Early Mornings and Late Nights
"More than a Feeling" started ringing at 5:45 AM once again yesterday morning, as I slowly got out of bed, threw on some hiking clothes, and headed to the reception to meet the rest of the sunrise hike crew. I thought we had decided on an 8:45 start, but here we were in the dark ubering up to the base of Lion's Head. The hike started normally, on a smooth path overlooking the lights of downtown Cape Town. It was cool to see the expanse of the city, and realize what a small area I have seen so far.
The hike quickly escalated, and we were soon pulling ourselves over boulders, on the verge of rock climbing. There weren't a lot of safety fences or anything, and it was a little treacherous in some areas, lighting the path with our iPhones in one hand and holding on to the rocks with the other. We eventually made it to the top just after 7, half an hour before the sunrise. We caught our breath and met some of the others that had gotten up early to see the sunrise. One guy named Iver was taking his 300th person up and had brought a bottle of champagne with him to celebrate!
At 7:42, the sun started peaking up over the horizon and it was stunning. The huge ball of light gradually illuminated more and more of table mountain and cast a shadow of Lion's Head onto the water below. The photos (which obviously don't capture the fullness of real life) can show it better than I can describe it:
I'm so glad we shifted earlier to see the sunrise from the top, and we even made it back just in time for breakfast.
I was exhausted the rest of the day (and Johann kept stopping class to ask if we were tired or pissed), but I rallied at night for the first First Thursday. First Thursdays are city-wide events in Cape Town with art galleries open late serving free wine and a lot of people going out to Bree Street and Long Street downtown. We pre-gamed with wine, gin & tonics, and Uber Eats pizza at the iX Village, and then made our way to Long Street. Our first stop was BeerHouse, a restaurant/bar with 99 different types of beer (hanging on the wall of course). I'm still pretty surprised how Americanized things are here - craft beer, American pop music, even a painting of the robot from Futurama on the wall. Long Street itself reminded me of what I imagine Bourbon Street to look like, with the bars lining the street and the French Quarter style architecture.
Next we went over to Fiction, a club that was pumping deep house music but was almost empty besides our iX group. I had a good time there, meeting more people (I feel like I'll be meeting new iXers everyday for the next 2 months) and just enjoying the scene. We ended the night with an unsuccessful run to McDonald's and a disappointed trip to Pizza Hut, before finally going to bed around 1:00.
I haven't gotten up after 6:30 and haven't gotten to bed before midnight yet this week, and the lack of sleep is starting to catch up to me, but every morning and every night has been a blast!
The hike quickly escalated, and we were soon pulling ourselves over boulders, on the verge of rock climbing. There weren't a lot of safety fences or anything, and it was a little treacherous in some areas, lighting the path with our iPhones in one hand and holding on to the rocks with the other. We eventually made it to the top just after 7, half an hour before the sunrise. We caught our breath and met some of the others that had gotten up early to see the sunrise. One guy named Iver was taking his 300th person up and had brought a bottle of champagne with him to celebrate!
At 7:42, the sun started peaking up over the horizon and it was stunning. The huge ball of light gradually illuminated more and more of table mountain and cast a shadow of Lion's Head onto the water below. The photos (which obviously don't capture the fullness of real life) can show it better than I can describe it:
I'm so glad we shifted earlier to see the sunrise from the top, and we even made it back just in time for breakfast.
I was exhausted the rest of the day (and Johann kept stopping class to ask if we were tired or pissed), but I rallied at night for the first First Thursday. First Thursdays are city-wide events in Cape Town with art galleries open late serving free wine and a lot of people going out to Bree Street and Long Street downtown. We pre-gamed with wine, gin & tonics, and Uber Eats pizza at the iX Village, and then made our way to Long Street. Our first stop was BeerHouse, a restaurant/bar with 99 different types of beer (hanging on the wall of course). I'm still pretty surprised how Americanized things are here - craft beer, American pop music, even a painting of the robot from Futurama on the wall. Long Street itself reminded me of what I imagine Bourbon Street to look like, with the bars lining the street and the French Quarter style architecture.
Next we went over to Fiction, a club that was pumping deep house music but was almost empty besides our iX group. I had a good time there, meeting more people (I feel like I'll be meeting new iXers everyday for the next 2 months) and just enjoying the scene. We ended the night with an unsuccessful run to McDonald's and a disappointed trip to Pizza Hut, before finally going to bed around 1:00.
I haven't gotten up after 6:30 and haven't gotten to bed before midnight yet this week, and the lack of sleep is starting to catch up to me, but every morning and every night has been a blast!
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