Day 14 - Italy v. Slovakia

Wow, what a great last day in South Africa.  John pick a super game for us to see before heading for the airport.  It was a very exciting game and the former WC champions were sent home.  Another upset in the 2010 World Cup.  We said our final good byes to our great hosts in Joburg and we are waiting for the flight back to Stuttgart.

Day 13 - Miracle in Petoria

Today was the USA v. Algeria game.  We started the day with a stop to see Jeremiah to pick up the tickets for the game tomorrow.  Then off to Petoria.  We arrived early and had time to paint John's face again.  We used the park and walk this time and the parking was very organized and the walk was fun.  We ran into the Mustache guy again before entering the stadium.  Once again, we had great seats.  We even got to see Bill Cliton before the match started.  The match was very stressful.  John feels that the US should have scored at least four goals.  We had several opportunities.  Halftime score 0-0.  End of Second half 0-0 and then in the 3 added minutes of play, Landon Donavan comes through and the final score is 1-0.  You should have heard the USA fans.  They stayed after the match for some celebrations and the USA players and staff walked around the field and thanked the fans.  England wins their match against Slovenia 1-0 as well.  But we have more goals so we won the group.  Next match for USA is against Ghana.

Day 12 - Hope for South Africa

Today was our travel day from Cape Town to Joburg.  It was the day that South Africans were praying for a miracle.  We arrived in Joburg in time to watch the South Africa v. France match on the TV.  South Africa needed to win by 4 goals to keep their hopes alive.  They went in at half-time looking good at 2-0 but then France scored a goal.

Day 11 - Raining Goals in Cape Town

Today started with a great breakfast at the guest house and then Thabang picked us up for our township tour.  It was very overcast.  We started in District 6, which is and area of Cape Town where people were remove and placed in other areas based on their skin color.  In that area, all houses were knocked down and the religious buildings were left standing.  Currently some of the original families are requesting to rebuild in the area and most of their requests are being granted.  They have to build houses that are similar to the ones that were knocked down.  We then went to a informal township and visited a church/preschool and craft market. Unfortunately no students were in school.  They are on their winter break.   Thabang lists the townships in three categories; formal (mostly brick houses and a set infrastructure), informal (tin and temporary housing with a set infrastructure and electricity available) and illegal (tin and temporary housing with no infrastructor).  Our next stop was another informal township and we went to the smallest hotel in South Aftrica.  It is actually a temporary structure that runs a Bed and Breakfast.  Ms. Vicky (the owner) has had many guest and the structure is now two stories and has two guest rooms that are ensuite.  She has talked others into starting businesses as well.  She mostly works with encouraging local children to finish school.  She takes them on trips to other areas when they have good grades.  Our next stop on the tour was a local brewery.  That is 3 55 gallon drums heated with wood and cooked for three days.  They call it beer, It is served in a big bucket that is pasted around the shack.  You pay 8 R that is about one dollar for the day and you can drink as much as you like. John tasted it and says it was bitter..... Our final stop was a local doctor (medicine man), his office was a shipping container.  In this area there are also clinics that are support by Doctors Without Borders.  Thabang then dropped us of near the staduim for the game.  (Portugal v. N. Korea)  During our walk to the stadium, the rain really started coming down.  We got to our seats just in time for the beginning of the game.  The first half ended with Portugal leading 1-0, but in the second half, Portugal could not be stopped.  They scored 6 more goals and one of them even the play that made the goal was shaking his head and laughing.  We are headed to the waterfront for dinner!

Day 10 - Off to Cape Town

Today is the travel day to Cape Town.  We arrived with no complications and the sun was shining.  We had set up a wine tour for the afternoon and the tour guide (Thabang) was ready for us when we arrived at the guest house. The guest house is a renovated house that has all renewed wood floors, tall ceilings and wonderfully friendly staff.   This area of South Africa is beautiful.  Everything is green.  We visited two wineries and tasted 11 different wines. (Great to have a designated driver!)  They grow many variety of grapes here so the wine selection goes from very light whites to deep full flavored reds.  John's favorite has been the Chenin Blanc and Denise's has been Melbac.  The area we went to is called Stellenbosch.  The town is now a university town and has the feel of New Orleans.  There are lots of wrought iron balconies.  There are oak trees which were planted at first to use for the wine barrels, but they grew to fast in this area so they still import the oak for the barrels from France. Our tour guide suggested a township tour for the next morning based on our questions about housing and schools in the area.  So that is our plan for tomorrow.  We walked to the main road for dinner and had a wonderful meal at a grill house. 

Day 9 - A Day in the Wild

Today we left early to go and visit the Pilanesburg National Park.  Our version of a Safari during this short trip to South Africa.  We spent much of the day driving around on dirt roads hoping to spot wild life.  We saw bison, zebras, giraffe, rhinos, hippos, elephants, ostrich and deer in their habitat.  John got some great pictures.  We had lunch in the center of the park and had a great time talking with a family from the area.  We even had a small traffic jammed caused by an elephant that had found some great stuff to munch on.  The way for it to get it's food was to stand in the middle of the road.  Man was it one big elephant.  The hippos were all sunning themselves.  At first glance, they looked like gray shiny rocks. As we were near Sun City and we wanted a break from driving, we went to see the Las Vegas of South Africa. The building design was interesting and is amazing what can be put in the middle of nowhere. 

Day 8 - USA v. Slovenia

Today was a mid-day game with Slovenia right here in Joberg.  We spent a bit of time preparing John for the match. (see pic of the day on Monday) and then headed to the guest house to hook up with others heading to the game.  We rode to the game with 4 other Americans, some from Las Vegas and a couple from Seatlte.  He had his handlebar mustache all decked out.  It was an easy walk to the stadium and lots of folks wanted pictures.  It looked like USA was going to be well represented. (The Yanks, Astronauts, Elvis and then some members of the Justice League) Once again we had excellent seats.  Right on midfield and next to the tunnel that the players use to walk out to the field.  We had USA fans beside us, English fans in front of us and South African fans behind us.  You should have seen the reaction when Slovenia scored the first two goals before the 1st half was finished.  We thought there would be no way to come back.  Then the second half comes and WOW USA!  We got two goals (three if you ask diehard fans)  and ended with a 2-2 draw.  Later that night, England also had a draw but it was 0-0 with Algeria.  We definitely need to win our next game.  It took a bit of scrubbing to get the paint off of John's face, but he does say that Denise is  hired as his personal face painter.