Watery Wooly Weekends

Fabulously smug husbands book minibreaks in watery cities as surprise birthday presents…

 

And take their shocked and fabulously indulged wife to watery hotels with private boats…

to fish and food markets to drop one’s jaw…

Even when the weather is wet and the wife’s attire seems to be modelled on the fashions of the local fishermen…

And said hubbie spots quilting inspiration on the floor of many and varied religious venues…

And then indulges a wooly passion or two with a rain-sodden exploration around the semi-navigable streets to find the ONLY YARN SHOP IN VENICE…

Beautiful wools…

Patient staff and exciting, Italian ranges in a range of prices, colours and styles…

With the inevitable souvenir purchases….

Watch this space for the hat and scarf that will be emanating from these four balls of gorgeousness…

A few days in heaven

As I mentioned…

  

Scrumptious

Child-free

Four-poster’ed

Bliss

Afternoons were spent knitting in front of one of the many open log fires and perusing the Garden of England in a beautifully gray January…

Enough with the Strapless!!

In my ever-continuing quest to stop the world domination of strapless wedding dresses, I was delighted to see some beautiful shouldered options in the current Watters collections…

Left to right…

Row One: Dallas, The romantically named 1039B, 9043B

Row Two: 1090B, Style Vanessa

Row Three: Style Zora, Style Miriam, Style Teresa

My absolute favourite, though, has got to be Escalante, described on their site thus:

“Ivory Silk Taffeta gown with hand embroidered v-neck bodice, capped sleeve and full skirt with pockets. Covered buttons on back empire band. Chapel Train”

And check out that back!

AND POCKETS!!!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!??!

Altogether, absolutely stunning, elegant, classic, interesting and oh so femininely pretty…

At US$2,800 or £1,700, though, you’d hope it would be all those things, I guess!!

Something more comfortable...

Further to these thoughts I came across this lovely little number while wandering...

It's handmade to your measurements out of eco-conscious bamboo velour. Turns out it may just be possible to sleep soundly and sexily...

USD$75 from Econica in Canada.

Honeymooning Day 12 Thursday - LAST DAY!

Our last day as official honeymooners dawned grey and dark with a power cut overnight having us shower in the black. All restored for breakfast in Le Ballon Rouge's restaurant area where a chance encounter with an unidentified male (guest? owner? neighbour?) gave a suggestion and reservation for lunch. Apparently we revealed ourselves as Cap Cognoscenti (!) rather than tourists and thus a dining 'experience' was promised.

We packed and departed at 10am with five hours until we were required at the airport for our trip home.

A meandering drive through the winelands with a desperate and persistent sun finally breaking through the drizzle. A spontaneous and very pleasant stop at seemingly tourist trap Boschendal preempted the imminent coachloads (what's wrong with winetasting at 11am?) to give ample chance for touring the manor house, rose gardens, herbery and cellars. The Boy spied a HUGE pair of stunning hand-blown wine glasses and after not inconsiderable deliberation we returned to purchase and begin and long and delicate hand luggage journey back to St Albans.

Lunch at the booked 96 Winery Road was FABULOUS. Gorgeous food, painfully reasonable and a 'wine flight' menu of 4 course-matched wines for 50rand (about £6). Scrumptious. Got my whisky cheesecake to go (!) as I was far to full but unwilling to pass up dessert.

A sunny and brief drive to the airport, returning car and the beginning of 20 hours in the air. Tipsy Helen trying to hold onto the last few moments during the drive to the airport. I don't think it shows that I've been drinking at lunchtime at all,does it??

Honeymoons for us no more...

This is definitely not an ending. Among many favourite moments, up at the top has to be munching melt-in-the-mouth calamari at Knysna harbour, drinking Fat Bastard with the manager chatting to us. When we mentioned it was our 'weekaversary', he smiled: 'That makes sense. We thought there was a bit of a glow around you two.'

