End of World Cup

Well, in case you missed it, Spain are the new World Cup champions. It also turned out to be our last night in Cape Town. We're currently in Mossel Bay heading up the Garden Route on our way up to Kruger. Since the internet access time is limited, the stories will probably be shorter but here we go.

July 6 -
Day of the Holland-Uruguay semifinal. Left Les' house and headed into Cape Town to check into our hostel. It was on the 6th floor of a building right on Long St. so it was a good location. Had an ostrich burger at a local cafe and then met up with the Brits to play some pool before the game. Made the walk to the stadium along the Fan Walk with a sea of Oranje to the stadium. Didn't seem to be many people from Uruguay and the Dutch came in force. Green Point Stadium was pretty impressive and we had good seats right behind one of the goals. The first goal from Holland, one of the best of the tournament, was scored on that goal so it was good crack. A good game but it felt inevitable Holland would win.

July 7-
Got up not knowing what exactly to do for the day or the night so went and got some breakfast. Checked out one hostel that didn't seem in best area/shape so we passed and found another one up the road. Pretty cheap and seemed like a good place. Squeezed a run in and then had a Caribbean Pizza for supper consisting of garlic, bacon, and bananas along with some of the best milkshakes I've ever had. Headed down to the FanFest to watch the Spain-Germany game and sat with some locals that recommended we try a Gatsby. This night in the hostel was home to the worst sound I've ever heard in my life. I couldn't actually call it snoring but it sounded like he was only breathing through 10% of one nostril. It will scar me for life.

July 8-
Figured we'd get up early and try and get a tour of Robben Island in but they were booked solid so we bought one for the 10th. Ate some curry for lunch and headed over to the District 6 museum. Learned about Cape Town's period of forced removal. Hung out at a cafe in Greenmarket Square for the next hour or two. Very chill day. Decided to try that Gatsby and could have had a heart attack afterwards but it was good. The main ingredients are steak, egg, cheese, chips, chili sauce and condiments. Prepared for the night with earplugs but he must not have been there again.

July 9-
Our intention getting up was to take the train to Stellenbosch and go on a wine tour. Got to the train station and they said there was a train heading that way at 9:54 so we decided to wait. As we waited, we noticed there was no train being boarded headed to Stellenbosch so Phillip went up to ask. It took them different route maps to figure out that there actually wasn't a train until 11. Grabbed some breakfast and boarded the train at 11. Got in to Stellenbosch about 13:30 and ended up deciding we'd just walk around to the close wineries rather than pay for the bus. The second place we went was closed but since it was Friday afternoon the lady working opened up for us and ended up staying there and chatting with locals for a couple hours. Met up with a friend from Montana and met a fellow Hoosier in SA for dinner and decided to crash in SBosch instead of taking the late train.

July 10-
Had to catch the 7:37 train to make it back to Cape Town in time for our Robben Island tour. Due to us not having planned on staying all we had on were t-shirts and naturally it was raining. We walked about 20 minutes in the rain and ran the last 10 to catch the train. Now I understand why the train (third-class) anyway was not advised. We definitely stood out and even more so that we were soaked and in t-shirts. Some of the people were friendly but there was one day doing flips on the handles for standing and punching the doors as his morning workout. Interesting experience to say the least but that early train wasn't even needed after our Robben Island tour was cancelled due to bad weather. Since it was raining there wasn't much to do but reschedule our tour and do a little shopping. Had dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant and it was excellent. Figured we'd get to bed early for our hopeful RI tour in the morning. Side note for Papa & Gramma - I hope you see how much effort went into getting to that island!

July 11-
Day of the final and finally the Robben Island tour. Only snag was showing up for the 10 o clock and the guy asking 'didn't you get the text that it was pushed back to 11'? Had breakfast on the dock and then finally boarded the boat. I must admit that when we finally got there it was a good tour. First half was on a bus around the island with a very informative Capetonian that didn't beat around the bush. Second half was conducted by a formal political prisoner who had served 11 years on the island and was one of the last to be released. The ferry back was a little rougher. Picked up the girls in SBosch and settled on a pub to watch the game with a mixture of both sets of fans after the FanFest was full. Hard to believe the World Cup is already over.

Running out of time so will have to do the last couple days later. Hope it's warmer up there!