Days 8 and 9 (Wednesday and Thursday) - Hot, then Cold

I'm done with South Africa. It was wonderful, I loved it, I want to go back. But I'm as sick of writing about it as you are reading it. So, quick wrap up:

Wednesday - Woke up, ate breakfast, went to local market, bought sunglasses, drove to wine country, tasted a bunch of wine, went to olive oil farm, tasted olive oil, bought olive oil, went to the tourist trap 'Mama Africa' for dinner (yahoo travel's #1 dining destination - I should have known), back to the hotel, slept.

Thursday - Woke up, packed, ate breakfast, went to airport, waited around for 2 hours, flew to Johannesburg, met a family from Zambia that had to fly to Cape Town to delivery their baby due to the awful medical care in Zambia, arrived in Jo'burg, waited around for a couple hours, flew to New York, the movies on the plane weren't updated so we were pissed, landed in New York, cold, drove home, went to supermarket, asked how the teller was doing, he responded by blurting out, 'awful, I just got paid and I'm still here. I want to go spend this cash. I can't stand working here.', ahhh...America.

A Break from South Africa

Over the past month or so I've taken a lot of time to study the essence of what it means to be a 'beer advocate.' Some of the Google definitions of advocate include “someone who speaks on behalf of another”, “to speak or argue in favor of” and “a person who pleads for a cause or propounds an idea”.

Sounds fine. But my present advocacy is not represented in any of the definitions above. I'm realizing that in order for one to be a beer advocate, one must go to great lengths to avoid the temptation of soley promoting a favorite style or specific beer. Much like a true gourmet's quest to experience all that food has to offer, a beer advocate must go to great lengths to experience all that beer has to offer, regardless of predispotions, critical opinions, or pundit profundery.

With that in mind, I've established a number of goals for myself:

1) I must experience beer from a historical perspective or, to put it another way, learn to love the beers of history. My tendencies to gravitate toward ultra-malty belgian strongs or extreme IPAs and fruit beers have lead to a very narrow understanding of what good beer is. In fact, I can't remember the last time I experienced a quality English Bitter, Bavarian Wheat, or Scottish Ale. These styles may not be overloaded with hops, fruit purees, or special spices, but that's not their goal. Their goal is to simply produce quality beer that reflects the demands of the local pub-goer. These beers are basic and great - they don't require high alcohol to mask the impurities of their brew. And, they've been doing it the same way for hundreds of years. Shouldn't that be enough to gain my allegiance?

2) Get on the lager/pilsner train. Beer geeks look down their noses at the lager style most likely from their distate for the American Light Lager that dominates the marketplace and has ultimately helped give beerheads the image of redneck NASCAR-loving types with shotgun racks in their Chevy. I'm certainly guilty of that. But lagers represent the greatest example of simple, refreshing beer. So, with this in mind I tried my first Prima Pils last night. It was wonderful. Light, dry, hoppiness at the back. Sure, it wasn't as complex as a belgian dubbel, but it doesn't try to be. And why does it need to be? Beer isn't defined by complexity, it's defined by style. I need to appreciate the idea of 'style.'

3) Never refuse a beer regardless of what it is. So yeah, if you offer me a Bud I'm going to try it. I may hate it and spit it back in your face, but I'm going to try it and evaluate it. Does this mean that beer geeks cannot or should not be critical of bad beers? Of course not. Bad beer is everywhere and it needs to be called out. But in order for beer geeks to call it out THEY NEED TO TRY IT!

So that's it. End of rant. I'm looking into beer tasting classes or something to refine my palate. Any suggestions?

Now, after all that passion and grandstanding about getting away from focusing on Belgians, I should let you know that Mike and I are brewing a Rochefort 8 clone next weekend. We're even nerdy enough to use additives in distilled water to match the water make-up in Rochefort, Belgium. Should be really good. We're using the real Belgian Candi Syrup that all the trappists use. This became available on the US market within the past 5 months or so and is supposed to be the key ingredient in creating the complexity we desire. We'll see.

