After a slow start (mostly because of a slow Blonde), we set to walking around Cape Town with somewhat vague goals. We wanted to walk in the general direction of Green Point stadium, where our first match will be held on Friday between Uruguay and France. This took us through the Waterfront which was mostly shopping, dining, touristy stuff.
The weather promised rain, and it did not disappoint. Even though the day started with blue skies, eventually clouds rolled over and a downpour started. We were having a bite to eat on the waterfront in an outdoor cafe with umbrella tables when one downpour started. The wait staff immediately sprung into action, as if they had drilled for the scenario, running to clear the tables which were not under umbrellas.
We did some shopping for gifts and such, but only cursory walkthroughs of places like Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Gucci. In some places, it seems every other store is a World Cup merchandise store. As far as looking like a tourist, we're not as obvious as many of the people walking around with World Cup or their country's team gear on. It's not that easy to spot other U.S. Americans as I thought it would be. The English stand out much more. Occasionally though, I'll do something stupid and touristy (See Pics).
Driving on left wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The hardest parts was that I kept using the windshield wipers as turn signals because someone put them on the wrong side of the steering column. It's harder to walk across the street as a pedestrian than it is to drive.
Finally, we made it to Green Point stadium, which is in a very walkable distance from the hotel. In fact, one of the Fan-walk paths passes right outside our hotel, which should be interesting come game day. Most of it is temporarily fenced off and there was a bunch of Press and Fireman briefings happening, so we couldn't scope it out, but The Blonde did get to compare firemen here to firemen back home. Even during the half-mile walk to the stadium, there were still tons of crews here and there doing last minute landscaping, temporary fencing, or construction of a Merchandise City -- a row of shanty shacks lined up along the main road with a single fold-down window out of which to sell merch.
The power situation may be sorted. (See pic) That's my netbook cord, going into a US (to US) adapter, going into a power converter, going into a South African adapter, and then into the wall. However, the netbook is reporting that the AC power is coming and going, so charging it is going to be an idle-time effort.
