There are three of us now. I (Diana) am way into blogging so I will chronicle our journeys the past few days, and the others can add if they wish:
At midnight on March 23 Steph and I went to the Dubliners, an Irish bar, to ring in my birthday. A Bon Jovi lookalike sang decent covers as tourists danced. A few Kellogg kids showed up, of course, but overall a nice time.
In the morning, when Steph went to prison, Tina, our third musketeer, arrived! We ran errands and went to the botanical gardens where a Canadian commercial was being shot. It was one of many commericals we have since seen, since people apparently fly from all over the world to bask in the glow of Cape Town. Then guess who found us? YES, Steph and my stalker from the first day. This makes four times he has found us. I was quite terse.
At night, for my birthday dinner the three of us went for delicious Kurdish food. There were high school boys smoking hookah next to us, and we felt old. I also danced with a belly dancer.
We then went clubbing on Long Street. This was the first time we went OUT out on our lovely street, and we were not super-impressed. While I enjoyed the birthday drinks of course, the crowd was quite touristy/highschooly. We went to one cool club "The Waiting Room" where we had a view of the city.
Overall, it was a lovely birthday, and super-great to spend it in Cape Town, the most beautiful city in the WORLD.
March 24
While Steph was in prison, Tina and I went to the beach. We first got bikini waxes at this super-fancy hotel (that would cost upwards of $500/night if we stayed there ourselves) and were able to lay by the pool. We kept remarking how lucky we are that Medill is subsidizing our trip to paradise. Then Steph joined us as we lay out on the beach which was beautiful, of course. Though it was slightly annoying that every 4.5 seconds a man would come by hawking water or ice cream or sunglasses. We firmly said NO.
After the beach (and some more Sinfull gelato) we came back and got ready to go out. While we were getting ready, a nice Scottish girl came by our room and asked if she could join us to go out. Apparently, a boy ditched her and now seh was on her own. Of course she could join us! We were quite excited to make hostel friends, since where we are staying the people aren't the friendliest.
Our new friend Laura (21, and staying in Namibia for three months) went with us to the Waterfront for shopping and seafood at Ocean Basket. Beautiful, duh. I need to stop saying that because EVERYTHING's beautiful. I couldn't imagine living in Cape Town forever, and just taking the beauty for granted.
Then we went to Cubana, a cool bar that wasn't super-touristy and a great break from the trashiness of Long Street. Then we danced at Opium. It was ok, though the house music is not my thing. There was a guy wearing a shirt that said "I love beer and girls." Not the way to pick up chicks, fella.
Before heading off to bed, we had falafel from a street vendor, just to make sure our Scottish friend solidified the idea of fat Americans in her head.
Showing posts with label Cape Town. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cape Town. Show all posts
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Long Street makes us alcoholics
Long St. (aka the Bourbon St. of South Africa) was at it again. We think the producers of Real World seriously need to look into shooting their next season here. But this makes sleeping difficult, and alcohol an essential part of the bedtime routine. Steph had to wake up at 7am to go visit a prison. The alarm didn't go off and she flipped out with curlers in her hair. Steph sent Diana downstairs to fetch Raoul sans glasses or shoes, although he was nowhere to be found.
The reliable R (ethnicity: dutch and just really REALLY tan) took Steph to Paarl, a nice city west of Cape Town famous for their wine vinyards before heading off to a prison. After interviewing two murderers, who only need to serve 12-15 years (scary?!), Steph headed back to a much calmer long street. R shared stories about his wild days as a political activist during apartheid. There was some crazy stuff.
While Steph was in prison, Diana slept, ate, e-mailed sources and shopped. The high point of the day was going down Kloof (as per Josh's suggestion) and eating at The Food Store. Paying for my $15 rand ($2) quiche, the service woman from Zimbabwe commented on how burnt I was. I told her coming from Chicago, I was overexcited about seeing the sun. "Chicago!?," she asked. "Like where Oprah is!" South Africans love their Oprah. We agreed she's way better than Tyra and exchanged numbers to be friends.