Next on the list may be a nice light summer wheat, something that'll be ready in May/June and can be enjoyed in the hot sun with some nice cheese and fruit. Our Demara Belgian Strong is fermenting nicely and will be ready for bottling in mid-March. Mike is concerned that it is too hoppy although I think that'll mellow with bottle-conditioning.

Day 7 (Tuesday) - Warm and Breezy

Quick side note: Struis Pannepot is a wonderfully delicious beer

Joe and I wanted to take a half day to play golf. Tuesday was the day. Clear and very windy meant tough conditions for us. The girls decided to go back to Camps Bay to hit up the beach and go to a salon. So, we dropped them off then headed toward Milnerton Golf Club. Milnerton is only a few miles up the coast from Cape Town. It is a true links-style course meaning no trees, lots of bunkers, and built along the coast. (The name Links came from recognizing the golf course as a 'link' between the beach and the inland.)

Milnerton has hosted numerous South African opens and is known as 'South Africa's Pebble Beach.' I haven't played Pebble Beach, but I can say with all honesty that Milnerton is the most scenic course I've played. Better yet was that it cost $45 (as compared to $350 at Pebble). 7 out of the first 9 holes are right along the beach. Every hole captured a glorious view of Cape Town, Table Mountain, and the Bay.

The wind was howling - 40 mph sustained winds. I've never had to deal with such conditions. Sure, it can get windy around here, and occasionally you'll have to endure 40 mph gusts but never sustained gale force winds like we experienced at Milnerton. To give you an example of how difficult it was, I hit a 4-iron from 120 yards (usually hit it 220 in normal conditions) on consecutive holes and came up SHORT both times.

One cool thing about the course is that it sits on a beach known as one of the best windsurfing beaches in the world. Here's a pic of what seemed like 100 windsurfers (and one kite surfer).

Although mentally exhausting the round was a fun one and my father-in-law beat me for what he thought was the first time ever, although I know that's not the case. We headed back to Camps Bay and met the girls for a late lunch. The beach was windy too, so we decided to hang out at The Bay Hotel. The Bay Hotel is one of the 4 or 5 great hotels in Cape Town. Funny thing about Cape Town. If you're white and somewhat put together, you can go to any hotel and hang around all day and never get asked if you're staying there.

The Bay Hotel is fairly small and sits on the beach overlooking Camps Bay. I had my first and only beer of the week (Stella - in the Stella glass even). The beer in Cape Town is dreadful. Anyway, the dining room in The Bay Hotel is on the second floor and offers panaramic scenic views of the beach.

We made reservations for 6:45pm so we could experience the 8pm sunset. The meal itself was typically great. Perhaps the best overall meal of the week (I know I mentioned the calamari from Day 3 too). I started with smoked Snoek, a local fish. It was served with a nice chili sauce. Tasty. Christina had an out-of-this-world-fillet-of-beef while I chose a not-very-gamey venison. I really liked it even though it wasn't what I was expecting. Their beef is gamey and their venison is mild. Go figure.

The meal lasted almost 3 hours. We went back to the hotel and I watched the replay of the Australia/England Cricket match. England is suprisingly terrible, much to David Reynold's disgust.

Day 6 (Monday) - Clear Again..ho hum

6am wakeup time: bad. 10am safari: good. I've always wanted to go on a safari. Hours watching lions eat wildebeests on Discovery stirred an interest in seeing the African savannas. Well, the Western Cape isn't known for its safaris. Animals like cheetahs, lions, and elephants are not indigenous to the area due to the arid climate. Kruger National Park near Johannesburg is the place to find REAL safaris, but there are a number of game preserves in the Cape Town area that feature 'The Big 5.' (Elephants, Lions, Cheetahs, Rhinos, Water Buffalo).

