We arrived at Cape Town Airport at roughly 16:30 and jumped in a taxi, the car was a dilapidated old Mercedes driven by the greasiest cabbie I think I’ve ever seen. He was friendly enough though and offered to drive us back to the airport on the following morning which I accepted to save us having to bother the next day, we arranged a time then paid him. When we arrived at the hotel (the Holiday Inn, Greenmarket Square) James told me he didn’t feel safe with the driver and there were no seatbelts in the back so we decided to abandon the driver and get a cab from the rank on the next day. We checked-in and dropped the bags off in the room which had unmade beds and hadn’t been cleaned, we mentioned this to the receptionist on the way out.

We went to Global Car Hire to try and sort out the mess and perform damage limitation if we could, but the woman there behind the counter was a tough one to deal with and it ended up half-discussion and half-argument. They showed us a quote for the repairs at R1600 (£100) which seemed a bit steep so we made sure she was going to get more quotes, it’s always hard to know who to trust in these instances but as everything is cheaper in South Africa anyway (not just because of the exchange rate) this would be the equivalent of a much larger quote back home. We left having achieved little and got the feeling that either way they would end up winning as the damage was not specifically written down on the check-out form, this officious attitude was in stark contrast to their previous attitude of “as long as comes back with six wheels and five doors it’s fine” (this is the moral of the story). We arranged to come back the next day to see another quote and finalise things then returned to the hotel, showered and went to Computeria (the Internet café).

For the evening we went to Kennedy’s Cigar Bar; we had drinks in the bar and were looked-after by the waitress that James had met whilst I had been at the wedding, she kept making sure that we had drinks and then took us upstairs when we decided to eat. The bar area downstairs is decorated with enormous photographs of famous cigar smokers (pride of place being reserved for JFK himself) and framed covers of Cigar magazine, the restaurant area is decorated with a touch of class and gives the impression of an exclusive gentleman’s club with smoking lounge adjacent to the dining area. The food was good though not the best we’d had throughout the whole trip and the service was reasonable, we couldn’t find anyone to give us the bill so we transferred everything to our bar-tab downstairs so that at the end of the night the waitress got our tips and not the restaurant guys. We sat drinking cocktails in the downstairs lounge until we could drink no more, a cigar seller kept offering us a wide selection of cigars but we both declined.

Back at the hotel we made a list of the things we had to do the following day and the most efficient order we could do them in, this took a while as we had lots of things to do, little time to do them in and we were drunk.

With only a few hours left until I had to be getting ready for the wedding we headed to the Planetarium. We had about an hour to wait for the show so we lodged ourselves in Dros, a bar/restaurant at the near-end of Kloof Street, it was quiet at lunchtime but the service was good nonetheless. The planetarium show was good, the main benefit being that it provided me with a way to get my bearings in the Southern Sky and to augment my general knowledge of South Africa. Besides, when travelling through hundreds of miles of South Africa knowing how to find South could be handy!

After the show I phoned Brad to arrange a pickup time & place then we had lunch and headed back to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel I realised that my semi-smart clothes had been packed at the bottom of my bag for over seven days, by now the creases had creases. I went to the hotel desk to ask for an iron and was directed to a creepy room just off the first floor, it was the kind of place you expect to find a disfigured relative chained to the wall (Re: The Goonies). In the end I got into the laundry room and frantically ironed my clothes so that by the end they didn’t look so creased – more gently undulating.

I was picked-up by Brad at 4pm outside The Purple Turtle, we then headed back to Brad’s place to pick up Tyra where I also met some of Brad’s family. Brad drove to the wedding to arrive for about 5pm, shortly after taking seats the ceremony began.

The service was conducted by a friend of the bride and was held in one of the loveliest places a wedding could be held. The couple were married against a backdrop of Constantia wine lands beneath two old & massive trees (a symbol of a long-lasting partnership). The cutting of the cake and speeches were done in the garden-area of the restaurant and were set against the backdrop of Table Mountain – you really couldn’t find a more perfect place.

A meal followed with plenty of time for socialising and meeting the odd new person, Justin was there, along with his sister and his girlfriend. After the meal & quick goodbyes to Karl (a very busy man with 140 guests!) I shared a taxi back to Cape Town with Justin & the two girls. The cab dropped us off in Gardens where one of Justin’s friends drove the others down to Observatory, dropping me off at the bottom of Long Street. The ride back was great – Justin and I were in the back of a truck with the wind rushing past us – an activity which really works in a nice climate! I walked back up Long Street, stopping at a newsagents for water (in-case James didn’t get the chance) and got back to the hotel to wake James up so I could get in.

While I had been at the wedding James sat around the hotel and went through the guidebooks for future reference and thought a little more about the route from Cape Town to Johannesburg. He then walked to Computaria to do a little surfing and emailing, bought some bottled water then returned to the hotel (no need for me to have bothered). For the evening James went to Kennedy’s Cigar Bar for bar-snacks and drinks in the company of a considerate and amenable waitress.

After passing through passport control I was called to the baggage handing desk to be told that both sets of luggage had not managed to get on the flight from Amsterdam. After some form filling and visually indicating what type of bags we had (from a huge checklist on two sides of A4) we were able to leave. Karl had arranged a cab to pick us up from the airport to take us to out hotel, throughout the journey we noticed little signs which proved we were no longer in England.

After arrival and check-in at the Tudor Hotel in Greenmarket square we had a walk into town to buy some clothes to wear from Edgar’s (a department store) and a few other essential items (e.g. Bottled Water & Crisps) from Shoprite. We cashed some Travellers Cheques in the Tourist Information Office where we also got interviewed by a journalist, asking questions about out trip to Cape Town. Upon returning to the hotel we grabbed a nice long sleep to recharge our batteries before going out for the evening.

The first order of the evening was to find a bar and with this in mind we wandered down Long Street and came across Kennedy’s Cigar Bar, both a restaurant and bar with live jazz music after dark, it was here we sampled out first South African beer – Castle. We drank in both Kennedy’s and the Long Street Café before we got to Mama Africa, a restaurant recommended in one of our guide books. Unfortunately Mama’s was closed for a private party so we headed into town in search of a restaurant, we found one but it didn’t offer much in the way for vegetarians (I’m an awkward vegetarian in the fact that I don’t really like vegetables). As luck would have it we ended up on Long Street again where Mama Africa was now open so we ate. The food was great, James had the Mixed Game Grill (Ostrich, Springbok, Kudu and Crocodile) and I had a pasta dish.