I haven’t posted anything in a little while, but coupled with the fact that i had nothing to inspire me to write, I knew that the weekend away that was close on the calendar - whether incredibly amazing or incredibly shit, would inspire me to put some form of pen to paper.. and it definitely did. I was quite anxious for this (what I felt) Bittersweet experience, as one of my favourite bands – The Script were down and I had tickets to see them. Luckily I had a ‘team’ of keen roadtrippers coming with me, we all felt the need to get out of PE and away from our somewhat melancholy realities and do something fun! Cape Town – where else! Many deliberations were had the day before about what time to leave in the morning and apparently my suggestion on 8am (being night blind and not the best morning person in mid winter) was ludicrous! Which I’m quite glad I convinced myself of as well, coz even though it was 4am, yes, 4am... we were all super keen on the morning – even though we were still half asleep... well some of us... J So 4am, rolled outta bed, rolled into my clothes and rolled down the road to pick everyone up. It was crazy cold! Just saying. With a Boombox, camera’s, cases and shoe bags...(and Amish’s jacket – trust me it needs special mention – it weighed more than the shoe bag) I’m not sure how we managed to close the boot and there was absolutely no view out the rear window. Did we close it – Yes. Did we make a plan to see out the back – No. Did it matter? – Apparently not.. So we hit it. The little Getz (yep – still driving a hired car) was packed to the brim and ready to go... All that I needed was to get excited about it all. I figured once there, all would feel cool and we’d have an awesome time. Here’s an idea of how the morning started.
A bit blurry - but you get the idea....
As I said earlier, some of us still half asleep - but keen nonetheless - hence the smile :)
Amish's Lucky Strike Jacket - there was never place for this... anywhere... at any given time!
The rest of the weekend was full of happenings and little ventures really. It was made up of little hole-in-the-wall restaurants, milkshakes, quirky hotels, awesome shops and loads of graffiti. The culmination of all was the concert, which is a description on its own. But to get an idea of all the cool stuff that we saw and did along the way.. here are a bunch of photo’s.
The Grand daddy hotel – so many cool things happening at this place its childish. I only got to see the Trailer park section on the rooftop which was the coolest set up ever! Everything was so old-fashioned in such an elegant way, from the lifts, to the walls, and decor.. then boom! A bunch of crazy caravans and postboxes with names of the likes of ‘Afrofunkd’.
The Fire and Ice Hotel aka ‘The Extreme Hotel’ – Looove this place. Still haven’t seen the inside of any of the rooms.. but I reckon they’re much the same as any Protea hotel standard. But it’s the rest of the hotel that is an experience on it’s own. Also haven’t eaten there before – should give it a try next time, but all the coolest controversial stuff you could think of was going on in the lifts, bathrooms and restaurant of it.
Mr pickwicks, which I love to go to, to have the tastiest Peanut butter milkshake in the world.. became a place we went back to more than once on our weekend trip. It was totally the hole-in-the-wall winner all round – except for maybe the waiter we had for lunch on the Saturday (he was hating life and talking to us like ‘we’ were the idiots) It was quite funny to be honest. Either way, the food was average, milkshakes amazing, vibe bizarre? But a cool little spot. Bathrooms were clean but dirty with graffiti, pretty cool.
Woodstock – well this place is by far one of the coolest areas in cape town, though it’s not the safest. The graffiti on the walls and on the buildings was exceptionally good and the vibe down there was awesome. We went to the Old Biscuit Mill on Saturday morning for the food market, I’ve been before and loved it, this time was just as cool! There’s so much food and beverages and ‘sweet stuff’ to choose from - it’s MAD. And yes, I had a bar one crepe again – couldn’t not. Loads of little shops, all filled with such cool and interesting things that I felt like I was in my happy place... Anyway enough about it, it’s something you need to experience to know or better understand the ‘vibe’ and ‘feel’ I’m describing. Here are the photo’s from in and around Woodstock.
Other pics taken of things we saw and did........
Some African Art in the market side of Long Street. There were subtle implications that 'not everything that was for sale was on display' but that we should 'ask if there's something else we'd like'
We walked Long street a LOT! As did we up Kloof and a few others.. lotsa walking, lots to see...
Such tourists! Hahaha...
One of my favourite new little found treasures in Cape Town! A record store with absolutely anything you can think of. Nowhere near enough time was spent in there - but I will be back! Watch this space ;)
We were looking for Bombay Bicycle store and Gypsy the the GPS took us to a restaurant which had bicycles hanging all over it that sold Bombay... Cool stumbleupon..... very cool
Just in case I haven't already taken a million pics of the mountain EVERY time I've been to Cape Town, clearly I still see it as beautiful, every time.
Camps Bay sunset.... there is no other
Having done so much and starting to love every moment more as we did more, to come was still the pinnacle of the trip, the event which would be the culmination of all the events of the weekend.... and that was seeing The Script. Hayley was going to be singing along at my side and although we needed to play the Cd all the way to Grand West so we could refresh the lyrics in her mind (hahaha) she was cool to have there with me... J Our tickets had been collected the day before and now all that we needed to do was get the in queue and wait to experience a concert that’s main act and songs are close to my heart. Like I said... very anxious but when the soundcheck inside started, then I realised how excited I was that I was actually going to see them. It wasn’t golden circle – which was a humbling experience... but nevertheless it was going to be exceptional.... The Arrows opened for them with 3 very cool tracks.. They were awesome! But when The Script came on I was so overwhelmed. And this goes without saying, it is never ever, ever overrated when you hear an entire crowd of thousands singing the lyrics as he pauses for us to sing out loud. I had goosebumps from beginning to end. I was happy, I was sad, I was singing out loud and then listening.... It’s indescribable the way being in front of musicians live makes me feel, and it’s something I will continue to do and make an effort to be a part of. I just hope that in the future all those who feel that way will do so with me, that way you have someone you can talk about the experience with that ‘gets it’ the way it’s meant to be.. Pics were difficult to take, but a few came out... I was more into just being there than capturing it - Though I did manage to record quite a few songs. An amazing band, with seriously cool and heartfelt songs.... I was very lucky and grateful that I was able to go. It meant huge amounts to see them.
After all was said and done it was time to hit the road back home and back to reality. What a cool weekend, I hope that there are many more of these to come and that are ideal in so many more cool ways. Cape Town, my home away from home... special memories live there.
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