Shopping Excursion

We spent our last Saturday in Cape Town on a shopping excursion.  Our destination was the Old Biscuit Mill in downtown Cape Town.  The mill is in a more industrial, less touristy part of the city that is being revitalized with trendy shops and restaurants.  The building is an old biscuit (i.e. cookie) factory that now houses permanent stores, as well as a Saturday market.  The market had a huge variety of food vendors from exotic mushrooms to Chinese dim sum and was packed with people. These huge vats of seafood paella smelled wonderful.

We wandered through the stores (and made a few purchases, of course) and then decided to eat a light brunch at the market.  The girls split a Belgian waffle topped with ice cream, bananas, and chocolate syrup, Dad had a chocolate croissant, I had a savory crepe, and Amy had an assortment of cheeses and homemade bread.   It was fun to have a variety of different food.

Following the market experience we went to the de Waterkant section of Cape Town, an area which is also known for its fashionable shops.  Miriam stayed with Grandpa during this portion of the shopping adventure so she could take a nap.  These two shopping venues gave a different flavor for life in Cape Town as they were much less touristy than the other downtown areas we had visited.  Both of these destinations were recommendations from Debbie, one of the attorneys we met with yesterday, who clearly believed we were missing the best shopping opportunities if we didn’t visit this area of Cape Town.

Miriam continues to be a good car traveler. She is very adamant about the “rules”.  She gets upset if Dad starts to drive before Amy or I have our seatbelts on and is quick to tell us to “buckle in”.  She does not think that the windows should be down and if Aunt Amy puts her window down to take a picture, Miriam demands “window UP”.  She also thinks she should be able to buckle herself in her car seat and does not like our assistance.  She entertains herself during the drive by looking at books or playing with her doll or going through Aunt Amy’s purse (yesterday she applied Aunt Amy’s powder to her face which wasn’t exactly made for her skin tone).

We returned from our shopping excursion this afternoon so we could pack.  Amy leaves tomorrow night and we are leaving Monday morning.  We are sending many items home with Amy and I wanted to get most things packed since we had toys strewn throughout the house.