The Holiday Recap

Hi Guys,

I've decided that in the New Year I would try a new form of communication with you all to try to keep you up to date with my adventures. Think of this as the executive version, I am still posting loads of pictures at Ofoto and will make sure you have the link if you want to see the bigger and more photo dense version of everything. But this way I can give you a narrative and a few pics.

Terry and I just spent 3 wonderful weeks in Cape Town to celebrate Christmas with a fantastic pile of gifts and plenty of laughs. After opening presents we all packed off to Paarl for a lovely Christmas day lunch with the extended family. After a quick breather we tackled the New Years celebrations with style. Thanks to hard work on our part (and to Tasha for organizing for us) we secured an invitation for us and our group of 15 revelers to one of the Camps Bay parties.

We enjoyed a lot of time with family and friends at countless events, some planned and some impromptu, ate some truly remarkable food at fantastic restaraunts, enjoyed the beautiful beaches and the wonderful weather, and took lots of time out to run and cycle (we had to find some way to keep the holiday pounds at bay after all the food we ate).

Here are some of our highlights:

After hearing nothing but the best about La Colombe, a restaraunt in Constantia just outside of Cape Town, Terry and I decided to make a booking for a lazy lunch and ended up filling the seats with Terry's family (From top left: Mimi, George, Cousin Gerry, Eleni and Ange, Terry, Myself, and Tina). The rave reviews were well earned and we ate one of the most amazing meals I have ever had, for those of you who know me that's saying a lot! It was as tasty as it was beautiful and I'm already looking forward to going back next year for the stunning prawn starter.

Another favorite, which has now become a yearly pilgrimage for us and a cause for great excitement on my part is the Jonkershuis restaraunt at the Groot Constantia wine estate. We shared another long and lazy lunch there with Cousin Gerry, Cousin Ange from Zimbabwe and his girlfriend Linda. As always the scenery and the food were fantastic. In past years we always ate lunch under the beautiful old oak trees but this year the new garden furniture was still on order so we settled for lunch in the courtyard. After a bit of convincing, the owner let us take our coffee and desserts out to the lawn for a renegade picnic (I think the fact that they had gotten to know our rather gregarious group over the course of the 4 hour lunch made it easier for them to bend the rules). If anyone ever needs any recommendations for dining in Cape Town or Johannesburg come to us, we've got you covered. A word of caution though, our reccomendations come with the risk of experiencing a stampede of buffalo coming out of your back pocket (to non South Africans, the buffalo is on the R100 note which is equivalent to about $20) but its worth it!

Our dining habits have actually become a bit of a joke here but hey, what's life without good food? And with all the good food came a fairly rigorous training regimen. We (mostly me) were committed to a morning workout; Terry was kind enough to slow down for me on a few bike rides. We tried road biking but based on the near panic attack I had I think I jumped in (clips, wind, traffic, and all) a bit too quickly! I did the impossible which was going down a hill on a road bike at 6km an hour thanks to a heavy hand on the brakes (most cyclists manage at least 40 and up to 100 km an hour down big hills). Oh well, it will come with time. On our next ride I went on a nice sturdy mountain bike and felt much more comfortable, all that time in Boston paid off! And despite wind gusts of 35-40 kph we cycled the beautiful stretch of coast called Chapman's Peak. I have to admit to not paying a lot of attention to the scenery. I was more focused on preventing myself from blowing off my bike... Aside from the not so successful bike rides I did a lot of running, I know that may come as a bit shock to all of you who know me... But I did manage to do 10k with Cousin Gerry in 50:52 which is quite respectable. For those who are following along I have now passed mile 900 in my running log so it seems as though my first 1,000 mile party will have to be here in SA, stay tuned for invites!

And what would a trip to Cape Town be without a visit to Boulders Beach to visit my friends the penguins? Boulders is one of my absolute favorite outings. Who wouldn't enjoy lounging on the beach with penguins looking over your shoulder, waddling along in the sand, and swimming past you in the water! Unfortunately our visit to the beach was a bit windy but as a silver lining I left that afternoon with a natural salt and sand full body exfoliation! On this year's visit we made a special friend, a very curious little penguin and his accomplice decided to investigate our beach gear and managed to give my flip-flop a run for its money. Once they had their fill of bullying my shoes they both took a nice long peek into our bags. If there are any other children at heart out there that have seen Madagascar these two must have been the models for the penguins in that movie. Given our social nature, Terry and I were both excited to try to make new friends at the beach. I decided to follow the example of the penguins and lounge gracefully in the sun and Terry decided the best way to go about it was to blend in... We later realized the only way to really make a lasting penguin friend is to have a pocket full of fish! Of course in addition to Boulders we spent quite a few lazy hours on the Clifton beaches (Cifton is the one in the picture at the very top of the letter). We both now have a nice healthy summer glow (sorry to all of you dealing with winter right now) and caught up on a lot of important reading (Terry has now finished the new Harry Potter and I read Wicked- both very highly recommended). We also got to watch the start of the Volvo Classic, a boat race from Cape Town to Australia. It was very cool to see and good luck to all of the sailors.

For those who were there with us it was a ball and for those of you who weren't able to take us up on our invitations to come out, maybe we have made you jealous enough with all of this and you will be able to come next year for a bit of fun in the African sun.

Much love to you all! I hope you had a fantastic Holiday season and that I get to see you all soon! And if you haven't gotten enough and want to see more of our holiday pics here is the link:
Ophoto Pics.

All the best,

Genevieve,
and Terry by proxy...