Joe and Maggie went on safari the last time they were in Cape Town. They went to Aquila game park and really liked it so we were planning on heading there. The concierge in our hotel talked us out of Aquila, calling it a 'glorified zoo.' He steered us toward Inverdoorn game preserve. Inverdoorn, he promised us, is as good as safaris get in the Western Cape.

The 3.5 hour drive was, like everything in South Africa, beautiful. We went through vineyards, small mountain towns, scenic mountain passes, and lush valleys. And then all the green stopped. We were officially in the desert. With no one around. We didn't pass another car for 25 minutes during one stretch of the drive. As navigator I became a little worried when the road under us went from pavement to gravel to dirt. Where was this place?

Finally, a dust cloud in the distance revealed a small bus carrying tourists to the game preserve. Upon entering the preserve's gates we spotted a number of springbok and zebra. I was pumped.
A nice drink of freshly squeezed fruit juice and a small breakfast greeted us upon arrival. After a short wait, our guide directed us to the 4x4s. The 4x4 was an open-air land cruiser that sat around 12-15 people. It was comfortable enough.

The guide explained that the game preserve was over 8,000 acres and home to over 100 species of animals. The indigenous animals - rhino, giraffe, zebra, antelope - were simply living life as it has always been. The others - lions, cheetahs, water buffalo, etc. - were acquired by the land owners and transported to the preserve.

Our first stop was at the lion/cheetah pens. These are really big enclosures that had to be put up until the cheetahs became comfortable with their surroundings. (I'll get to the lions in a second). The cheetahs were brought in three years ago and for some reason haven't produced offspring. The park rangers want one of them to get pregnant before releasing the family into to actual preserve. Plus, the game population in the reserve isn't high enough yet to satisfy the needs of the cheetah. So, if the cheetahs were released into the park now they would completely decimate the game.

The plan is for the cheetahs to be released within the next two years. Cheetahs are very cool animals. Pretty small and lean, they reminded me of a cute hairy greyhound. Onto the lions. This is a sad story. Some lions are raised in captivity without ever learning survival skills so that rich white men can shoot them in their cages to say they bagged a lion. Terrible. The lion family at this reserve were raised this way. The owner of the preserve saved them from their previous owner and put them in the park to give them a chance at life. Unfortunately, their upbringing assures that they will never roam wild. The survival skills they need were simply never learned. They don't know how to hunt, how to breed, and how to act as normal lions. The male lion (a really beautiful specimen, he's yawning here) has been neutered. They are not allowed to breed because they are unable to teach their young how to live in the wild. Clearly this part of the safari was a debbie downer.

Away from the lions and out into the game park. We first spotted a bunch of wildebeests and zebras. Did you know you can't ride zebras? Their backbones are weak and would break in two if a human was to mount them. Interesting. Onto some more springbok and random antelopes. Pretty cool, but the grazing animals are all pretty small and fairly far away. I was ready for some beasts.

Our guide told us to keep our eyes peeled for giraffes. Suddenly we saw about 7 giraffe heads above some small trees. Giraffes are way cool and super-weird. The guide stopped the vehicle and told us we could all get out and walk around with the giraffes. 'Just watch for poisonous snakes-they're everywhere.' Not comforting, but I didn't care. What an unexpected surprise! At one point I separated myself from the group and flanked the giraffes. One didn't really see me so I was able to creep up to 5 feet away as it was feeding on the tree tops.

Onto the search for the last two of the big five - water buffalo and rhino (the park doesn't have elephants). We passed a bunch of springbok, including a two-day old (look close, he's in the middle of the path - his mother is to his left) that could run as fast as its parents. Nature is great.

More antelopes, a baby giraffe, and a couple of wildebeests later we spotted the rhinos. What a sight to see. They were pretty docile so the guide felt pretty safe parking the 4x4 only yards away from them. So far only two rhinos live in the preserve. The female is only 3 years old and just became able to get pregnant so the preserve has high hopes for the pair to produce offspring. Rhino's have a 16 month gestation period and they don't show at all, so it's difficult to tell if she's pregnant or not. Another cool fact is that the rhino's skin is 7cm thick and their body fat is under 1%. Furthermore, the longest horn ever recorded was over 6 feet long!