When Steph returned, we had an early dinner at Lola's, a cool urban artsy coffee shop/bar. We sipped on mango teas infused with mint leaves and a dash of lime. At night we went to the 13th Annual Gay/Lesbian film festival at a movie theatre in the mall. We learned 1) designer jeans are cheap in South Africa (Steph bought a pair), 2) movies have assigned seats and 3) you can flavor your own popcorn. We prefer cheddar and sour cream. The movie "Unveiled" a German film, was very interesting.
Now we're off to drink ourselves to sleep and celebrate the beginning of Diana's 22nd birthday!
The reliable R (ethnicity: dutch and just really REALLY tan) took Steph to Paarl, a nice city west of Cape Town famous for their wine vinyards before heading off to a prison. After interviewing two murderers, who only need to serve 12-15 years (scary?!), Steph headed back to a much calmer long street. R shared stories about his wild days as a political activist during apartheid. There was some crazy stuff.
While Steph was in prison, Diana slept, ate, e-mailed sources and shopped. The high point of the day was going down Kloof (as per Josh's suggestion) and eating at The Food Store. Paying for my $15 rand ($2) quiche, the service woman from Zimbabwe commented on how burnt I was. I told her coming from Chicago, I was overexcited about seeing the sun. "Chicago!?," she asked. "Like where Oprah is!" South Africans love their Oprah. We agreed she's way better than Tyra and exchanged numbers to be friends.
When Steph returned, we had an early dinner at Lola's, a cool urban artsy coffee shop/bar. We sipped on mango teas infused with mint leaves and a dash of lime. At night we went to the 13th Annual Gay/Lesbian film festival at a movie theatre in the mall. We learned 1) designer jeans are cheap in South Africa (Steph bought a pair), 2) movies have assigned seats and 3) you can flavor your own popcorn. We prefer cheddar and sour cream. The movie "Unveiled" a German film, was very interesting.
Now we're off to drink ourselves to sleep and celebrate the beginning of Diana's 22nd birthday!
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
"I like Cape Town because we can chill with the rich people"
ED NOTE: This was written by Diana, before joint blog was started.
so said Steph, my traveling companion for my time in South Africa, after our $25 dinner at a fancy Waterfront restaurant (reminiscent of a classy restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf but cheaper). While she actually does research, I figured I'd blog about the journey thus far.
Flight from O'Hare-->Heathrow= miserable. Worst flight attendants EVER. They wouldn't give me a bottle of water even though I was dehydrated. Plus the flight was rocky.
London- We had 8 hours, so decided to be quick tourists in Piccadilly Circus, where a St. Patrick's Day parade was going on. This was my first time EVER in Europe, and maybe not the greatest experience, since I was quite tired/jet-lagged. It was...nice? My quick jaunt reminded me of New York + San Francisco architecture + British accents and a few stores I've never seen. I guess a tad anticlimatic, though I'm excited to get a few days there on my way back. Heathrow was the nicest airport ever though.
Flight from Heathrow--> Cape Town= AMAZING. The flight was underbooked, so we each got our own row of seats and I slept (soundly) 8 out of the 11 hour flight.
Cape Town is BEAUTIFUL. We're staying on Long Street, the central street where all the hostels aret. Steph keeps comparing everything we see to something she's seen, so I'd say Cape Town is like a more beautiful San Francisco, and Long Street is like Jamaica, with white tourists and black service people. Table Mountain is beautiful as is the water, and it's just so spectacular. Long Street is super-touristy and kitschy, but it's fun and vacation-like. Plus, the weather's amaing.
While there has been absolutely no reason to use the mase I invested in, just before I was sitting outside Mr. Pickwicks Deli, this cute deli where I got a mint milkshake, and this man sat at my table and started talking to me. I wanted him to leave because he was sketching me out, but I didn't want to say anything since, who am I to claim a table?, so I just let him sit there and even gave him a piece of paper when he asked for it. But then he started asking for money and I'm like, sorry, no. I felt bad, since I'm a rich American, but I can't just hand out rands to everyone who asks, you know?
