Wednesday 4 January

Company's Garden was an oasis of calm

Today we didn't have anything booked, so we got up a bit later. We went for breakfast at about 9am and got a table with a view of the tennis on TV. They are showing matches from Australia, probably as warm-ups for the Australian Open. Today I got a pot of yogurt with cereal, plus some fruit salad. Then I had a boiled egg and made some toast, which takes ages.

Then we got an Uber to the entrance of The Company's Garden. We planned to visit the Parliament Building there, but it was closed. We entered the gardens and walked through the central avenue. We saw squirrels and pigeons, some colourful birds in the aviary and many trees and shrubs including English oak, Natal wild banana, magnolia, gum myrtle, Norfolk Island pine and several bedding plants.The garden was founded in 1652 by Jan van Riebeeck. We saw the statue of Cecil Rhodes.

Cecil Rhodes raising his left arm

We had a cool beer in the cafe there. Then we went to visit St. George's Church, quite plain, and then strolled all the way along St. George's Mall in the shade. There were market stalls all along the street. We stopped for a coffee and cookie in Paparazzi Cafe and looked at Wifi.

Then back to our hotel for a rest and reading our books. I'm reading Splinter the Silence by Val McDermid.


In the early evening, we headed to Hallelujah, the cafe run by Emma Hofmans, who was at school in Kilchberg with Laura. We took a Uber and had a drink at the bar opposite. At 18.30 we crossed to the restaurant and got seats in the window.

Hallelujah served Asian fusion dishes

The waitress told us that Emma was always in the kitchen. We ordered 4 dishes from the menu of Asian style dishes. They came in succession. Tasty light food. We also had a bottle of  Maligna Chardonnay.

The place started to get a bit crowded so we paid the bill and left. We waved to Emma, who went to IPSZ, and found a taxi back to the Park Inn. We watched the end of a crime drama on TV.