I Hear The Drums Echoing Tonight

We reported to the hotel lobby around 2:50pm to meet up with the other parents on the Semester At Sea trip.  The ship, the MV Explorer, wasn't coming in till the next day (Friday), so the earlier arrival gave us all time to acclimate to the time change.  The students had the advantage of shifting time zones about once a week or so (total guesstimate on my part), so it doesn't affect them.

There had been an opening reception for the parents the night before, but we missed that (as did some others) because we didn't get to the hotel till well after 9pm.  We met as many people as we could before boarding the bus to the Cable Car up Table Mountain.

Fortunately, shortly before we arrived, the clouds cleared away from Table Mountain, Lion's Head, and Devil's Peak.  It was a stunning sight.  Between the harbor, the bay, and the mountains, it has to be one of the most beautiful settings for a city in the world, if not the most beautiful.

After a bit of a wait to go up -- lines for the cable car were long, because it was the first clear day in a while -- we zipped up in 3.5 minutes.  The top is fantastic.  I can see why everyone raves about it.  (No, we did not hike up -- we were with a group, there wasn't time, and we were still groggy!).  We walked around the longer loop trail, with stunning views of the Cape of Good Hope, including the Twelve Apostles, Chapmans Peak, and False Bay.  The clouds clung to land like a blanket, affording fabulous views and photos, some of which I will post when I get the chance.  For loyal readers, there will definitely be the opportunity to be bored by my Shutterfly book.

The landscape atop Table Mountain is quite beautiful as well.  At the end of the loop, there were amazing views of Cape Town and Table Bay, and back East toward Darling.  We were quite lucky to be there on such a clear day.

We joined the queue to go down the mountain on the cable car at 5:05, and just managed to get to the bus by the stated departure time of 5:30.  But, we weren't the last to the bus.  And then we were off to Signal Hill.