Jerry is the best tour guide!

Thursday! It's the second to last day here in Cape Town and it's definitely bittersweet. Today we got up early to walk over to the Green Point Stadium (or the main World Cup Stadium). We even looked it up online to avoid any problems and we were absolutely perfect on getting breakfast, stopping by Spar and getting there on time. So it turns out that the "visitor's center is closed for maintenance" WHAT? Sorry, that doesn't make sense, but we still can't go in? Okay great! Add that to the list of odd encounters and timing mistakes for the trip. So then we had some 3/4 hours to kill before our Stellenbosch winelands tour....so we ventured over to Sea Point (a neighborhood on the ocean- shocking I know, that Gary told us "we had to go to!") Well, its not that exciting. Not much going on and it kinda gives a sketchy vibe. So we sat and had coffee and chatted for awhile then walked back to the hotel. Picked up our fresh laundry :-) (now I have all clean, folded clothes to unpack in STL) Best idea ever. 

We ate lunch is Biccci (don't ask how to pronounce that...cause I am not entirely sure) in the Cape Quarter, and it was great! Too bad we didn't find it last week. 

Old soccer stadium

Kelsey was upset

Green Point Stadium

Yea, he posed for me

And then there were three

Next Stop: Jerry and the winelands tour! Our tour guide, as I have mentioned- Jerry, was super awesome. He was hilarious, informative and super nice. So we get in the van and pick up four more people: two older ladies from Australia, one woman from Taiwan and one man from Israel. Good group! Stellenbosch is the second oldest town in South Africa and the oldest and best vineyards are located there. Its about 40 minutes outside of Cape Town. We went to Zevenwacht and Saxenburg vineyards today. Our tour included a wine tasting at each and cheese at one, and a cellar tour at Zevenwacht. Then we drove around the town of Stellenbosch. Vineyards have a sketchy history in South Africa, because the Dutch used some slaves and made bad wine, but then the French moved in a taught them how to make good wine, now South African wines are well know and win awards. There are like 200 vineyards in the area, of varying sizes, and its quite beautiful. Unfortunately it was rainy and cold today so we didn't get many pictures nor did we spend much time outside. I must say, the wine was quite good, as was the cheese. Fun Fact: a South African professor created a new kind of grape by cross breeding two other kinds of grape- the new one is called pinotage. It's a red wine and its kinda smokey, with hints of chocolate and coffee. It was actually quite good, but most people don't really like it, according to Jerry.

literally every building in Stellenbosch is painted bright white, and most are old Dutch style architecture. Really pretty!

thought I'd get artistic with the rain on the window. :-)

To end the day we taxied over to Rondebosch and had dinner with Catherine (she's here til November). It was a great meal, as usual. This town knows how to make some good food, that's for sure. Then we returned to the hotel and began packing. I think I am all packed, minus a few things that I am still using, and I hope my bag isn't to heavy. 

Now it's time for my last night in Cape Town. We are filling the day tomorrow so we don't have to sit around and wait to go to the airport. See you all soon, my darlings. 

my darlings: South African phrase used all the time, its really cute

Other phrases: my pleasure instead of your welcome

robots instead of traffic lights

Other Xhosa terms: sissy and mama (for addressing women), booti (for addressing men, aka "brother") 

Its been fun, and I am bringing back my darlings its fun to say and its precious to hear