Onto the water buffaloes. The preserve has three water holes but no buffaloes were around them. Our guide said that it may prove difficult to find them this time of day (noon). If they aren't around water they head for the dense pockets of trees that dot the preserve. Unfortunately, no buffaloes were spotted. Bummer.

So we drove back after a truly unique experience. We left shortly after a quick lunch and decided to stop in wine country on the way back. Joe mentioned that he wanted to find a place that makes wine called Goats-do-Roam. The wine is aptly named as there are a number of goats that live on the property and produce a number of wonderful cheeses. We found the place (called Fairview Winery) right after it closed so all we could get was a couple of pictures of the cool billy goats they have on the property. Next door to Fairview is Seidelberg. Their tastings were still open so we stopped by. Breathtaking. Best winery of the trip We got our tasting in and sat outside to enjoy the amazing view. This is a place I really want to go back to.

We drove home and went to the waterfront to find a place that served ostrich. After some nice ostrich fillets at what was probably the most disappointing restaurant of the week, we decided to go back to the hotel to get some much deserved rest.

Day 5 - (Sunday); Clear Again Hi 83

Ok, so this is taking longer than expected. I hope to keep the last 5 days brief.

We woke up Sunday morning and decided to go to church. Christina met a kind lady in a Young Life hat at Table Mountain the day before. She was visiting her missionary friend who works in Johannesburg and they decided to explore Cape Town for a few days. Christina asked her if she could recommend any churches, to which she replied, 'yes, there's a baptist church on _____ street, a baptist church in ________, oh, there's a great baptist church in _________, and if you're really in a pinch you can find a baptist church on _______ ave.' We all had a good laugh. It was all very reminiscent of people who go to COS and call it THE church.

Pickings were slim for churches in Cape Town but we passed a small Presbyterian church in a nice area of town on Saturday and decided to try it out. Unfortunately, none of us remembered how to get there so we started driving around the streets in hopes of randomly finding it. A turn around a corner, and a quick GASP!/'PRAISE GOD!' from Maggie meant one thing: We found a Calvary Chapel in Cape Town.

The service was fairly basic - a number of songs followed by a short sermon. The people were very friendly, but the weather was hot and apparently some of the folks didn't wear deodorant. Poor Joe had to sit next to someone who smelled like they bathed in fart.

After church we decided to head to Camps Bay for a day at the beach. A quick lunch was followed by a couple hours of sunbathing. The beach itself was wonderful. The wide, sweeping white sand was bookended by huge boulders. A quick look behind you revealed the wonderful 12 Apostles mountain range. Definitely the most beautiful beach I've been on.

Being that it was a Sunday the beach was fairly crowded, but not Ocean-City-in-July crowded. Once Christina was sufficiently burned to a crisp, we headed back to the hotel for a quick nap and shower before heading off to Joe's Birthday dinner at Cape Grace. Cape Grace is one of the top 50 hotels in the world and is featured in nearly every postcard, picture, and movie set in Cape Town. It is surprisingly small and quaint. Opulent without pretension. Again, the meal was wonderful (aside from Christina's god-awful risotto). I had Cape Salmon which is completely different than our salmon. Not only is it white and non-fishy, but has the texture of seared tuna. Very enjoyable. It was clear that a bad meal was going to be hard to come by this week.

We went back to the hotel for a quick 'nightcap' (the waiter had no idea what a martini was - can you imagine?) and headed to bed early due to the 6am wake up call coming on Monday - Safari Day.

Day 4 (Saturday) - Brilliantly Clear - hi 81

Saturday morning proved to be typical Cape Town weather - clear and warm. The initial plan was to hit the winelands for the majority of the day, but the clear morning prompted us to change our plans to explore Table Mountain national park, probably the most visited tourist attraction in Cape Town.

