MyCiTi

After being cooped up for a few days and driving only to the store I decided to wander up the road to the bus stop and purchase a MyCiTi bus pass. The bus took me to the Civic Center stop downtown then I caught the transfer to the V&A Waterfront to walk around. There are some tourist traps, primarily restaurants but they have a nice food court and a lot to see including an active wharf with a dry dock. There were two ships being repainted and repaired and it was cool to watch the workers. The Information Center had many brochures on area activities as well as several booking agents. The food is reasonable, for the most part and alcohol is cheap (you can buy a decent bottle of wine for $3-4). Cuban cigars are not! $26 a stick for a Montechristo. There are several tours leaving from the wharf including boat trips for sunset cruises, daytime cruises and trips to Robben Island where Mandela spent 27 years. Also many helicopters departing for tours of Cape Town and Cape Point. Apparently the aquarium is world-class so we'll check that out soon. The buses are nice and I guess the entire system was brought on board for the World Cup back in 2010. In fact, much of the town was spruced up for that event and it has made a big difference. I'll make a trek to Cape Town Stadium (55k capacity & new for World Cup as well) but it looks like there aren't any events in the near future, probably as we are headed into winter. I just missed the Justin Bieber concert. Crap. I'm trying to wrap my head around all of the cool things to do here. * Paraglide from the top of Signal Hill down to the beach. * Great white shark cage diving near Seal Island. It's the only place on the planet where great white sharks breach. * Wine country tours - there are many wineries just outside of the city. * Table Mountain Cableway - takes you to the top of Table Mountain. * Many museums and much, much more. I will keep you posted but it's time to go!