Everyday we have been checking online to see if the cable car up Table Mountain is open. It’s been closed each day until now. It can’t operate in poor weather conditions, high wind, and so on. We got really excited when we saw that it was open. We knew this was our chance to go if we wanted to go. I’m not sure if it’s legal to come to Cape Town and not go up Table Mountain!

Before catching our cab to the bottom of the mountain, we went to Greenmarket Square to do some shopping in the market. Much of what we’ve seen in Cape Town as far as merchandise is very similar to what we see in Namibia. Because of that, I haven’t found a huge need to buy up everything I see. Every once in a while, we’ll happen upon something unique to the markets and stores of Cape Town either to treat ourselves or as part of our early Christmas shopping.

We finally caught our cab to Table Mountain. We decided to buy a one-way ticket in case we felt adventurous and wanted to hike down. Today is the hottest day we’ve had since we’ve been here (I actually bought a coat yesterday I have been so cold!), so we really thought it would be quite nice to hike down. We waited in line to board the cable car for about a half hour. Just as we were about to board, a man came out and said that the cable car would be shutting down soon for the day. The winds had suddenly gone from no winds to gale force winds! We decided to go up anyways, though he said our time would probably be cut quite short due to them forcing everyone back down the mountain.

The view from the cable car was amazing of course. Luckily, I am not afraid of heights! When we reached the top, sure enough, the winds were fierce! Within moments I was actually quite miserable. If you haven’t picked up on it yet, I strongly dislike being cold. Well, you could flat out say I hate being cold. There’s only been one other time I can remember being that miserably cold and tossed about by the elements… Scotland, 2000 with my mom at the Callanish Stones. I will say, in the mountain’s defense, the view from up there was breathtaking. I did, however, want to get down the mountain as soon as possible! Unfortunately, “soon” was not going to be Pee Wee’s word of the day. We found out that it was impossible for us to walk down. The lady actually said, “Within one hour, you would freeze to death.” Scratch that option. Option two, wait in a loooong line for the cable car to take you back down… a long line in the freezing cold wind of course. Thankfully, we discovered option three: go into the café, order a wonderful cup of coffee and muffin, and wait for the line to go down a bit. That’s what we did and everything worked out quite nicely! Was it worth seeing? Yes! Would I do it again on a cold windy day? You couldn’t pay me enough!