Freeze!!! At the Ice Bar

Kim Suiting Up
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[Although not *strictly* anything to do with our Round the World trip preparations we thought this was a fun entry to include in the blog. For you purists just pretend like it was cold weather training for the off-chance of blizzards en route!]

Denise and I had been reading for some weeks about a new attraction that was opening at the V&A Waterfront - the Ice Lounge.  Styled after the originals in Sweden and other more icy nations, the idea is simple: take 60 tons of high grade ice from its natural home in Canada, stuff it into shipping containers and send it to the Southern tip of Africa.  Add a few crazy artisans with laser cutters and chainsaws, give them a few months of free vodka/beer and voila - a bar enclosed entirely in a huge refrigerated tent, with EVERYTHING made entirely from ice.  From counters to walls, glasses to decor and stools - everything is ice.

Cape Town Gets its Very Own Ice Bar

Rob & Kim with Ice Eagle
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Not a bad novelty for a country where Summer temperatures soar - and a great extra drawcard for the tourists who flock to the Waterfront.  In spite of the rather steep entry fee of R75 per person (for which you get a 'free' cocktail thrown in for good measure) we decided it was a worthwhile activity - we were just waiting for the right excuse.

Cue Kim (my sister from Durban) who let us know she was going to be in town for one night.  Always up for something different she readily agreed to make the Ice Lounge our "Sundowners" stop for the night.

Denise & Kim with Ice Dolphin
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The pics tell the story best.  Some of the best fun was just arriving...seeing the temperature reflected at -8.5 degrees, suiting up in baby-blue ponchos, and walking into the lounge.  It wasn't quite as inspiring as I had hoped - I guess you can't go HUGE when the outside temperatures are so high. Still it was worth seeing once - with ice sculptures (eagle, dolphin, Nelson Mandela etc), an ice slide for kids, the ice chairs and counter, etc. etc.

The free cocktail was (disappointingly) in a normal glass glass - you pay an extra R40 for the ice glasses, but we had some fun and all in all it was a good time.  One pretty cool note was the inclusion of Skrit (the prehistoric squirrel from the Ice Age movies) encased in a block of ice!  Someone has a sense of humour.

Ice Slide and V&A Logo in ice
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After the Ice Lounge it was off to Dizzy's Jazz and Pizza Cafe' in Camps Bay for dinner.