South Africa Part 2!

With Edward finally released from work, we were at last on holiday for real and set about making the most of having entire glorious days together.  We spent a few days relaxing into our holiday, beetling about Simon's Town and visiting the local fishing village Kalk Bay, eating enormous breakfasts in the sunshine, reading books, scoffing ice creams and doing generally very little and enjoying each other's company.  

Nothing like travel Scrabble and bubbles for a romantic evening in! 

We made a couple of day trips to Cape Town, one day we wandered round the Pan African Market on Long Street which was stuffed full of traditional African crafts and then went and looked round the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.  We also took the Red Bus Tour which took us on a guided tour of Cape Town, including a stop at the bottom of Table Mountain, which we then went up and enjoyed the spectacular views from the top.

This is Nobel Square, with statues of South Africa's four Nobel Peace Prize winners.  (Sadly we didn't take one of the statues alone...)

Table Mountain was beautiful.

The bus then took us a little further round the coast, just in time for calamari in Camps Bay.

This is a very far away and terrible picture of Robben Island.

Green Point Lighthouse was the first proper lighthouse on the coast of South Africa.

Lucky we went up Table Mountain in the morning because it was covered in cloud by the afternoon!

And then quite suddenly it was time to go home and I was waving Edward off and trying not to cry too hard.

England welcomed me with some brief sunshine and I had a lovely few distracty-cheery-uppy days firstly with my in-laws and then with my parents which was just the thing to perk me up a little for my return to home and normal life.

...and counting down the days...

South Africa!

Hurrah, the adventure proper finally got under way!

I began my journey in chilly London, whizzing off to the airport with a suitcase full of summer clothes and a stomach full of very excited butterflies.

A three hour wait in Dubai and something near a squillion hours of aeroplane food, uncomfortable seats and not enough sleep did dampen my excitement a little...

but all was forgotten when I finally reached my destination!

Satisfyingly stunning views on the drive from Cape Town to Simon's Town, and a delicious 28 degrees C -  very happy.

Finally finally life is complete once more.

We sat and watched the sun set and talked and talked and talked.

Edward had to work the first week, but the owner of our little apartment very kindly took me shopping with her so I had a chance to explore a little and gather some supplies.  She also took me to see her son's gallery near Hout Bay, which was full of absolutely beautiful artwork.  (See here for a closer look!)

We also had a snoop at some of the other workshops near by, my favourite of which was a man making sculptures from recycled scrap metal.  They were soo cleverly put together and full of  life and movement.

Another day we drove via Chapman's Peak which had absolutely beautiful views.

Here is a little tour of our gorgeous apartment:

Lovely bedroom

amazing view from the bedroom

bathroom

the drawing room/kitchen/dining room which lead through to another bedroom.

just a perfect little home from home!

As Edward was working during the day, we made the most of our evenings to beetle about in Simon's Town.

One evening we went to visit the penguins at Boulders Beach.  They were very silly and almost as hilarious as the chickens.

We also met the local guinea fowl, who wander about like a group of fish wives, gossiping and squawking at each other.

We went to Cape Point one evening which was amazing!

The views were totally stunning.

The lighthouse is nearly ten thousand kilometres from London...yikes.

The Cape of Good Hope is just round the corner and we got there just in time for some gorgeous evening sunshine.

To be continued...

Distraction Tactic #5: Retail Therapy

I am having the most absolutely fabulous-est and marvellous time on my husband-y holiday!  Here is a little post (one I made earlier!) to keep you distracted until I come home and tell you all about my adventure!

Nothing like shopping for cheering the soul!  I have recently had a bit of a windfall of vintage bargains which is very exciting, and also just as well otherwise retail therapy can get rather pricey...

I found this gorgeous jug in a charity shop, for £1.  At that price it couldn't not be purchased, plus is looked very sad in the shop and now looks very happy on my shelf.  Very sensibly I got rid of a slightly less lovely jug, so there are still the same number of jugs in the house (which equals one happy husband), and more importantly, they still all fit on the jug-shelf.

Then a few days later I found this fabulously fat little gravy jug which has replaced the nasty chunky one I already had.  Again, an un-turn-down-able bargain.

I saw (drooled over) this teetering pile of pretty china in a charity shop aages ago, but it was more expensive than I wanted to pay and I thought I didn't really need it.

I walked past it a week later and again a week after that.  Then two weeks after that I saw that it was still there and that the price had been reduced...yet still my resolve held with almost superhuman willpower.

Then when it was still there almost two months since I had first seen it, I cracked.  It was obviously meant for me; if after all that time no one else had bought it and I just happened to keep seeing it, it must be because I was destined to buy it.  I offered a price for the lot to the till-lady, who jumped at the opportunity to get rid of all the fragile teetery china that had been cluttering up her shop for such a long time, and lo, it was mine!

And it's so pretty!  The discounted price I paid was satisfyingly bargain-y, but also compensated for several cracked and chipped pieces which have gone into the mosaic box.  Again I swapped out some of the not-so-nice china from the cupboard and replaced it with my new, beautiful, blue and white collection.  I love the scalloped edges on the plates.

Then I was just footling about on Ebay and came across a very bargain-y box of vintage baking tins.  I have been looking for a few things to replace the cheapy teflon ones I have, because I hate it when the coating starts peeling off, and there just happened to be what I needed in the box!

My friend was looking for a few things too so I did some frantic bidding, won the box and we shared the lovely non-peely items between us.

This goes perfectly with my other patty tins.

My rubbishy tins went to the charity shop, my lovely new tins went in the cupboard and I'm feeling very therapy-ised!