"Before I give you these tickets, you must promise to vote for Table Mountain as one of the wonders of the world. Okay?"

"We promise." We promptly responded to the woman at the counter.

With a big smile, the woman slid the tickets through the window along with a "I voted for Table Mountain" stickers to wear. Of course we wanted the tickets, but we weren't so sure the view could possibly rival places we've seen like Machu Picchu and Christ the Redeemer. Oh, and there's the voting thing too… the wonders of the world are up for a vote?

The gondola ride to the top looked pretty straight forward. When the door opened, we jockeyed for position and held our ground for a good window spot. That's just part of competitive tourist gondola riding. I would say we got a fairly good spot, but were bumped out of the best spots by a evangelical group from North Carolina and a German couple maneuvering a high tech baby stroller.
The doors closed and the car began to ascend up the cable. Suddenly, I felt my elbow start screeching along the curved Plexiglas window. The Floor was moving in a clockwise direction. Brilliant! Soon, our fairly good spot became the best spot, then into a not so good spot, then back to fairly good and so on. Good views for everyone! The car is designed to give you 360 views by slowly rotating as you go up. In fact, the evangelical group was so excited about the rotating car, they broke out into full-on hip swaying, hand waiving gospel to rejoice. Table Mountain was starting to win me over for a vote strictly based on the engineering beneath our feet. The gondolas at home need this feature.

We lucked out and had a beautiful clear and sunny winter day in Cape Town. The vista from the top was of the city creeping up and around the mountains, the sandy beaches, the rugged cliffs, the greenery and the ocean in every shade of blue. We spent most of the afternoon hiking around, enjoying the views and watching the Dassies (Ground Hog/Marmot looking things) pester the tourists for snacks. This is one of those locations that photos will never do it justice. The view was unbelievable and earned a vote from both Meggan and I. We will vote as soon as we figure out the how, what and where to vote for such a thing. We hope that it just adds a Wonder of the World versus bumping one out, why does there just have to be seven, anyway?