Cape Town is built at the foot of Table Mountain. Its name is appropriate, as the top of the mountain is almost perfectly flat like a plateau. The mountain is displayed prominently in pictures of Cape Town, for example here and here. It is often enshrouded in clouds and therefore has a mythical or fantastic quality about it.

But this morning was perfect for absorbing the breathtaking views from on top. We made our way to the Cable Car station about halfway up the mountain. The cable cars are standard gondolas with a rotating floor enabling everyone to see 360 views of the valley below during the 5 minute trip to the top.

I was expecting a small building with some lookout areas to greet us at the top. But to my surprise, the entire top of the mountain was available for hiking. In fact, the national park service created three paths - a short hike, medium hike, and long hike - that allowed you to spend quite amount of time up there if you wanted. Because the top was relatively flat, we opted for the longer hike. It crept along the perimeter of the entire mountain top. One interesting thing is that there are no fences along the paths or on the mountain at all! (I wonder how many people have jumped?)

Oh, what views! Here's another. You are able to clearly see all the way to the Cape of Good Hope, the cape winelands, and the Indian ocean. From this birds-eye-view, we were able to follow the road we took the previous day, past Camps Bay and the Twelve Apostles, down through the valley to the Misty Mountains. Robben Island, the political prisoner camp where Nelson Mandela was kept for over 18 years, could be seen plainly. It lies around 5 km off the coast of Cape Town.

The hike itself was great, as the park provided ample opportunities to rest on benches and take in the scenery. After I scared Maggie and Christina to death by jumping onto a rock on the edge of the cliff, we decided to head back. A commotion started in the cable car on the way down. At first I couldn't make out what everyone was pointing to, but then I saw it - climbers scaling the vertical rock wall of Table Mountain. I've been known to rock climb, even quite seriously in college, but never anything more than 100 feet off the ground. These guys were about 25 feet from the top of a 3,500 foot mountain! It was quite a scene.

Back in the car, we decided to head out to wine country and eat lunch at Le Quartier Francais, rated by various publications as one of the top 50 restaurants in the world. Le Quartier Francais is located in Franschhoek, a lovely little town east of Stellenbosch. It is known as 'The Gourmet Capital of South Africa' due to its abundant amount of fine dining establishments. Franschhoek (literally translated 'French Corner') was founded by the Huguenots in 1685 after Protestantism was outlawed in France. 277 Huguenots fled France by boat and ended up landing in the Cape Peninsula. They knew how to make wine, so they established Franschhoek as their own little piece of southern France.

Let's not hold that against the town. It's great. There is a strong French influence nearly everywhere, but you don't have to deal with the incorrigible French attitude. In fact, I think most people there actually work at least 40 hours a week AND they don't riot about it! How novel. Enough editorializing. We found Le Quartier Francais at the end of the main road that leads through town.

What a meal. I started with Mussels the size of my fist. I thought they may be stringy and tough, but turned out to be delightful. Accompanying the meal was a very tasty local Chenin Blanc. Now normally I'm not a fan of white wines. But considering the surroundings - warm weather, sun, cafe elegance, and vineyards - this Chenin turned out to be the perfect choice.

We moved onto the main course. Christina had the fillet (no, not filet - and remember to pronounce it 'fill-it') of beef with garlic hollandaise sauce and potatoes. Ok, I've been accused of hyperbole in the past and I admit that I'm prone to over exaggerate something that I'm fond of, but I can say with all seriousness that this fillet was and is the best Christina or I have ever tasted. The flavor was outstanding, of course, but what stood out to us was the texture. It was more tender than any steak I've ever eaten. I had the quail which was more meaty than most quail I've had. Perhaps they grow em big down there. Who knows? Either way, it was enjoyable. This meal was the highlight of the week for Christina.

