The Mountain

Table Mountain really dominates Cape Town and encountering a view of a mountain at every turn, it's impossible not to get the urge to climb it. Norman, however, fought the urge bravely and we therefore took on the mountain without him. Luckily the weather gods were on our side and we woke up to a lovely winter's day. Since it is 1086 metres high, it's enough for the seasons to "change" while ascending. You start out in 20 degrees, wearing shorts and end up wearing a thick sweater and a jacket , regretting not bringing gloves, since the temperature at the summit this day was only about 10 degrees.Every 20-30 metres or so, we had to stop and admire the view (and to catch your breaths). The vegetation on the mountain side is mainly fynbos, which is unique to this region and the endemic Proteas are probably the most well known of this biome's plants. Taking it slowly, the climb from the lower cable car station at, 300 metres, to the top takes approximately two hours. For a while it looked like we were going to be wrapped in the famous "table cloth", but as we reached our goal the clouds started to scatter again. Satisfied with our achievement we celebrated by eating an expensive lunch at the Table Mountain café before taking the four minutes (!) long cable car ride down.
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