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.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
South Africa Trip - Day 4
Still J.R. and now day 4. What a day. We thought that we were going to take the day to do all the nature-type things that we could. We were going to climb up Table Mountain and then head over to Lion's Head to watch the sun set.
We heard from Tessa that the climb up Table Mountain wasn't going to be too bad. She told us that it's an easy climb that could be done in about 3-5 hours. Then we heard from Judy that it's REALLY easy, that she climbs it all the time with her dog and that it shouldn't take much longer than an hour to finish.
They were both REALLY WRONG!!! We got to Table Mountain at Kirstenbosch at 10:00 in the morning. After looking around the base at the botanical gardens for about 15 minutes, we headed up the mountain on Skeleton Gorge.
We saw a lot of really cool things! The trail started out as a nice gravel road that wasn't too inclined. Then it got to a slightly inclined trail that consisted of wooden steps mixed in with dirt and rocks. At about this point, some of us started getting slightly tired. Since Judy had told us that it should only take slightly over an hour to get to the top, we pressed on since we had already been going for 45 minutes.
After about an hour and 15 minutes, we finally got to the ladders. If you've been reading the news, a 13 year old Houston kid died while hiking this trail. The area where he fell was shown in the news, and I think this is where the ladders were. Good to know we were about to take on the same ladders :(
So we continued up the ladders which we thought were going to be the end of the trail and the top of the mountain. Boy, were we wrong. The trail continued up through the river running down the mountain. We had to climb through the river, up steep, wet rocks. Once we got through the river, we got to a flatter area where we could see down the mountain. We took some good pictures and continued on.
After about 2 hours, we got to the first marker. It told us that we had just finished Skeleton gorge. Our plan was to take the cable car down the mountain and a taxi home. So we found out that there was still a 3 hour hike to get to the cable cars. So we pressed on taking a slight detour to a reservoir at the top of Skeleton Gorge. It was crazy because it was a lake at the top of the mountain with a sandy beach. We took some more pictures and continued on to the cable cars.
At this point, we were cursing the world for telling us that this was a good idea. We are pretty out of shape and we thought this was going to be an easy adventure to tackle. We were completely wrong. We finally got to the top of the mountain that was marked with a beacon after about 6 hours of hiking.
From here, we were told that it was a short walk to the cable cars, so we kept on. We walked for another hour before we got to the cars to take us down. When we finally got there, we found out that there was a line to take the cars down (since most tourists just go up the cars, take some pictures, then go right back down). The line ended up taking another hour to get through. When we finally got to the car, we were pissed to hear that we would have to stand to get down the mountain.
All in all, our hiking adventure ended up taking about 8 hours. We were so tired by the end of the hike that we decided to come home, order pizza and watch the Mexico vs. France game. That's what i'm doing right now and I'm watching Jenn, Ank, and Brian sleep through the game.
Anyways... we have an early night planned for today. Tomorrow, we're going to try to go to an aquarium, visit some museums, watch the US play Slovenia, then go to the England, Algeria game. Should be a good day! Talk to you tomorrow.
We heard from Tessa that the climb up Table Mountain wasn't going to be too bad. She told us that it's an easy climb that could be done in about 3-5 hours. Then we heard from Judy that it's REALLY easy, that she climbs it all the time with her dog and that it shouldn't take much longer than an hour to finish.
They were both REALLY WRONG!!! We got to Table Mountain at Kirstenbosch at 10:00 in the morning. After looking around the base at the botanical gardens for about 15 minutes, we headed up the mountain on Skeleton Gorge.
We saw a lot of really cool things! The trail started out as a nice gravel road that wasn't too inclined. Then it got to a slightly inclined trail that consisted of wooden steps mixed in with dirt and rocks. At about this point, some of us started getting slightly tired. Since Judy had told us that it should only take slightly over an hour to get to the top, we pressed on since we had already been going for 45 minutes.
After about an hour and 15 minutes, we finally got to the ladders. If you've been reading the news, a 13 year old Houston kid died while hiking this trail. The area where he fell was shown in the news, and I think this is where the ladders were. Good to know we were about to take on the same ladders :(
So we continued up the ladders which we thought were going to be the end of the trail and the top of the mountain. Boy, were we wrong. The trail continued up through the river running down the mountain. We had to climb through the river, up steep, wet rocks. Once we got through the river, we got to a flatter area where we could see down the mountain. We took some good pictures and continued on.
After about 2 hours, we got to the first marker. It told us that we had just finished Skeleton gorge. Our plan was to take the cable car down the mountain and a taxi home. So we found out that there was still a 3 hour hike to get to the cable cars. So we pressed on taking a slight detour to a reservoir at the top of Skeleton Gorge. It was crazy because it was a lake at the top of the mountain with a sandy beach. We took some more pictures and continued on to the cable cars.