And now is the time I complain. Not about the restaurant - it lived up to its billing. No, I want to complain about people. Specifically, Londoners. I'll set up the scene: Our table was outside on the patio nearest to the hostess stand. Midway through our meal a ghastly beast emerged from the inside dining room complaining loudly about how 'horrid' the service was and 'she is going to tell everyone she knows NOT to come to this place.' The poor hostess valiantly took the harsh criticism with a smile. The beast went on and on about how SHE expected more out of such a notable place, 'but then what else do you expect in this country?'

I say that she is from London for three reasons: 1) she had a very distinguishable aristocratic accent, 2) her comments were intended to give the impression that she ran with the upper crust. Why else would it matter (at least in her mind) that she would tell 'everyone' to avoid the restaurant?, 3) she looked down her nose at the entire country of South Africa. Only a true Londoner is this conceded (well, aside from an American of course).

Anyway, the whole thing annoyed me.

We decided to stop at a few wineries on the way home. The first was Grand Provence. Grand Provence is a medium-sized winery set just outside Franschhoek. Its 18th century manor house has been converted into an art gallery and fine dining room. More importantly, their wine tastings are held outside the manor house under a 300-yr old oak tree. Just beautiful. This was one of those times where I sat back and became still, just trying to soak it all in.

From Grand Provence we head east and hit up the Allee Bleue wine estate. Most wine tastings close at 4pm, but Allee Bleue was open until 5pm so we arrived 5 minutes before close and promptly stayed until 30 minutes after. We were the only ones there, so the girl conducting the tastings gave us her undivided attention and told us the history of Allee Bleue. The farm is over 400 years old, but a disease killed all the vines nearly 100 years ago (along with most of the vines in the area), so they had to replant and start over again. I can't imagine how awful it would feel to lose vines that are over 300 years old.

Finally, we were on the way home after a packed day. After a quick shower we met up with Joe and Maggie for a bite to eat. We weren't altogether hungry after a day consisting of a late lunch followed by various cheese tastings at the vineyards. So, we went back to Harrie's Pancakes (much to Maggie's disgust) to order some dessert. We got home around 10pm. I watched the Manchester United game and Cricket highlights and finally fell asleep around 1am.

Day 3 - Kinda Foggy in the Morning, then Sun - high 83

Day 3 (Friday) started off by sleeping in until 7am. We then went downstairs to enjoy a nice open-air breakfast in the warm summer air. The breakfast was surprisingly good and I learned my first interesting South African fact: Their pork sausage does not taste anything like ours. Very gamey. I fell in love immediately and vowed myself to eat the sausage every morning. Christina and I were up earlier than Joe and Maggie so we decided to venture out and walk to the V&A Waterfront. It was great to get out and walk around in nice weather. Cape Town is a very easy city to get around in, so we found the Waterfront after a brisk 10 minute walk. Being 7:30am, the Waterfront was fairly empty but we could see what the allure of this place is for the tourist - relaxing waterways surrounded by chic hotels, fine dining establishments, and up-scale shopping. Seals and dolphins could occasionally be seen popping their heads and fins above the water line. Very serene - a good way to start the day. We decided to go back to the hotel after only 30 minutes as we knew we would be spending most of our evenings at the Waterfront.

After a long couple days of travel we decided it would be best to have a day with no schedule. Joe and Maggie had been talking up the beautiful scenery for months now, so we decided to hop in the car and take the day to drive around the Western Cape. From our hotel we went west toward the beaches. The daylight revealed how beautiful Cape Town really is. Our hotel was smack in the middle of the city and we hit the beaches on the other side of the city within 5 minutes.

The road we took is the Western Cape's version of the Pacific Coastal Highway. It wraps around the city, hugging the mountains, then drops south to the Atlantic coast where it runs for over 30 miles, down to the Cape of Good Hope, goes east, then north along the Indian coast line to the beach towns in the False Bay section of the Western Cape. I can say with all seriousness that this road makes the Pacific Coastal Highway look like the Blue Route. Never in my life have I seen more breathtaking views than along this road. Chapman's Peak is called one of the best drives in the world and it did not disappoint.

