L’Chaim, L’Chaim to life . . .

So we left Cape Town early on Friday morning. Not quite as early as expected due to the delay at Avis – allegedly I packed too much so the cases didn’t fit in the boot of the first car they gave us. As in none of the cases did! After a car change, it was relatively painless to escape.

The highlight of the day was the wine tram. For me, I drank the wine. For Steven, seeing me gradually getting worse for wear during the day – he was driving and is ever so responsible(ish). It was a blistering 37C, which was my excuse.

To get to these wine estates we went on a wine bus, then a wine tram which was modelled on the Blackpool trams – I kid you not. Then tractor into the estate. See a video of that journey here. 👨🏻said they were really uncomfortable seats. To be honest, I can’t say that I noticed.

What a great concept – there are 8 stops on this wine tour and we get to stop at 5 of our choice, staying an hour at each stop and sampling three to five wines at each. I can truly say that I have drunk everyone’s good health in abundance – family first, friends, special toast to Zoe and Max on their engagement – a whole vineyard dedicated to that. I may even have toasted my work colleagues health too! Manchester United was definitely in there as well, probably near the beginning knowing me! The settings for all these toasts were magnificent. I’m surprised anyone leaves.

The downside of this was that I became drunk in charge of a camera. For some reason I decided to take an excessive amount of what I thought were “arty” photos, so apologies to everyone.

Steven was sober enough to find our superb hotel – see how superb here and in the photos, but not sober enough to remember to bring the wine we bought. I deliberately gave it to him as I assumed he’d be more reliable than me! The background music is from the TV that was on when we arrived in the room. As you can see here I was in no state to change it🤣. Children this is not really me.

Franschhoek is a beautiful town. It reminds me of Carmel in California. Great natural scenery, very relaxed, arty with numerous galleries ranging from the old to the ultra modern, loads of great restaurants. It’s obviously here because of the wine, and even some of the streets are named accordingly. There is a vibrant market (video here) . Everyone is very conservation conscious – not just the water, but there was some stunning jewellery and art made from recycled coffee capsules, and the lion’s head that we very nearly bought, was made mainly from chocolate tins. The tongue was deliberately made from a red Lindor tin.

It was the perfect place for a 24 hour break from our hectic touring.

5 Replies to “L’Chaim, L’Chaim to life . . .”

  1. I can just imagine the calm measured discussion that took place when the cases didnt fit in the car.
    It must have been so tranquil there 😉

    1. Sarah Isaacs says: Reply

      Actually it was. We were more cross because the car rental person didn’t believe us when we said the WiFi dongle didn’t work. After 15 minutes, they realised I was right. After nearly 39 years, your father realises that much quicker now🤣

  2. Julie Honsberger says: Reply

    I could drown in that bathtub!! Looks like a fab trip!

    1. Sarah Isaacs says: Reply

      Wait till you see the bath tub where we are now! WiFi poor so having difficulty uploading stuff

    2. Sarah Isaacs says: Reply

      Oh, and yes the trip is amazing

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