At this point, we were cursing the world for telling us that this was a good idea. We are pretty out of shape and we thought this was going to be an easy adventure to tackle. We were completely wrong. We finally got to the top of the mountain that was marked with a beacon after about 6 hours of hiking.
From here, we were told that it was a short walk to the cable cars, so we kept on. We walked for another hour before we got to the cars to take us down. When we finally got there, we found out that there was a line to take the cars down (since most tourists just go up the cars, take some pictures, then go right back down). The line ended up taking another hour to get through. When we finally got to the car, we were pissed to hear that we would have to stand to get down the mountain.
All in all, our hiking adventure ended up taking about 8 hours. We were so tired by the end of the hike that we decided to come home, order pizza and watch the Mexico vs. France game. That's what i'm doing right now and I'm watching Jenn, Ank, and Brian sleep through the game.
Anyways... we have an early night planned for today. Tomorrow, we're going to try to go to an aquarium, visit some museums, watch the US play Slovenia, then go to the England, Algeria game. Should be a good day! Talk to you tomorrow.
South Africa Trip - Day 3
So, day 3. Started off with a morning breakfast served by the lady of the house. Judy made us some delicious cheese sconces and fresh bread. We also got a little taste of home when she introduced us to her pug, Olive! That was a lot of fun. Much different from Robo, but it still reminds us of home.
We planned to spend the day out in Stellenbosch, which is a big city for wine in South Africa. We headed out for the train station with a little direction from Judy, who was surprised that we were taking the train. She said that she had never done that before which made me feel a little worried. We pressed on however and caught our first train towards Cape Town City Bowl. Strangely enough, we haven't been there yet, and might not go until we head there for the World Cup game.
Our first adventure of the day was trying to figure out how to use the trains and how to know what train to get on. I'm still not sure we know how to use them, but we asked around and were directed to the right one. After we got to our first transfer station, we found out that they had canceled one of the trains out to Stellenbosch, so we had to end up waiting for the next one to come about one hour later.
We finally got on the train and had a really good train ride! After about 5 stops on the train, we were the only ones left in our cab so we opened a lot of the windows and were looking out like happy dogs in a car. We got some good pictures of the mountains and wine country (again, pictures still to come!).
Once we got to Stellenbosch, we decided to ask a "tour guide" what our best option would be for wine hopping. Unfortunately, either they misunderstood them or we misunderstood them because they ended up giving us directions to a restaurant. So instead of following those directions, we started walking our own direction looking for stuff the map pointed out to us. Luckily for us, after about 10 minutes of walking, a nice hotel manager came running up to us. He told us that he had seen us struggling from his window and thought he'd come see if we needed some help. There are some really nice people out here!
We were directed to a wine tour place where they called up a couple of tours so that we could try to get on them. We ended up catching the second part of a day tour with Niel and 2 Dutch couples. Niel took us to lunch first where Ank and I had some REALLY good chicken pie. Spicer and Jennifer had some Grandma's Bootie ;) and Brian had some fried fish. All the food was really delicious. Probably the best meal I've had so far.
Niel took us to three different wineries. He explained to us how they made all the wine and why each winery was so special and unique. We went to Tokara, then Graham Beck, and finally Solms. We picked up a couple of wines that don't import to the US and a wine that we really liked the name to: "Cape Jazz Shiraz". Jenn had fun repeating this MULTIPLE times.
Our guide offered to take us back to town since the Dutch couple was already asking for a ride, so we took him up on it. He dropped us off right at our door! Again, what nice people here! From the house, we decided we were going to take the train to Observatory, a neighborhood closer to the City Bowl, and watch the South Africa game with Tessa. Unfortunately, when we got to the train station, we found out that the train station was closed at 6:30 (it was almost 8 by that point). We decided that we would then try to catch a cab up to there. We walked all the way back to the house without signs of a cab and decided that we would call one from the house. When we asked to use the phone, however, Judy told us that she would just take us because it would be faster and cheaper. So we took her up on the offer.
Once at the Observatory we watched South Africa get screwed multiple times and came away really upset with that game. We caught a cab back to the house and planned our next day before we went to sleep.
That's all folks!
We planned to spend the day out in Stellenbosch, which is a big city for wine in South Africa. We headed out for the train station with a little direction from Judy, who was surprised that we were taking the train. She said that she had never done that before which made me feel a little worried. We pressed on however and caught our first train towards Cape Town City Bowl. Strangely enough, we haven't been there yet, and might not go until we head there for the World Cup game.