Other sketchiness: Yesterday Steph and I got smoothies at a restaurant. Our nice waiter told us a beach to go to. Said waiter then saw us again while we were sitting at this park near all these museums. Coincidence, we thought, until this guy showed up AGAIN this morning and started flirting. He asked for our numbers so he could take us out. Kind of maybe-sketchy. We want friends in Cape Town, so we took his number. But THEN he leaves and brings back his sketchier friend who was WAITING ACROSS THE STREET. hmm, we think he might have been following us. What are the chances of running into him (or rather him running into us) three times?
And my research is, ehh. I should have, I don't know, "researched" more before, but I'm trying to just enjoy Cape Town and not stress about that. And unfortunately for my internet addiction, there's a cafe right under my hostel.
Oh, and I told this German man in my hostel that I'm from America, and he's like "America? You mean the U.S. There are a lot of other countries in America." umm, ok, so I'm ethnocentric.
so said Steph, my traveling companion for my time in South Africa, after our $25 dinner at a fancy Waterfront restaurant (reminiscent of a classy restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf but cheaper). While she actually does research, I figured I'd blog about the journey thus far.
Flight from O'Hare-->Heathrow= miserable. Worst flight attendants EVER. They wouldn't give me a bottle of water even though I was dehydrated. Plus the flight was rocky.
London- We had 8 hours, so decided to be quick tourists in Piccadilly Circus, where a St. Patrick's Day parade was going on. This was my first time EVER in Europe, and maybe not the greatest experience, since I was quite tired/jet-lagged. It was...nice? My quick jaunt reminded me of New York + San Francisco architecture + British accents and a few stores I've never seen. I guess a tad anticlimatic, though I'm excited to get a few days there on my way back. Heathrow was the nicest airport ever though.
Flight from Heathrow--> Cape Town= AMAZING. The flight was underbooked, so we each got our own row of seats and I slept (soundly) 8 out of the 11 hour flight.
Cape Town is BEAUTIFUL. We're staying on Long Street, the central street where all the hostels aret. Steph keeps comparing everything we see to something she's seen, so I'd say Cape Town is like a more beautiful San Francisco, and Long Street is like Jamaica, with white tourists and black service people. Table Mountain is beautiful as is the water, and it's just so spectacular. Long Street is super-touristy and kitschy, but it's fun and vacation-like. Plus, the weather's amaing.
While there has been absolutely no reason to use the mase I invested in, just before I was sitting outside Mr. Pickwicks Deli, this cute deli where I got a mint milkshake, and this man sat at my table and started talking to me. I wanted him to leave because he was sketching me out, but I didn't want to say anything since, who am I to claim a table?, so I just let him sit there and even gave him a piece of paper when he asked for it. But then he started asking for money and I'm like, sorry, no. I felt bad, since I'm a rich American, but I can't just hand out rands to everyone who asks, you know?
Other sketchiness: Yesterday Steph and I got smoothies at a restaurant. Our nice waiter told us a beach to go to. Said waiter then saw us again while we were sitting at this park near all these museums. Coincidence, we thought, until this guy showed up AGAIN this morning and started flirting. He asked for our numbers so he could take us out. Kind of maybe-sketchy. We want friends in Cape Town, so we took his number. But THEN he leaves and brings back his sketchier friend who was WAITING ACROSS THE STREET. hmm, we think he might have been following us. What are the chances of running into him (or rather him running into us) three times?
And my research is, ehh. I should have, I don't know, "researched" more before, but I'm trying to just enjoy Cape Town and not stress about that. And unfortunately for my internet addiction, there's a cafe right under my hostel.
Oh, and I told this German man in my hostel that I'm from America, and he's like "America? You mean the U.S. There are a lot of other countries in America." umm, ok, so I'm ethnocentric.
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