south africa : day five, sunday

22 february 2009

the last day in cape town was so sad. i didn't want to leave! there are so many things that i didn't get to see! i suppose that just means i will have to go back one day.. anyone want to go to the world cup next year? it's the first one being held on the continent of africa and cape town is already SO excited!

aside from being sad about leaving, i had a faculty-directed practicum all day for my linguistics classes. luckily, i have the same professor for two of my classes and so one field trip meets the requirements for both!

we started out at 0745 and made our way to paarl, about a half hour away. paarl is home to the afrikaans language museum, which is set atop a big hill. afrikaans is one of the 11 official languages of south africa and is the most widely known. based on dutch but influenced by the native languages of the area, afrikaans is truly unique. there is a giant monument on top which was interesting, to say the least. we had a nice tour guide and she was so nervous! it was her first tour and she had just begun working at the monument as part of her requirements to graduate with a degree in tourism.

after taking pictures of the incredible view, we piled back onto the bus and ended the educational part of our day. we then drove to boschendal, another winery. once there, i had no desire to drink any wine since i'd had my fill the day before.

some girls in my classes and i walked around the property and toured the manor house on the property. it reminded me of the house tour i did for my first history day project. old furniture, photos, etc. my favorite. we had lunch at the little cafe and all ordered the same thing -- a chicken ciabatta sandwhich. so tasty. i also tried the passion fruit tea which was really juice mixed with soda.

everything in south africa runs on south african time..     ..slow. between ordering, waiting, eating and waiting for the check we were there for nearly an hour and a half! a quick stop to get some postcards at the gift shop, and we were off to stellenbosch.

once in stellenbosch we were able to walk around and to do what we pleased. we found a great old book store and had a nice chat with the owner about what we were doing and asked for a bakery shop to get some sweets. before we left she took the time to tell us how much she loved cookie dough in a roll, which her son had brought back from a visit to canada.

wandering around a bit more, we found a perfect cafe called mugg &bean. i'm not sure if there are any in the states but if there are, i'll be heading there. we had brownies and they were far too rich-- i couldn't finish. we then meandered our way across the green and had a sleepy and slow ride back to the ship.

i was on a mission when we got back to the waterfront to find some plain *cheap* t-shirts that i wouldn't mind ruining. i wandered all around the mall, rather aimlessly, and searched for a store that had what i was looking for. between the gucci, burberry and lacoste i eventually found a department store and purchased some t's.

a quick attempt to get on some internet and then i ran back onto the ship at 1730 for onship time at 1800. overall my last day in cape town was a relaxing one. i wish that i could have gone to cape point but i had a nice a quiet day with some gorgeous scenery.

and that was south africa.





....when can i go back? and who's coming with me?