COS trippn' stop 2: Cape Town - Observatory District

We stayed at a hostel in the Observatory District of Cape Town. We loved it there! The neighborhood was really cute and everything we needed, from good food to a grocery store was right there. It was also really close to the main road where it was easy to catch minibus taxis to the city.

The hostel (33 South) had great wi-fi and even gave us a quick tour of the neighborhood. 

The food here was amazing. This is the best veggie burger we have ever had. It was from a place called A Touch of Madness. It was so good we had to go back a few days later and order it again. 

The next day we had the Wrath Burger at a place called Jerry's, and we agreed it was the best beef burger we had ever had. So basically, if you like burgers you need to visit Observatory. No pics of this one because we ate it too fast!

There was lots of public art here in Obs.

And everywhere you went you could see Table Mountain. Gorgeous.

COS trippn' 1st stop: Jo'burg

The first stop on our trip was a brief stay in Johannesburg, South Africa.

We stayed at Brown Sugar Backpackers. The hostel was really nice. It used to be a mafia mansion. Now it's a really comfy place to sleep and eat and use wi-fi. The free breakfasts were so good too. Scrambled eggs, shredded cheese and real milk-- where are we right now?!?!

I went from summer in the Northern Hemisphere (temps in upper 30°C/80°-90°F) to winter in the Southern Hemisphere (temps in teens C/40°-50°F)...I was coooold & not really prepared for that, so I had to layer in pretty much all my clothes.

We did a free walking tour of the city centre. We learned a little about the city and got to see some of the local sites.

South African flag painted on the side of a building.

One of many office buildings turned into squatter apartments after apartheid ended & all the white people fled cuz they were scared. So a lot of black people moved into the area & squatted in the abandoned office buildings, which is how it remains to this day.

A massive pile of garbage just on the sidewalk.

This statue represents the women that marched in protest of apartheid. She's supposedly holding a "candle" & not a bomb...

Statue comes complete with a baby tied to her back (Stacy pointed it out), which is the traditional way women carry their babies in Africa.

A pretty cool world map celebrating leaders against apartheid (Nelson Mandela, O.R.Tambo).

Statue of Nelson Mandela (he wanted to be a boxer, but God had other plans). The building behind him was his & O.R.Tambo's law office.

Abortion stickers were EVERYWHERE.

As we were leaving, we found a coffee place at the airport with a really delicious dirty chai and they gave you a free piece of dark chocolate with it. We decided this was the best part of our trip to Joburg.