Sunday, June 20, 2010

South Africa Trip - Day 4

Alright folks. No need to worry, we're still alive!

So, day 4. Need to remember what happened... Day 4 was game day! We planned to go to the area surrounding the stadium and hang out during the day prior to the games.

We started by taking the train over to the City Bowl area. From there, we walked to the waterfront which was about a 20 minute walk. There were a lot of cool things that we saw. We saw the Paulaner restaurant (for Paul). We also saw Der Anker, Ank's restaurant. We also purchased our tickets for the Robben Island tour for Wednesday.

We also walked through our first market on this day on our way to the Aquarium. The market was interesting and just like any other market you would expect. This is where we purchased our first Vuvuzelas!! Those are the horns of the World Cup. If you watch a game with me, it will most likely be there with me :)

At the aquarium, we got to see a lot of fish/crustaceans common to South Africa. The most amazing thing was the sting ray who's wing span was about 5 feet! Jennifer was able to touch some starfish and sea anemones. We saw penguins and frogs. Overall it was a really fun aquarium.

After the aquarium, we went to the amphitheater to watch the USA soccer game. They had a HUGE screen and a lot of sitting room to watch the game. There, we found a ton of US fans as well as some English hecklers. That's all I'm going to say about the game. We all know how much of a rip-off that game was.

After the US game, we made our way to the Stadium to catch our first game. It was a night game and made the stadium look awesome. Luckily, we have a day game on Monday, so we'll get to see the stadium in both lights. Getting into the stadium reminded me of herding cattle. There were thousands of people trying to get in through maybe 5 different security lanes. That, and there was horse crap in the streets and EVERYONE was stepping in it. It was HORRIBLE! Once we got past the security stations though, everything was pretty easy. We found our seats early and got a chance to meet all the US fans around us. It seemed like they stuck us all in one section or something because there were about 20 of us sitting in two rows.

The game was pretty good. Algeria seemed to play great while England was way off their game. In the end, the 0-0 draw was a GREAT result for the US chances of advancing to the next round. The US team holds its fate in its own hands. That's a great place to be going into the last game of the first round.

After the game, we head home on the train. Riding the train after the game was probably the funniest and scariest part of the day. We got to meet Nathan and his friend, two local drunk guys! They seemed to enjoy telling us how much they hated the English and how stuck up they were. They also kept telling us how they liked American women because they like to hug. Nathan also liked to slap his butt... A LOT. They also invited us back to their place because they were going to show us a REAL party. Don't worry, they promised to give us a ride home (we didn't go). Anyways, they were great. Had some good fun.

At home, we turned on the see if there was any explanation as to why they didn't count the goal in the US game. Nothing. So we went to bed. The end.

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