Anyway, back to Cape Town. We took the road toward the beaches and found that we were in Orange County, CA - or at least it seemed like it. Much like southern California, beautiful homes were built into the hills overlooking the ocean. As we drove south we passed the Clifton Beaches. These beaches are where most of the locals go. Farther south brought us to Camps Bay, one of our favorite destinations on the trip. Camps Bay is still considered part of Cape Town but seems to be it's wealthiest section. The main road is dotted with cool little cafes and boutique hotels. As we found out later in the week the beach is much bigger than that at Clifton and much more picturesque. AND Oprah has a house there. She is treated like a god in South Africa.

Next stop on the list is the Twelve Apostles Hotel. What a wonderful place this is. Set at the base of the Twelve Apostles mountain range, this is the hotel the offers the seclusion that stars like Tiger Woods and Leo DiCaprio desire (they both stayed there recently). It's super small, but each room is obviously well appointed. The views from the dining area and pool are spectacular.

We continued south past more dramatic mountain ranges and quaint bay-towns. After passing Chapman's Peak Drive, we stumbled onto a beach I really wanted to see - Noordhoek Beach. Before the trip I was traveling around the Western Cape via Google Earth. Even from far away I could make out a large white sand beach with nearly no homes or roads around it. I never saw a beach this big and promised myself we'd go there. Well, around a mountain turn and there it is. The beach itself is over 1/2 mile wide and is known locally for its great (and semi-dangerous) surf. Even stranger than the size was that NO ONE was on the beach. Outside of a bunch of school kids playing volleyball, the beach was completely deserted. It was bizarre to be on a beach 1/2 mile wide and 4 miles long completely devoid of humans or homes. It brought to mind what beaches in our country must looked like a couple hundred years ago.

So we spent some time on the beach then resumed our journey toward the Cape of Good Hope. We had to pass through the Misty Mountain range on the way. This is a curious area. It is almost always enshrouded in a heavy fog and light mist. The sky was completely blue then we turned a corner and felt like we were in Seattle or something. But, all was not lost. We all were getting hungry and the map showed us that there were no towns in between where we were and the Cape. So, we decided to stop at a very small local eatery. This is the kind of place that Anthony Bourdain would seek. Not much bigger than a 2 bedroom house, this restaurant served our first and what would ultimately become our best meal of the week - at least for me.

Everything on the menu was caught or farmed locally - even the cheese, tartar sauce, and butter were homemade. I started off with my favorite dish of the entire week - South African calamari. Squid in South Africa are much bigger than ours. Their body is long and meaty and the tentacles are very small and discarded for calamari. The body isn't cut into circles. Rather, it is cut into strips, lightly breaded, and served with amazing tarter sauce. And boy was it AMAZING! Tender and mild and fresh. SO FRESH!

Our tummies full, we drove another 30 minutes to the Cape of Good Hope. More beauty. We climbed to the lighthouse and snapped a bunch of pictures. This place is a photographer's dream. Probably the coolest thing about the Cape is that you can see where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet - literally. There is a foamy white line in the water that extends over the horizon. Kinda cool.

We then headed north, back towards Cape Town. This time we went up the Indian coastline through really cool beach towns. One place we stopped is home to a very famous Penguin colony. I remember seeing a documentary about this colony on Discovery a long time ago. They nest on the beach but travel all throughout the town, so much so that people have to shoo them from their homes and off their cars much like squirrels or rabbits. They are the only Penguins to live outside of Arctic or Antarctic regions. No one knows why.

It was very fun to observe the fathers taking care of the eggs, the mothers coming back from hunting, and the stag males fighting over mates. We spent over an hour there and decided it was getting late in the day so we headed home.

After a quick shower and a drink we headed off to the V&A Waterfront for dinner. The final decision of where to eat was a good one. We went to Harrie's Pancakes, a dutch restaurant specializing in dinner pancakes. Weird but very enjoyable. Christina and I had the pancake with ground biltong (South African jerky) and mixture of different cheeses. Excellent. We followed that up with a dessert pancake with Bananas and cinnamon. Even better. Maggie hated every second of it simply because she thought it weird to eat pancakes for dinner. The rest of us loved every bite.

