How do you measure the value of a haircut? By the amount of hair taken off of course. If that is the case I got great value in Cape Town. Every time we walked by the little four chair barbershop next to our apartment, it was always busy so I thought they must be good at what they do. So I popped in for a trim Vicki says it looks great. I know my hat isn’t as tight anymore. I have sent a message to my barber at home to reschedule my next appointment. Normally I go about 5 weeks between trims. After today I won’t need to visit her until next June. 😂

Today was a bit of a laid back day. Nice late breakfast, almost brunch, at the Winchester Hotel down overlooking the promenade. Then a bus ride down to the waterfront to get our tickets for tomorrow’s excursion then a little shopping therapy at the V & A Waterfront. The V & A waterfront is also called the Foreshore. In 1938, work was started to reclaim this part of the city from the sea. The results added 230 hectares of usable land to the city’s Central Business District. Today the V & A Waterfront is the most popular tourist attraction in South Africa, ahead of Kruger National Park and the pride of Cape Town, Table Mountain. 24,000,000 tourists visit annually. I’m sure many of them were here today. Lots going on. Tour boats in and out of the basin. Musical buskers everywhere. Packed restaurants and shoppers. A shopper’s paradise. We resisted the allure. There is something to be said for the practically of carry on luggage when traveling. No room!

One of the great things about a Rotary Friendship Exchange is the opportunity to get immersed into the local community. As mentioned earlier South African is different enough to be slightly exotic but familiar enough to be comfortable. English is very widely spoken so it is easy to communicate with the locals. We are the ones with an accent. One Starbucks barista said “Look at me” when he couldn’t understand my order. This allowed him to read my lips. The language similarity also allowed me to tell the barber what I wanted in terms of my hair cut. A little bit was lost along the way as it is short but again Vicki says it looks great.
The day ends with a walk where we started this morning, on the Sea Point Promenade to watch the sun sink into the”western” Atlantic. Seems weird looking west at the Atlantic. Tomorrow we are off to Visit the Cape and a colony of Cape penguins. TTFN🙏🥰