Tuesday 26 February 2013

Day 146- CT 26/2/13


Having heard so much about the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens (yet another World Heritage Site), I had to go before leaving SA. As I am sure Irene knows, the best time to visit is in August/Sept/October when we were told that the gardens are a blaze of colour but even today they were most impressive, even if the dominant colour was definitely green! With the sole mention of some ancient oaks and one cedar, all the trees and plants are indigenous to Its own country - the only major garden in the world that can make such a claim.

Fortunately, I was able to wangle a place on a two hour guided tour which was, of course, largely aimed at people like Irene who know all about plants - unlike yours truly - but still well worth listening to. One thing that was obvious was the total absence of litter. There are no waste bins at all - the policy is quite simply that you leave with everything that you bring in. They have frequent concerts in the gardens and we were told that, even after these, there is no litter - lesson for us maybe?

Then it was a visit to the Mount Nelson Hotel for a special treat: afternoon tea - apparently recorded by the Sunday Times as the best afternoon tea in the world, and I can well understand why. Five of us had afternoon tea at the Victoria Falls Hotel and thought it was really good, but it is not a patch on the Mount Nelson. There is a large table laden (should I say groaning?) with a whole variety of goodies, and you just keep on going back for as much as you want, as often as you want. I regret to say that I ignored the sandwiches etc and concentrated on the cakes of all different types - my cholesterol level must have gone up by leaps and bounds.

And then of course there is the actual tea itself. There are 25 different types on offer, and that's excluding herbal and fruit "infusions". I started with wild rooibos, and then followed up with their own blend of six different teas from Africa and Asia, to which they add "the buds and petals of our traditional pink roses". The water comes in a glass teapot, to which you insert the tea infuser (?), and you have your own egg timer so that you can decide for how long you would like the tea to brew. Something tells me that life at 24MHW will just not be the same.

I was so full after all these goodies that I did not need an evening meal, so followed Ian's suggestion (instruction?) to see the film "Argo" about the Tehran hostage crisis, which has just won the Oscar for best film. I have to say it was good, and kept the tension until the end even though you knew the outcome but I suspect that, although it was based on a true story, certain aspects were, shall I say, modified for dramatic effect?

And so to bed - final full day tomorrow.

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