We woke up early and had a comfortable ride to Cape Town. The views – yet again – were incredibly beautiful. Cape Town is where the Dutch play Cameroon on Thursday, where Roy and I have been before six years ago for about 2 weeks, where Roy and I will now stay for about a week, and... Cape Town is the city where Kathryn lives. Kathryn is a good friend with whom we studied in Pretoria six years ago; she is from the United States, studies and works at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and we stay at her place for the days to come. So, after 572 kilometers we arrived around 7pm in Newlands; the area of Cape Town where Kathryn lives. We then watched the gorgeous Green Point Stadium and Table Mountain from Kathryn’s boyfriend’s roof, and finally caught up on so many things over dinner. It’s good to be back in Cape Town; the city where the Dutchman Jan van Riebeeck arrived in 1652. After almost 400 years the Dutch are back. And in the thousands!
Tuesday
We took a minibus to city center and from there had a 20 minute walk to the Waterfront. This was not advisable six years ago, but so much has changed; something I hope will outlast the World Cup. After some sightseeing, Roy and I had breakfast (with a view on either Table Mountain or the ocean depending which way one’s head is turned), I finally had internet to upload some posts with pictures, reacted to so many people who cheered “Hup Holland” after seeing my overly ugly orange shirt, went to the hairdresser (I finally do no longer have to wear a cap), and we met Neels. The latter is a big Andre Rieu-fan. Roy’s girlfriend wants to give a nice present to her parents so she found tickets for a sold-out Andre Rieu concert in Maastricht. The tickets could be picked up in… Cape Town. We had a few beers with Neels – who brought those tickets – and he invited us to a proper South African braai with him and his friends and family on Saturday. I love this country!
At 4pm South Africa had to play France; we watched it on the big screen at Waterfront with several thousand of South Africans. Except for those vuvuzelas it was yet another great experience with so many people in such a good mood – especially knowing the South Africans were playing very well (final score 2-1). At around 8pm Kathryn had finished work, joined us for dinner and we had some beers with her and her friends in a bar in the area Woodstock. Yet again, what a great day; with such great weather and such nice people!
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