Cape Town's Christmas Lighting Celebration

Sunday evening, my friends and I took the MetroRail (my first train trip) to the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront for lunch, and then stayed downtown for the concert and Christmas lights celebration. I’ve got to be honest; it feels ridiculous getting ready to celebrate Christmas in a tank top and board shorts. Anyway, we stood in a crowd of 50,000+ Capetonians waiting for the sun to set so the mayor could flick the switch and turn on the lights. They were strung up and down Long Street, one of the main streets downtown.

The concert had some good acts (Freshlyground) and some not so good acts, but it was a really different vibe than I expected. Everyone back home had warned me how 'dangerous' Cape Town is after dark. I actually found it to be the opposite. It was the first time in my life I was truly the minority in a crowd of people and it wasn't weird at all. If anything, my noticing that fact made me the weird one. The feeling of the crowd was really relaxed and the event was family-oriented. I think a big event like this back home would have been a bit more rowdy. I was really pleased to spend my first day in the city with its people and feel such a warm and welcoming vibe.