Archives

South Africa / Travel — 1 Comment
24
Jun 10

Cape Town Day 3: Camps Bay & More

Thursday, June 24

Cape Town, RSA

From Table Mountain, we drove to Camps Bay.  It is a gorgeous seaside resort spot.  We parked in a police station’s lot that was across the street from the building (on the beach) – we weren’t sure if we would have a ticket or a car when we returned, but it worked perfect!  We didn’t have to drive the strip over and over looking for a spot, we didn’t have to pay, and our car ended up being perfectly safe and secure.

We walked along the beach’s main road and finally found someone selling USA car flags! We’d been looking all over town, but so far had only been able to acquire a South Africa car flag.  People drive with them attached to their windows to show their national pride, or to show whichever team they are rooting for. We were super excited to finally find a USA one for our rental car.

We walked over to the Sandbar for lunch.  Peroni girls were out in full force, giving away Italy football paraphernalia for drinking Peroni.  From there we drove along the ocean to Hout Bay, turned around there, and drove back to Cape Town center.  Traffic was starting to get backed up and slow with people trying to get in to and out of the city before the Cape Town game started.

South Africa / Travel — Comments Off on Cape Town Day 3: Table Mountain
24
Jun 10

Cape Town Day 3: Table Mountain

Thursday, June 24

Cape Town, RSA

We said our goodbyes to Claire at breakfast, and then we drove to Table Mountain.   Once we were there, we were inundated by Dutch fans wearing all orange (bathrobes, full dress suits, wingtip shoes, wigs, and then “normal” orange clothing like shorts, shirts, ties, socks, flip flops, etc. as well).  There was also a Dutch hype safari-type vehicle driving up and down the public access route blaring their anthem and jingles, painted in all orange and covered in about 50 Dutch flags.  It was pretty funny.  It was nice to have entertainment while we waited in line.  We rode a rotating cable car up to the top and then we spent a few hours exploring the top of the mountain, seeing the views from all sides and trying to catch a glimpse of the Cape of Good Hope – this landmark held special significance to Josh in his formative years and he was very excited to see it for the first time.

Lion’s Head from Table Mountain:

Looking up (with some of Josh’s favorite African trees):

I see Dutch fans!:

Our cable car ride!

View from the top of Camps Bay:

Dassies!  One of our favorite South African animals!  We got to see these little guys sun themselves on the rocks in various Parks, but this was our first introduction.  Their other name is the rock hyrax.  The fun tidbit of trivia for the day is: the dassie’s closest known genetic relative is the elephant! How is that for fun?!

JFJ, with the Cape of Good Hope way out behind us:

Pretty, tiny bird:

Jeannette, figuring out Cape Town and what we’re looking at:

Beautiful views were found in 360:

Jeannette:

Deep crevasses:

Table Bay:

Jeannette, overlooking Table Bay:

Duncan Dock and the City Bowl:

Super fun, pagoda-like flora:

Walking back towards the Cableway terminus:

Our last views from the top of Table Mountain were of Signal Hill and Green Point Stadium:

Signal Hill, Table Bay, City Center and Suburbs:

South Africa / Travel — Comments Off on Cape Town Day 3: Breakfast in Vredehoek
24
Jun 10

Cape Town Day 3: Breakfast in Vredehoek

Thursday, June 24

Cape Town, RSA

We had big plans for our third day in Cape Town, and as such needed to break up the day’s post up into four smaller, more consumable posts.  We started our day off in Vredehoek for breakfast with Claire at a cool little cafe, the Sidewalk Cafe.  Vredehoek is a beautiful suburb of Cape Town with quaint houses right on the slopes of Table Mountain, just off to the side of the city center.  We had a delicious (and large!) breakfast before heading off to do Table Mountain.

Vredehoek, looking back to city center:

Vredehoek, with Lion’s Head in the Background:

Jeannette & Claire, after a yummy breakfast:

The Sidewalk Cafe, with Table Mountain National Park behind:

Sidewalk Cafe:

South Africa / Travel — Comments Off on Cape Town Day 2: Post Win
23
Jun 10

Cape Town Day 2: Post Win

Wednesday, June 23

Cape Town, RSA

In all the excitement of Landon’s late goal and big win, we forgot the other fun we had celebrating! We took our celebration out to Long Street for a bit, then had a few drinks at Jo’burg Bar while we waited for our friends Claire and Alistair to come downtown. We met them at Salon 91 on Kloof for the Tretchikoff and Me exhibit opening where their friends were showing collections. We were starving and soon made our way to Hudsons for ostrich burgers and whiskey milkshakes (Jeannette) and lamb burgers and Jack Black beer (Josh) while we watched the Ghana-Germany game. Ghana lost, but would advance (dun dun dun). And thanks to good old Landon and Jack Black, tonight was Jeannette’s first foray driving on the left hand side of the road. It went quite well.

South Africa / Travel — Comments Off on Cape Town Day 2: The Dubliner for USA Win!
23
Jun 10

Cape Town Day 2: The Dubliner for USA Win!

Wednesday, June 23

Cape Town, RSA

It was the final game of the first round so there were two games on at the same time, and many places were showing the England game instead of the USA game.  We found a place on Long Street, The Dubliner, that was showing England-Slovenia on the first floor and USA-Algeria on the second floor.  It was fun to have camaraderie with other American soccer fans.  Everyone stood and sang the American National Anthem together at the beginning of the game.  It was pretty exciting because we knew we needed to score and we could hear the cheer from below when England scored first.  There were lots of USA fans gathered there and it erupted when Donovan scored his late goal for the win!  While the camera was protected, we were covered in beer by the end.  It was great, fabulous fun!

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →