Travel Day to Capetown

Well friends and family, I must apologize for the delay in the last few postings. We woke up early. Feeling a bit more refreshed than the day prior. Tanja, acting as my co-pilot, developed a fine appreciation for the underground tubes. She made sure we ended up at each location with no stress what- so-ever. {If you all have noticed, I always find a chance to give her a "shout out" in this log.} The agenda comprised of just hanging out around London basically waiting, until it was time to leave for our red eye flight.

Very loosely, we sauntered around aimlessly, ending up in the most peculiar locations. The town was really coming alive on this early Saturday morning, with Wimbledon, and 2 separate concerts. One of which was at Hyde Park, just some 800 meters away from the hotel featured Stevie Wonder and the Kings of Leon. This show alone was almost worth adding or pushing the flight off for at least another 24 hours... Staying focused we forged ahead filling about eight hours. In true "check-list tourist" form, we walked past the changing of the guard, managed to buy foreign magazines from Harrods and lastly had time, for one last Indian meal; while watching Brazil and Portugal on the television.

The ensuing tube ride back to Heathrow was uneventful, but the check-in had a brief hiccup that threw us for a loop. Faced with almost a $1000 USD in over baggage fees [22kg/48lbs over the limit]/ flying on South African Airlines. We decided to jettison yoga mats and security bars in order to save our precious vacation tender. This problem became evident, when we flew business to London and coach to Cape Town. Different amounts were allowed. I angrily [mostly at myself ] repacked literally 16lbs of clothes/shoes and other useless items into my already overstocked rucksack in record time on the floor of the airport with only minutes to spare before departing. Tanja helped also as we stuffed her purse with more of my items from toiletries bag and other random items.

Fast forward ahead... Still sweating and mentally steaming, I made a command decision to have a few adult beverages. Ok, sigh, I confess- 4 glasses later of wine in this 12hr. journey. Tanja in her non stressful travel mode fell softly into her rested state in the middle of reading a Frau magazine.

Great day in Britian

June 24, 2010

o530 am London
No longer feeling like we hadbeen run over by a double decker. Tanja and I had a wonderful day of lessons. The education started immediately upon picking up and reading the breakfast menu at a nice establishment. Pardon our lack of knowledge, but the word "bloomer", which only brings to mind a pair of pants that are worn on your body[made us chuckle]... Well our vocabulary now was expanded to include this very common term used in restaurants, to mean simply toast ( *yes, like the bread). Oh boy, this was just the beginning of our British English lessons, for the day. We smartly moved into the Underground Subway system shamefully hiding our faces, only to be directed by the PA system to "alight" at the following station.

What? Huh? we asked each other, while following the others off of the train.
[I totally feel like a heel, not knowing such basic English terminology. Please respond, if this is your first time hearing this word.] Ok, back to the day.

Our day began at a house of worship. The infamous St. Paul Cathedral was super cool. Although not Catholic, we were astonished and floored, by the sheer beauty of this building and its artwork built in 1666, after the great London fire.

In more recent times the church has been the setting for: a speech that Martin Luther King Jr. gave just prior to receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in 1964.

It may also be remembered for the opulent wedding that I, and most of the America stayed up all night to watch on tv in 1981.[OMG , I was only eleven years old back then.} The ceremony of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer... I was fixed to the screen, seeing the newlyweds "alight"

[to come down from or to exit from] from their royal carriage and walk into this massive church, for all of the pomp and circumstances.

I will not continue with a history lesson but, I was quite enamored. There are at least some 15 notable persons from history that even I personally found to be familiar; entombed in this architectural and historical landmark. The crypt below holds too many war hero's to bore you all with, but just seeing names like: the Duke of Wellington, Florence Nightingale, and Lord Nelson was down right cool !!!

Finishing up the tour, we challenged ourselves and got a free work out in, by climbing all 528 stairs to the roof terrace of the dome structure (some 370 feet) into the London skyline.

Did I ever mention that I am afraid of heights?

The rest of the day consisted of visiting other well known land marks, which everyone visits or sees when coming tothe citythat features the crown jewels.

Feel free to reminisce about your trips here while enjoying the pics. All of this was done to a fantastic 87 * F temperature backdrop. Tomorrow is a flying day... South Africa here we come!

TMZ was not around, but one table away from us during our morning breakfast sat Venus and Serena Williams parents.They both said a polite good morning, as I fought the urge to say good morn'n back to them for todays match... I merely ended up saying G'morning and sipped my tea trying not to stare.

The current time is 11:00 pm gmt Good Night!

With Love,

Bill (Tanja is getting her beauty rest)

... In need of a massage and a nap

We arrived early this morning [UK time] after taking the red- eye from Chicago. Although the Queen mum was not available to have tea with us, we had a fantastic English lunch consisting of our favorite weekly meal, Indian Food.


Of course, we missed our gym work out today, so we decided to go for a walk, through one of the many wonderful parks in the South Kessington region. Acting like the typical tourist, in the city that boasts the River Thames; we took photos and walked dangerously into traffic several times. Just remember to look right first, before crossing any intersection.









Finally, Tanja decided to call it a day/night.
I am sitting here typing around 9pm GMT... Tanja has showered and melted into the bed. I am going to join her in the fine idea as she has begun to breathe softly with her eyes closed.

I would like to remind folks, that the only reason why we came to Europe was to battle jet leg for South Africa. I must leave this disclaimer, that this is not a travel blog about where go to while in London, but rather more of a non forced adjustment for our bodies and mind in relationship to time.





The London eye is wide open, but our eyes are half shut, due to us fighting off our jet leg. Until tomorrow friends and family!








Cheers.

The bags are packed.

