Just a bit of background.. Thomas has never watched his German team live at the stadium. We both have not made any plans/research on Cape Town prior but booked our flights and backpacker hostel at Cape for three nights. Now all we need are the tickets to the game:)
FIFA has a ticket exchange office in Sandton that we tried but obviously this game was sold out the moment it was known as Ger vs Arg. We tried our chances with the scalpers on the street and the going rate is around $400 each which quite crazy. After true negotioation skill from both of us We were able to buy the tickets from a guy that had extra tickets for $250. After selling the the other tickets we were even up on the trade! Wow so we are really going to the Green Point Sradium in Cape Town!!
We did a quick tour of the fancy Sandton area checking out Nelson Mandela Square and getting a quick bite to eat. All the nice pics that I took on my camera needs to wait for uploading and can't do it remotely. So for you anxious picture requesters you need to be content with iPhone versions. I try to take daytime pics with my phone and upload to my facebook. I can't seem to do it to the blog directly.
Also I have to talk about my experience on driving on the right side of the car as South Africans do it here. Your sense of the center of the car is jaded by far really. The car skidding to the right on a freeway if you do not pay constant attention. Unbelievable! And the famous turning on to the incoming traffic has been avoided couple of times. Driving in Joburg has been really fun and easy other than that. Freeways are pretty nicely built.
Taking advantage of having a car we wanted to check couple of places that we had on our itenirary. Monte Casino and Melrose Arch. Monte is the small Joburg version of Paris Paris in Las Vegas. All the Vegas rules apply on gambling. tried my chance on blackjack and poker. As always you win some and lose some but in the end house always wins. Counting that as our entertainment time we headed to complete the intenirary at Melrose Arch. This beautiful Santana Row style complex is the chic part of Joburg and you see the number of white peep increase all of a sudden. We went to a nice restaurnt called Moyo which had local African food. Running into the USA old captain Alexi Lalas with his buddies was a fun addition. Towards the end of the dinner we were enjoying our moment with some cigars and vino and we were joined by a local 20 something year olds who were having bday party.
I must say that I truly find South African people very friendly regardless of race gender background whatever.. Everyone I have met so far wanted to help us and gave suggestions on cool places and cheaper places to hang out. Thomas an I have the same mindstate as experiencing a culture on it's entirerty. We have met some rich kids like these and also were in the poorer ones from downtown who were probably making $2-4.a day. Not being scared of them has allowed us to truly see the rainbow culture. I'll save my overall comments on the culture of South Africa on post-Apartheid era but wanted share my experience so far in less than a week.
Oh yeah we still have 2 more weeks here eh... Feels like it's been a month already. When did I meet this Spanish looking Swaziland native chick again? :)
Cape Town here we come!
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