...Is That Grown Here in South Africa?........

We arrived in Cape Town, S.A. on Tuesday Dec 8th - Julie was there to met us at the airport - there was no awkward moment at all - we hugged like old friends - like we have known each other for our whole lives. A very brief background - Julie is Delia's aunt and although we have spoken on the telephone and chatted over the e-mail, we have never met in person - but we got along so well - you would have never have guessed that! On a sad note.......I will keep it brief, but it is important to say - Julie's husband - Delia's Uncle; David, died in April 2009 due to cancer. Julie and David were not only married, but they were best friends, which is very rare these days. Although Delia's Uncle David was not there physically, I can assure you with all the good weather and great visit we had - I KNOW he was there in spirit watching over us. After hearing the stories of David - I know he was a great man and his memory will live on forever!

Just to set the stage for our S.A. visit and Julie spoiling us beyond belief.....she picked us up in her S Type Jaguar (parked in her garage beside her Jaguer E Type and behind the Jaguer E Type...notice a trend *grin*). Her home is gorgeous located in Fransch Hoek Estate in Franschhoek, S.A. - her home is surrounded by a young, but gorgeous garden, a pool and the Klein Drakenstein Wemmershoek Moutains in the background. This home was designed and built by David and Julie and is an absolute dream of a home! Julie is a beautiful, giving, generous & fun person with not an ounze of pretentousness - they worked hard for everything that they have. After our 11 1/2 hour flight we arrived at Julie's home and chatted & had a bite to eat. In the afternoon we went to Fairview Winery - one of the many wineries in S.A. As part of the wine tasting we also had S.A. cheese & olives - how divine! I really enjoyed the winery - everyone was very personable & made it a complete experience - tasted wine, cheese & olives, but also heard history of the wine & S.A. The on-going joke throughout our visit was ".......was that grown here in S.A......?" Wine, fruit, veggies, milk, cheese, beef, olives & more grown here in S.A - makes it easier for the "One Hundred Mile Diet"!

That night Delia BBQ'd steak on the brine (bbq - inside in the dining room - very cool). We had that along with an amazing fresh salad and of course - wine! Julie bought a selection of wine from Fairview that we liked - over the next few days, we took turns choosing a wine and the other two had to quess which one it was - not always right, but hey, we had wine to drink and we had fun doing it!

On Day 2 of our visit, Julie had organized a friend of hers; Buz, to take us around S.A. - he is a retired school teacher - he was extremely knowledgeable, funny & an amazing storyteller! One of the reasons Buz agreed to take us around is that Julie agreed that Buz could drive the Jag - *grin*!!! We toured around S.A. that is referred to the "Cape of Good Hope" or the "Cape of Storms" - named appropriately for the good fortune found on the Cape, but also for the many ship wrecks that happened (mainly due to human error, but the weather, tides and currents were unforgiving at times). Buz told us several stories, but I will stick with the ones relavent to the history of S.A. & the cape (I did log the stories for future if anyone is interested at a later date). A main landmark of Cape Town is Table Mt. The features of Table Mt provides bonified proof that Cape Town was indeed under water at one time. This is demonstrated by the horizontal lines (layers) created on Table Mt. Only water can make horiontal lines such as these. To continue in the creation of Cape Town, it is directly related to and has everything to do with sandstone, granite & water. Table Mt was forced upwards by the massive layer of granite rock with sandtone on top of the granite rock. To further explain how Cape Town became to be - I will step back & explain how Table Mt got it's name......Other then it's flat table top shape - there is a constant flow of cloud cover that covers the flat top of the mountain, resembling a table cloth over the table top......the clouds are so smooth looking, it really does look like a table cloth over the mt. Anyways, you will have to take my (or Buz's) word for it. With the constant flow of cloud over the mt - this causes condensation over the mountain - this condensation seeps into the sandstone and flows down until it reached the hard impermeable granite stone. Once at this level it forces the water horizontal and drains over the granite down canals to the bottom of the mountain; therefore, providing the vital part of life......water! So depsite the lousy harbour & more dangerous then other harbours - Cape Town was chosen for the source of water - sustainability of life! So the voyaguers, explorers & other famous (or infamous) politicians & leaders can say what they like on how great they were & how they created Cape Town - it really is all based on the geography- as most cities are. This includes the design of Cape Town as the roadways were buit around the granite. A few fast facts of Cape Town - 1st heart transplant in 1969, exports: wine, fruit & gold - wool was a major export, but was significantly affected by the Russian economy when it suffered a decline. Another iteresting fact for those "World Cup" fans - a woman by the name of Ms. Wineguard (okay, okay, I forgot her first name), owed land & specifically stated that the land should be used for parks and recreation only - this was one of the factors when S.A. was considering building the new statium for the 2010 World Cup - it was built on this land! In this same visit we saw the African Penguin (so damn cute) that was driven to almost extinction for the uncontrolled harvesting of the penguin eggs for food and the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens (beautiful)! Currently, the gardens not only has plants and flowers that are indigenous to S.A., but also plants and flowers from all over the world as they were given as gifts from royalty. It was decided although the goal is to have the entire gardens indigenous to S.A., the foriegn plants & flowers will complete their lifecycle and when they die they will be replaced by indigenous flowers. We ended our tour at Buz & his wife's Mary's home - we had a lager; Castle......mmmmmm good......made in S.A.?.....most definitely! When we got back to Julie's home we had a light dinner and another wine tasting - I hose Calera and Delia guessed right. Calera.....made in S.A.....? Absolutely!