Cape Town

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Match 12
New Zealand 1 – 1 Slovakia
Rustenburg
Location watched:  Café Splendida – Cape Town, South Africa

Somehow, through Divine fortune or just dumb luck, we had a flawless departure from Sunrock Guesthouse.  We woke up on time, left on time after a fabulous breakfast, arrived at the airport on time, and boarded the aircraft on time.  We arrived in Cape Town on time, had a driver meet us on time, and arrived at the Huijs Haerlem Guesthouse on time.  Wait!  I am forgetting one minor detail that will guarantee to the reader that the two travelers in question are, indeed, the travelers they have been reading about from the beginning.  One of us forgot his jacket and new World Cup hat on the plane in an overhead bin.  It really was a small setback that will be resolved when our driver returns to the airport tomorrow on other business and picks up the hat and jacket from the Lost and Found area.

Upon checking into our room, we found that we had access to free wifi.  I checked a few emails but have not yet made it out to Facebook, so please remain patient if you sent me a message there.  Our room is beautiful and the view outside our window is breathtaking.  I will make sure to add some photos of the place we are staying to the slide show under the Photos tab.  Check out the slide show if you haven’t lately seen it lately.  I was able to add pictures of the US / England match and our African safari earlier today, and hope to have others added by the time I post this.

Soon after checking in, we set out walking.  We walked down a steep hill towards the ocean.  Once there, we found a park leading to a beach.  Two youngsters were knocking a soccer ball around so I joined in as my buddy finally found pigeons to capture on film.  If you know him, you know how delighted this made him.  If you know me, you know how utterly delighted this made me!  He joined in the kick-around after 180 pigeon pictures and 15 or so minutes.

We continued down the beach snapping photos as we went.  I cannot stress enough how beautiful Cape Town is.  Check out the pictures and judge for yourself.

Eventually we found a place right on the ocean to watch the match.  It would be hard to find a better place to watch a World Cup match!


Match 13
Côte d'Ivoire 0 – 0 Portugal
Nelson Mandela Bay / Port Elizabeth
Location watched:  V&A Waterfront Plaza – Cape Town, South Africa

Our beach sojourn ended at a place called the Waterfront.  It is a trendy district with malls and restaurants.  In the middle of everything is an inlet with boats of every type you can imagine.  “Surely not pirate ships,” you may wonder aloud to no one in particular.  If you did, indeed, wonder that, you would be wrong.

We watched the match on a huge screen in the middle of the square.  There were many people there.  Some wore Portuguese shirts, some wore the orange shirts of Ivory Coast, and others were wearing small seagull costumes and relentlessly dive-bombed the rest of the spectators.

At half time, my friend and I ventured closer to the wharf to a place called Quay 4.  It came recommended by the owner of Huijs Haerlem, Johann.  We had a delightful meal for a relatively low price.  The atmosphere was great, and it was warm under the tent for the one of us who no longer had a jacket.  We had calamari for the second time this day (the first was during the first match at Café Splendida).  Calamari on the Cape Town wharf is unlike any I have ever had.  It was like little calamari fillets rather than the stringy, rubbery squid I am used to.

We finished eating as the match ended, and started out heading back to the guest house.  I would guess it was 5 – 8 kilometers back to the house and we made it in plenty of time to make the next match.  We contemplated and argued about whether to venture back out to watch the last match of the evening, as Johann suggested a place about 3 kilometers away.  I was done for today.  I told my friend to go out without me if he wanted to, but begrudgingly he also chose to stay in to watch the game.  He is now fast asleep while the last match is at half time.  Oh, forgive me, I forgot this:


Match 14
Brazil 2 – 1 Korea DPR
Johannesburg – Ellis Park
Location watched:  Huijs Haerlem  – Cape Town, South Africa

As I finish this up, I am also falling asleep.  Johann told us when we had returned from walking UP the huge hill, that we would sleep well.  He was not mistaken.  We are not setting an alarm and have no plans for tomorrow except for sleeping in late and finding somewhere to watch the matches.  We would like to go to the Fan Zone close to Cape Town stadium.  Other options include taking a bus tour through and around the city centre, and / or knocking a ball around the park we had seen today.  This will be the only day of the trip where everything has already been taken care of and we have no expectations from anyone or ourselves.  I don’t know about my friend, but I am really looking forward to it!