Our first adventure of the day was trying to figure out how to use the trains and how to know what train to get on. I'm still not sure we know how to use them, but we asked around and were directed to the right one. After we got to our first transfer station, we found out that they had canceled one of the trains out to Stellenbosch, so we had to end up waiting for the next one to come about one hour later.
We finally got on the train and had a really good train ride! After about 5 stops on the train, we were the only ones left in our cab so we opened a lot of the windows and were looking out like happy dogs in a car. We got some good pictures of the mountains and wine country (again, pictures still to come!).
Once we got to Stellenbosch, we decided to ask a "tour guide" what our best option would be for wine hopping. Unfortunately, either they misunderstood them or we misunderstood them because they ended up giving us directions to a restaurant. So instead of following those directions, we started walking our own direction looking for stuff the map pointed out to us. Luckily for us, after about 10 minutes of walking, a nice hotel manager came running up to us. He told us that he had seen us struggling from his window and thought he'd come see if we needed some help. There are some really nice people out here!
We were directed to a wine tour place where they called up a couple of tours so that we could try to get on them. We ended up catching the second part of a day tour with Niel and 2 Dutch couples. Niel took us to lunch first where Ank and I had some REALLY good chicken pie. Spicer and Jennifer had some Grandma's Bootie ;) and Brian had some fried fish. All the food was really delicious. Probably the best meal I've had so far.
Niel took us to three different wineries. He explained to us how they made all the wine and why each winery was so special and unique. We went to Tokara, then Graham Beck, and finally Solms. We picked up a couple of wines that don't import to the US and a wine that we really liked the name to: "Cape Jazz Shiraz". Jenn had fun repeating this MULTIPLE times.
Our guide offered to take us back to town since the Dutch couple was already asking for a ride, so we took him up on it. He dropped us off right at our door! Again, what nice people here! From the house, we decided we were going to take the train to Observatory, a neighborhood closer to the City Bowl, and watch the South Africa game with Tessa. Unfortunately, when we got to the train station, we found out that the train station was closed at 6:30 (it was almost 8 by that point). We decided that we would then try to catch a cab up to there. We walked all the way back to the house without signs of a cab and decided that we would call one from the house. When we asked to use the phone, however, Judy told us that she would just take us because it would be faster and cheaper. So we took her up on the offer.
Once at the Observatory we watched South Africa get screwed multiple times and came away really upset with that game. We caught a cab back to the house and planned our next day before we went to sleep.
That's all folks!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
South Africa Trip - Day 2
Day 2 of our trip had us waking up at 5:30 local in Dubai. We headed down for a free breakfast provided by our hotel and to meet up with the rest of the guys. Successfully met up with Ank and Spicer, but after having breakfast and waiting in the lobby, there was still no sign of Brian. Went to call him at the front desk to find out that he was just getting down. Oh well... at least we didn't lose him on the first day like we though we did.
At the airport (a really nice airport btw), we only had to wait about 45 minutes to board our plane. On the plane, we found out that both Jennifer and Ank had empty seats next to them. We thought about letting Spicer know about the seats, but figured he liked sitting in the back of the plane so we let him stay. Besides, he wouldn't have been able to share the stories of the crazy mean lady sitting next to him if he had moved.
This plane ride wasn't bad. It was only 10 hours from Dubai to Cape Town. No interesting stories here except that it went by pretty quickly :)
Finally having arrived in South Africa, we gathered up all our bags and got our World Cup tickets. What a relief! We grabbed a couple taxis and headed for our little B&B. More pictures to come later, but here's a link if you are impatient: http://www.hedgehouse.co.za/
Once we got to the Hedge House and through the gate, Spicer realized that he was missing a bag. We got the B&B owners to drive Spicer to the airport to see if he could find the taxi that brought us there. While he was gone, the driver came back to drop off the bag. It was funny because when he dropped it off I said thanks in a rather sour tone, but he waited there. It was like he was waiting for tip for bringing back Spicer's bag. What a douche! Anyways, nothing was stolen so Spicer was happy.
We met up with an old High School friend, Tessa, and head out to a bar to catch the Brazil vs. North Korea game. We went to a bar called Trench-something. It had a very Reggae/Bob Marley feel to it. It was fun. Had some South African beers (nothing very good). Left the bar after the game and came home to get some much needed rest.
Alright folks. That's it for now. Talk to you tomorrow night! Again, pictures later!
At the airport (a really nice airport btw), we only had to wait about 45 minutes to board our plane. On the plane, we found out that both Jennifer and Ank had empty seats next to them. We thought about letting Spicer know about the seats, but figured he liked sitting in the back of the plane so we let him stay. Besides, he wouldn't have been able to share the stories of the crazy mean lady sitting next to him if he had moved.
