Three in One

On a picture perfect spring day, we took advantage of every hour possible. On Saturday we woke up to a perfectly blue sky, a gentle breeze, a bright sun and moderate temperature. After morning errands, we took a stroll over to Kirstenbosch—a large botanical garden sitting at the base of Table Mountain just down the Skeleton Gorge.

This well manicured garden welcomes with exotic plants and meters upon meters of green grass and bushes all set against the backdrop of the towering mountain. As I entered the space, there was a sense of awe that did not seem to cease for the five hours we stayed there.

We took a picnic and enjoyed the shade of a tall tree hiding playful birds. We walked along paths and saw a garden of King Protea, the national flower, a garden of useful plants, and a garden of statues. We also stopped for an afternoon tea, which just so happened to come with a few sweet desserts and scones.

Afterward, we drove to a conference deciding Rugby game—our team, Western Province, played the Sharks and won clinching their bid to the playoffs. We were on field level at the end of the field..which was great for seeing all the action! On the way, I bought humor for 0.50R.

That is right, a hawker was selling flyers at the stoplight and I thought why not..one laugh would be worth it. The two-sided brochure was full of fun facts and humor…we had enjoyed reading them along the way. There were the quintessential blonde jokes and old age jokes—we chuckled, as did our taxi driver—and it passed the ride quickly. Well worth the 50 Rand cents.

After the game, we took advantage of the monthly public access night to the Astronomy Observatory that our neighborhood is named after. We listened to a short lecture about the history of the space program in South Africa and took a short tour through their museum. Unfortunately, clouds blocked our view of the stars themselves, but it was a nice to see the facility!

And that was our Saturday. Full of many bucket list items…which was good since Sunday was like a March day at home…blustery, rainy and cold. Made for a full day productivity and tea drinking!

All in all it was a well-balanced and satisfying weekend! Next up—Hermanus!