Honeymooning Day 11 Wednesday

Woken by driving rain and winds as the phone rang our wakeup call at 5.30am. The drive would go ahead if we wanted it and it seemed the Boy did!! Broad grins, Dutch courage and all our warm clothes on our backs, we headed up for coffee and rusks for 6am.

The Boy wore:

• 2xtrousers
• 2xt-shirts
• long sleeved shirt
• short sleeved shirt
• wool jumper
• cotton jumper
• anorak
• scarf

I wore:

• camisole vest
• 2 of the Boy's T-shirts
• 3/4 length sleeve top
• Hoodie
• Cotton cardigan
• Scarf
• 2xsocks
• 2xtrousers
• Hiking boots

The four other guests decided to stay in their beds so we had Jamie the ranger to ourselves. A combination of female delicacy and threats of potential tantrums got me the front passenger seat with windshield, protected legs and heating fans. Lucky for me as my glasses were rendered useless in moments by the rain. Richard took a rear seat in blankets, ponchos and we set off to hunt for the elusive rhino and hippo.

Almost immediately, two lionesses with a kill were spotted in the south of the park so we 'put foot' to see the young ladies: Jamie guessed they were no more than 14 months old. A hyena by this time had come along to forage and watching the three interact in total silence with body language was extraordinary. The hyena managed to steal of leg of the impala kill before being chased off and so we left them to their breakfast. Off again, quick comfort stop for coffee then on the road again.

Eventually we decided that the rhino and hippo had evaded us entirely. On our way back for breakfast a radio announcement came through of elephants spotted on the side road by Bayethe. Spent an enchanting 20minutes watching them feed then reluctantly returned to camp for breakfast, change, pack and depart.

Scrumptious breakfast of french toast, salmon and poached egg with fresh mango juice then a hot outdoor shower. Packed ready for collection for 11am.

Our transfer driver clocked that we had plenty of time to get to the airport so we took us via a small tour of her township outside PE. In truth, her tour raised more questions than it answered but was certainly humbling. The Boy and I are determined to investigate the civic and social history and structure to try to learn more about it all.

Quick and easy transfer flight back to Cape Town to greet the worst thunderstorms endured by the South Coast in 30 years. Driving rain, thunder and lightening pummelled a gray drive to Franschhoek in the winelands for our last night away.

Cute B&B but persistent and torrential downfall required a speedy dinner selection system. A basic pizza and salad felt somewhat sacrilegious in the culinary heart of SA but we were shattered and had packed a lot in from a 5am start. Staggered into bed by 10pm.

Honeymooning Day 10 Tuesday

Instead of the 5.30am call we opted for an all day safarai so got to breakfast at 7.45. Blinis and apple sauce for me, an eggless special for the Boy plus freshly made muffins. On the road by 8.30am for the great animal search, on the trail of a lioness almost immediately and eventually found and followed her as she called to find her pups. Incredible diaphragm use and nothing like any of the roaring we've head before.

 

Then, on the search for rhino, we happened upon a serval...somewhere between a leopard, cheetah and tiger with stripes and spots and incredibly rare.

Stop for elevenses and hot chocolate and brandy (the misty rain starting to seep into our very beings), coffee and rusks, then on the road again. The weather was getting worse and as our jeep is entirely open at the sides, the speeds of rain and the jeep made everyone soaking wet. We ploughed on in fetching poncho-stylee.

In searching still further for rhino we came across a family of giraffe: one cheeky bull giraffe, two babies and three females. The bull pranced around in front of us for 20 minutes at least, showing us his horns on nearby bushes and generally strutting his stuff.

Picnic lunch as the rain cleared to reveal the German couple on our jeep to be completely soaked through in the front seats. A final hunt for hippo fruitless and the driving rain returned us to the lodge for 3pm. Warm baths, hot chocolate and wine took us through to the evening buffet spread at dinner of salads, soups and meats galore. Traditional South African desserts were incredibly tasty and will definitely be trying them out at home.

Bed by 10pm, determined to be up for 5.30am morning drive. Bed turned down again for our return from dinner (bliss!). We kept the heater on to keep out the night chill from the tent.