This plane ride wasn't bad. It was only 10 hours from Dubai to Cape Town. No interesting stories here except that it went by pretty quickly :)
Finally having arrived in South Africa, we gathered up all our bags and got our World Cup tickets. What a relief! We grabbed a couple taxis and headed for our little B&B. More pictures to come later, but here's a link if you are impatient: http://www.hedgehouse.co.za/
Once we got to the Hedge House and through the gate, Spicer realized that he was missing a bag. We got the B&B owners to drive Spicer to the airport to see if he could find the taxi that brought us there. While he was gone, the driver came back to drop off the bag. It was funny because when he dropped it off I said thanks in a rather sour tone, but he waited there. It was like he was waiting for tip for bringing back Spicer's bag. What a douche! Anyways, nothing was stolen so Spicer was happy.
We met up with an old High School friend, Tessa, and head out to a bar to catch the Brazil vs. North Korea game. We went to a bar called Trench-something. It had a very Reggae/Bob Marley feel to it. It was fun. Had some South African beers (nothing very good). Left the bar after the game and came home to get some much needed rest.
Alright folks. That's it for now. Talk to you tomorrow night! Again, pictures later!
South Africa Trip - Day 1
Hello folks! J.R. here, and it’s the end of day 1 of our trip to South Africa and we’re in our Hotel in Dubai. This is probably going to get posted at the end of day 2 since we don’t have internets in the hotel.
So… I was having trouble getting excited for this trip since Jennifer hadn’t shown any excitement. She kept saying that she would get excited when she got to the hotel, or whenever we finished packing, or when we got past security, etc. Anyways, the day finally came, and Jennifer was super stressed out. We were running around last minute buying shovels, doing some last minute gardening, getting the dogs groomed, etc (don’t ask ;) )
So… I was having trouble getting excited for this trip since Jennifer hadn’t shown any excitement. She kept saying that she would get excited when she got to the hotel, or whenever we finished packing, or when we got past security, etc. Anyways, the day finally came, and Jennifer was super stressed out. We were running around last minute buying shovels, doing some last minute gardening, getting the dogs groomed, etc (don’t ask ;) )
Getting to the airport and checked in was no problem at all. One thing that was getting me a little annoyed was the people checking bags in front of us as the airport. There were about 15 people travelling together and they all seemed to have 2 bags and a carry-on. They also left all they’re stuff right in front of the check-in counters so EVERYONE was crowded. But once we got past all that, everything was fine.
Once on the plane, the guy sitting next to me and Jennifer (in the window seat) was asked to switch seats with the child sitting in front of him. Apparently, children traveling alone aren’t allowed to sit next to men, so they moved the kid next to Jennifer. It all started out being pretty cute. The kid was about 6-7 and generally quiet and shy. He curled up in the seat next to Jennifer wearing his sleep mask and blanket. We figured he would sleep most of the 14.5 hour trip, but, unfortunately, he woke up for food about 30 minutes later. Being the cute kid that he was, he took his napkin and tucked it into his shirt.
Then things turned for the worst. He proceeded to spill his tomato juice over ALL of his stuff! Jennifer helped him clean it. Then he opened up to her and started talking for a long time about him being vegetarian and his parents sending him away for months at a time. I could tell that she was trying to pretend to sleep so he would stop talking, but he didn’t. Just kept going… At one point, he started watching a movie and would laugh EXTREMELY loud and wake everyone. Once the sun came out, he would open and close the blind on the window letting a LOT of light in. When he was asked to stop doing that, he pulled out his flashlight and started flashing it. He had a HUGE backpack that he kept taking stuff out of. Of course, to take things out of it, he would throw it into Jennifer’s lap, and then he would laugh thinking it was the funniest thing in the world. Luckily, Jennifer was finally able to get to sleep when he fell asleep.
The plane trip was pretty good for me though. Each seat had individual TVs with over 600 channels. I was able to watch about 5 movies on the way over. I was pretty surprised with how up to date the movies were. They had things like Avatar out. Good stuff!
After 14.5 hours, we landed in Dubai. The weather was a cool 102 when we landed and you could feel every bit of heat. Once checked in to the hotel, we booked a night tour of Dubai so we could at least see SOME sights. We were able to see some of the bigger attractions like Burj Dubai, the Palm Islands, and Atlantis. Picasa will be updated with pictures as soon as we get time.
For the last stop of the night, we went to Biggles, an English pub just outside the hotel. Lucky for us we were all dressed in non-England soccer gear! I finally got to try a Kilkenny too. Sorry guys… good, but you hyped it too much J
It’s 3am here and I have to wake up in 2.5 hours. I guess it’s a good time to try to catch a nap. I’ll update you guys more tomorrow. On the agenda: 10 hour flight to Cape Town, checking in at Hedge House, possible dinner and a soccer game with an old friend.
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