We then strolled around the Waterfront for a while before going home and getting some rest. I was able to watch the Buick Invitational live from San Diego. This was strange considering it was midnight in Cape Town and I was watching Tiger Woods play golf live. But, I was thankful and watched for an hour before falling asleep.

Cape Town Holiday - Days 1 and 2: Lots of Travel

The best vacation ever started at 11am on Wednesday, January 24th. I went into the office for about 4 hours to tie up a bunch of loose ends then headed to the Drygas' to pick up Christina and Maggie (my mother-in-law). We packed up the mini-van and headed to Bala to pick up Joe (my father-in-law) at work. A quick 2-hour drive to JFK later and we checked in and hung out in the international terminal.

We boarded the plane at 5:00pm for a 5:20pm take-off. South African Air is surprisingly very nice. Definitely more legroom than any other international carrier I've been on, including British Air. SAA also has on-demand for every passenger. Each seat has a 12-inch screen in the back of the headrest and offers a wide selection of movies and television shows. Christina and I decided to watch The Departed first. Wonderful flick. DiCaprio is actually believable as a tough-guy, although I thought Marky-Mark's limited role was wonderful. We then watched The Illusionist, which was more enjoyable than I thought it was going to be.

We landed in Dakar, Senegal 6.5 hours into the trip. South African Air uses two types of planes from NY to Johannesburg - the 747 and 383. Because we took a mid-week trip, the smaller 383 was used so we needed to stop in Dakar for refueling. We were in the air an hour or so later. I slept for about 4 hours out of this 8 hour leg of the trip, ate, watched Little Miss Sunshine, ate again, and landed in Johannesburg around 4:30pm local time.

We had seats for the 9pm flight to Cape Town, but thought we'd just go on stand by on an earlier flight considering there was around 4 flights/hour to Cape Town. Unfortunately, we didn't calculate for the increase in demand for seats created by the big South Africa vs. Pakistan Cricket match. So, no seats were available on any earlier flight. Bummer. We sat around for four hours in a very unimpressive airport. We boarded around 9pm and, after a quick 2-hour flight, landed in Cape Town at 11pm.

We picked up the rental car and drove to our very difficult to find hotel - The Fountains. The Fountains hotel is almost brand new - it opened in May, 2006. It's located in the center of Cape Town, a perfect location for a tourist considering its proximity to the major highways and ever-popular V&A Waterfront.

The hotel was found after much turning around. We checked in around 12:30am and fell asleep around 1am - nearly 33 hours after we left Havertown.

Back in Town

30 hours later and we're home. We left our hotel in Cape Town at 12pm on Thursday (5am here) and arrived back in West Chester yesterday at 11am. After getting settled and running errands, Christina and I fell asleep at 4pm yesterday and slept until 4am this morning. Suffice to say that our internal clocks are still a little screwy.

I'm going to take the next week or so to review the entire trip in detail. The account of the trip will be long and boring so I recommend coming back sometime next week when I resume my regular postings. However, if learning about the most beautiful place on earth interests you, please bear with me for a little bit. You will learn interesting facts such as: South Africans call traffic lights 'Robots.' In fact, ROBOT is printed on streets as you approach a traffic light. How weird. Also, there are three kinds of people in South Africa: Whites, Blacks, and Coloureds (their names, not mine). Coloureds are a mixed race and outnumber Blacks.

I'm not joking about Cape Town being the most beautiful place on earth. Most travel publications say that Cape Town, Vancouver, and Sydney rank as the three most scenic cities to see, but I can't imagine anything more spectacular than the 'Mother City.' Believe me, the 23-hour flight is well worth it. Best of all, Americans still don't travel there so you don't have to deal the with loud, fat, insensitive idiots that inhabit this dreary land of ours.