Cape Town, South Africa - Day 1

The theme: hiding. The sun secludes herself behind a curtain of clouds, shedding tears of prayed-for rain on a dry terrain. 

I'll never begrudge a downpour during this miserable drought, but this unsatisfying sprinkling puts a literal damper on what could have been a mountainous day. 

Scalabrini Guest House is our resting place, a comfortable, immaculate, bare-bones accommodation that rests above a lively community center.

The outside is vibrant, the inside is a peaceful repose, easy on jet-lagged eyes that refuse to close after 4 AM.

The view from the window is an urban dream. We are ready to start our day by 7 AM, and we head through a complex series of secured double doors to a coffee shop around the corner.

We sit at Truth Coffee (see next review), as we contemplate the day that lies ahead. The cable car up Table Mountain is closed, a crisis for a person who had her heart set on looking down at Cape Town, and even the hiking trail is a no-go; slippery with an impressive visibility of zero. 

Postponing Table Mountain is hardly a defeat, and it opens some doors we may have otherwise reached. The District 6 Museum, for example, is a different aerial view of Cape Town, as from the second floor balcony, a memorial mural catches the light.

A giant map covers the floor, a stunning reminder of the victims of apartheid, a tribute to the history of Cape Town, to be always remembered, to never be repeated.

The museum is a somber one by nature, but the photos and artifacts depict the mundane, the daily bliss of beautiful, well-lived, though uprooted lives. 

From civilian to military, the Castle of Good Hope comes next. An attractive structure, in a pragmatic way, the castle is still a symbol of strength,

and a concise Military Museum commemorates the accomplishments of regiments old and new. 

An educational first day for sure, a necessary day for every well-rounded vacation. It is everything I wanted to see, all I wanted to learn, eye-opening and fascinating, a preview of the captivating culture shock to come.