Soccer and Wine

Saturday morning! I woke up with a headache and so clearly, 15 minutes of deadlifts were the thing to do. Got rid of my headache at least, but I really really, really need to work on my grip. Big problems when one part of your body is so much weaker than the other parts. Following that I went to the Old Biscuit Mill market to stock up on meat for two weeks, then fought match day road closure traffic all the way home. That is one thing I will not miss!

The rest of the day was taken up with soccer. I went to the Germany-Argentina game at Green Point. This was an afternoon (4pm) game, and it was actually pretty neat to walk the fan walk during the daylight and actually see everything. Including the wacky fans. Someone had put a big German flag up on Signal Hill which was pretty cool, except that I was rooting for Argentina, ha!

This was more of a massacre than a game, as Germany just completely took over in the second half. It was funny, our seats were in the nosebleeds … literally. We were one row from the top. But we were close to the media, and it was pretty interesting to see them all on their computers. Also we got a stunning view of sunset over the ocean as the outside of the stadium is some sort of mesh-like material. Well, as they say there is not really a bad seat in the house and we could certainly see the game very well, although my friends did leave early (this is a thing for me – I never leave until the very end, regardless of how much my team may be losing).

Following the live game, a large crew of us headed over to Dizzy’s in Camps Bay for dinner and to watch the Spain-Paraguay match. That game was mostly notable to me for the series of penalty kicks, including a Spain one where the goal was called back due to encroachment and then they missed the repeat. So much for the refs having been bought off in favour of Spain! Well, whatever, Spain won. Again. And so I won my bet [originally that Spain would win, later modified to whosever team got further, Spain in my case and Brazil in my friend’s case]. Ahhh, Spain, you’ve won me so much money as getting me drunk can be a bit of a mission…

For some reason probably having to do with working too much and not sleeping enough I became quite exhausted by the time dinner ended and did not stay out that evening with my friends. I blame the deadlifts.

It was OK because on Sunday I had to get up at a decent hour and head over to Sea Point where a bunch of us were meeting to carpool to the Stellenbosch wine festival. This was good fun except that we had to spend like 90 minutes at the first winery due to logistical issues with the park & ride system. Following that, I went to get my car and left the larger group I was with to go join a friend from I met at my gym and her sister for a couple wineries and some gossip.

Every time I make it out to the winelands it’s just breathtaking …. I have been to maybe 12 wineries now and the scenery at almost every one of them is just incredible. It’s hard even to pick a favourite as there are so many to choose from, but I ended up the day at Waterford for a chocolate and wine pairing. That was spectacular more for the chocolate than for the wine: “Masala Chai Dark Chocolate,” “Rock Salt Dark Chocolate,” and “Rose Geranium Milk Chocolate.” All were pretty incredible, and I’m not really a chocolate person. But apparently I’m not a true cheese lover, either. Random thought – I just realized the last brew pub I was in was in Illinois. That seems like a lifetime ago.

Moving on … we went back to collect all the cars, then tried to go to another wine farm but it was closed, despite what the booklet had to say. No huge surprise there. We did get accosted by German fans who insisted on painting flags on all of our faces (except for the Germans amongst us, who somehow managed to escape … random).

Last but not least today I want to pause in honor of my uncle Tom, who passed away over this weekend. My thoughts have been with my aunt, cousin, and the rest of my family all week.