today we went to high tea at the Mount Nelson Hotel. This is the fanciest and oldest hotel in cape town and apparently their high tea is one of the best in the world. They've been serving high tea there since the late 1890's. well it was awesome.

we took a minibus downtown, walked through the company gardens to the Mount Nelson. On our walk all the minibus drivers were yelling at us, asking where we going as if they were gonna change their route to take us where we wanted to go, even though they had other passengers. It's a novelty to see a group of 7 white girls all dressed walking around downtown so everyone stares and yells. it was such a nice fall day too, so the walk was great. We got to the hotel and got to sit outside. Tea lasted for 3 hours and i drank about 5 or 6 cups. Also there was an unlimited buffet. We ate delicious vegetable quiche (way too much), meat pies, carrot cake (although it tasted like mince samosas to me, which is not ok), pecan pie, tarts, gooseberries with whipped cream, fruit salad, berry cake, eclairs, finger sandwiches (smoked salmon, cucumber, egg, pastrami). it was amazing. Everyone there treated us like we were insanely wealthy and it was weird.

It was nice to live in the lap of luxury for an afternoon but having seen the rest of cape town i couldn't imagine staying in the mount nelson. that hotel is like it's own victorian village. people who stay there don't walk around - the cab. They don't see the real city. They probably only interact with black africans when they are being served. it's a stark difference to the way we normally live. but it was definately fun and worth it.