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.

Day 7 - Durban Fan Fest

Today we went down to the beach area in Durban.  There were surfers out enjoying the waves and the South Africans were recovering from the night before.  On the Golden Mile, John and I got to play African drums with some street performers.  We decided to watch the first match of the day at the Fan Fest before heading to the airport.  What a fabulous setting for a Fan Fest. Beach, sunshine and friendly people. The match was Argentina v. Korea.  (4-1).  In the second half, we had a little rain along with the sunshine. 

Day 6 - Durban - Spain v. Switzerland

Today we left cold weather in Joberg and landed in warm weather in Durban.  We got to the stadium early and walked around.  What a super stadium.  The game was very exciting.  The spectators did stop blowing the VuVuzelas during the national songs.  We thought this game had the most action we had seen so far this tournament. What a surprising ending score Spain 0 - Switzerland 1.  The cow bells were definitely ringing proudly. 

Day 5

We got up early this morning to trade the rental car in for a new one. The other one was making funny noises.  The new  one is red, so still in the USA color scheme.  Next we headed to Lion Park.  We got to pet 3-5 month old cubs.  At six months, the move them to the Lion camps.  John got to pet a giraffe and be eye level with it.  We also saw zebras, ostrich, meekcats and gazelles.  We took a driving tour and got to go into 3 of the lion camps.  Man are they big.  It was great to see them up close.  One even got into the back of the pick-up truck that was behind us.  I think the driver was a little concerned. 

Day 4

Today we went to the Holland v. Denmark match.  It was here in Joberg at the Soccer City Stadium.  This time we shared a car and driver with other guest.  The stadium was very impressive, it holds 97,000 there 87,000 in the stadium for the match.  The Dutch were totally decked out in their bright orange.  There were no goals in the first half.  The second half was much more exciting.  The first goal was an own goal off of a Denmark player's back.  Holland scored another goal on a tap in.  Final score, 2-0 Holland.  We got a ride back to the guest house.  On the way, Denise bought a World Cup Flag that is a South African Flag in the center with the flags of the other 31 countries around the outside border.  We found a fish and chips place for dinner.

Day 3 in South Africa England v. USA

Saturday, June 12th - First on the agenda was getting the other tickets from Jeramaih (John's ticket guy).  His office is in Mandella Square in a suburb called Sandton.  We were able to do that and shop for some items that friends have asked us to pick up.  John bought US Flag mirror covers and other accessories for the games.  We now have a Vuvusela (South African horn blown by spectators at the games).  With all our new accessories, we headed to Rustenburg.  The drive there was pleasant and we scouted out the stadium area for later in the day.  We has some extra time so we went to the Fan Fest to watch the 2nd Match of the Day that was in progress.  We watched the first half of the game (Argentina v. Nigeria) and then headed to our much anticipated match with England.  The atmosphere in the stadiun was electric.  There was alot of friendly discussion amongst fans. England scored a goal within the first five minutes and the USA fans were a little worried.  But there was no need to worry.  Dempsy scored an equalizer before the end of the first half.  Our goalie (Tim Howard) had a rough run in with a player in the first half but had many saves and ended the night as the player of the game.  We felt as if we had a win, even though it was only a draw.  Getting back to our car and to Joberg was a different adventure.  The Rustenburg folks while very friendly seemed to be very unorganized and not prepared for such a large group of people.  There were only a few vans available to transport people back to the parking area, so many of us began the long hike to the parking lot.  Luckily about half way there  (4 km) we were able to get an empty van to stop for us and take us to the parking lot.  The parking lot remained that (there was no organized way to exit that many cars).  Even the South Africans were talking about the lack of organization on the radio.  When we finally go to the road, we had a line of traffic almost all the way to Petoria.  It was a very late night/early morning when we finally arrived back in Joberg.  We are hoping that for the other matches in Rustenburg, the organizers will have learned something from this one.  The attittude is very low stress and "manana".

Day 2

When we arrived at Paris, we discovered that we would be flying to Joberg on a new double decker Airbus, 538 passengers.  The plane was full of soccer fans and it was a great flight.  Our time at the airport in Joberg was short and we soon were on our way down the road (on the other side) to our home base for the next 2 weeks.  We met Gavin (guest house owner) and were invited to watch the opening ceremony and first game (South Africa V. Mexico) at their house.  They are the family in the new photos.  When we went to get supplies, the Football Fans were blowning horns every where (Street corners and in the Mall).  Today we will get our other tickets and venture to Rustenburg for the USA v. England match. 

1 Day to go to WC2010 - travel day

Its finally here...... No more waiting. Denise and I will travel today; Stuttgart to Paris, and Paris to Johannesburg. Will update later along our trip. //JH//

5 Days to World Cup

Its almost here!!!!!  I have updated the blog with PIC of the day and pics from WC 2006.  PIC of the day and slideshow will be updated each day.  Look forward to your comments.  //John//

10 days until the beginining of WC 2010

Hi everyone. John and I are getting our final itinerary together. We hope to post at least daily. John is in charge of pictures.