After 2 years and almost 5 months of planning, the time has finally arrived to go to South Africa. Looking back, I have noticed that I may be a bit off the scale in terms of "normal" when you hear the story of how much time, I actually put into winning this lottery just, to purchase the initial seats.

I set my alarm for 2am. on Feb 20th, 2009. This is where the determination goes beyond most individuals. I spent the next 5 hours straight pounding refresh, on my home computer screen and on a separate laptop.
Pining to see the Fifa Championship, with feelings of discouragment set in around the 3 hour mark. Sigh, I made a cup of tea... Then closer to 5am cst, knowing that the whole world was still trying, I began to lose doubt. Surely I thought; by now the 88,460 seats for the Soccer City in the Joburg venue must be sold out. I wanted to throw in the towel. I personally believe that most "rational" individuals would have given up at that point, but thanks to my "stalker like" firmness, I sought out my former lover; the most popular game of the world.







Long story short, at appoximately 7am[cst] I got in on the laptop link...Next>>> total jubilation as I screamed, jumped up and pinched myself. All of this activity scaring my Tanja, who usually has very subtle morning rituals of greeting the sun with her yoga practice and then having a fruit smoothie... Meanwhile I was dancing like the 14 yr. old at their first concert.[** my childhood flash back to 1984 Michael Jackson and the Victory Tour, a shout out the good ole' days.]



I repeated the same computer scenario set up later in that week. I was fortunate to be able to purchase with only 10 mins of invested time two other games. I felt that it would be a shame to visit South Africa and only visit one city. Our final schedule of events will weave us from the "Mother City" of Capetown through the wine country, climbing table mountain, touching the cape point penguins and finishing up on the garden route in Port Elizabeth. Aside from soccer, we will attend Africa's largest art festival and visit a Big 5 game reserve. A trip and dream of a lifetime for my lovely wife and I.

Please stay tuned and feel free to comment.
Next stop, London.

Fifa Replay - Watch Party

On Thursday evening at 7 p.m. Tanja and I will host a replay match dinner featuring Argentina Vs. South Korea. This is open to anyone and every- "able" body that is reading this preamble to our trip.

**Please, if you decide to attend, do not watch the game during the early morning hours and more importantly if you chose to do so >>>>> Please do not spoil the purist by, blabbing out the score :}

On the menu is Argentinian steak; served along side, Korean grilled veggies... Please note, the MVP of the evening is a smooth 2004 Malbec.

It will start flowing around 6:30pm. See you all later.

June 11th has arrived.

This is what we all have been waiting for. This day started out on a sad note. We learned over night, after the opening concert featuring the likes of: Angelique Kidjo, John Legend, Alicia Keys and Shakira; while in transit home; Madibas' {Nelson Mandela} great granddaughter, Zenani Mandela; just 2 days past her 13th birthday, was a victim by way of being a passenger of a drunk driver. The family driver, who is now being charged by the authorities, admitted to consuming alcohol at the party and then getting behind the wheel. SIGH!!! The Mandela Foundation asked for prayers for the family and excused the 90 + yr old, as they are all in shock and mourning their loss.

The kick off between Mexico and the host nation South Africa was a wonderful way to begin the day here in a very warm and humid day in Chicago... With temps reaching in the upper 80's, Tanja and I watched the celebration, until I was called into work at the 15 minute mark. Sigh!!!

"Oh well, it is being taped" I spewed, as I dashed out... To my surprise we finished earlier than I had anticipated so, the 2nd game of France vs Uruguay was viewed during our lunch time hours.
Armed with Brie Cheese and a Baguette, ***[Go France]*** my Tanja watched from her bedroom, due to a ill feelings onset. I hope it is just a 24 hour bug! I took up residence in the "Price Fan Park", until the mosquito's scored several times. 10 min's into the match, I decided to join the the dog,who enjoys the climate control environment of our living room.

Here is a look into our homemade viewing area, which is setup like a mini fan park with the various soccer nations hanging above our heads, as we sit comfortably eating and drinking. For anyone interested in watching the matches know that we will be having an open house daily, until we depart for Capetown. Join us this Saturday June 12, 2010 at 12:30 CST. On the menu will be chicken curry and english ale as the USA takes on England. Oh yeah , I have apple pie and beef hot dogs for the USA fans as well... of course Budweiser could not be forgotten. Cheers for now!

With two weeks to go, the vacation of a life time awaits...

Television news stories, videos and blogs have been running rampant about everything from the players parents too the security in South Africa. I am mostly interested in the fans and how they like to celebrate with FIFA every 4 years; for a month long pause, from daily life. Recently, I have been working really long hours (mostly middle of the night stuff) and reading the South African times, by day. [It seems to be the only two accomplishments that I am able to report. I can not focus yet on the fun, until literally getting on the plane on the 21st of June.]

Finally for us here, in the home of the brave, the US press has started to catch up to the rest of the world with the World Cup fever. I am able to boast that the City of Chicago has even done one better, by becoming a host world city... Fans new and old are welcome to gather at Daley Plaza starting Friday morning at 08:30 am -5:00pm... ***(9:00am)South Africa will open the tournament as they play Mexico and then at 13:30 pm ***Uruguay and France will battle it out, on the first day of an amazing 30 days of excitement.

If you can not make it downtown, just know that I will be having a small gathering every day, until we leave. Tanja and I will be gleefully honoring every game played in the "motherland.

" Bring your families and enjoy the true soccer spirit. Some games maybe on tape delay due to our work commitments. We will start the games around 4 pm nightly M-F... As well as at their scheduled time on Sa/Sun's. Wear your favorite country jersey or ask for a specific face paint from our many choices.