairs. We’re only a few blocks from the house where we stayed for 2.5 weeks last month. It’s nice to feel comfortable and be so familiar in this lovely city so far from home. We’re here for three full days, then head to Jo’burg on Friday for one night before starting our safari in Zimbabwe.

We woke to crystal clear blue skies. Margaret returned to Drenched, the boxing gym for a workout. I did some exercise in the room while Willa and James hung with Lobsy.

After breakfast at the hotel we all walked down to walk the grounds of the Mount Nelson Hotel to show Lobsy. We then got in the car and took a drive along the Atlantic coast, first through Camps Bay, then making a quick stop at the beach in Llandudno and on to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

We had spent an evening at the gardens with Luke and Meg during Cape Town v1, having a picnic outside the Sun El-Musician concert (his music has since become the soundtrack to our time here in South Africa). But we hadn’t really explored, so we had lunch at Moyo on the grounds and then explored for a couple hours. It’s a stunningly beautiful place.

We didn’t have a specific evening plan so I called for a 5 pm reservation at the Leopard Bar at the 12 Apostles Hotel.

The 12 Apostles was originally recommended to us by Evan and Aimee and then most everyone we spoke to said we had to check it out. We saved it for Lobsy’s visit and today was the right day. We got a table on the railing, ordered G&Ts, “baby” (virgin) mojitos for the kids and a few snacks. We stayed for a couple hours, watching the waves crashing on the rocks and the sun setting on this perfectly gorgeous day.