7/1/10 – Botanical Gardens and Eber’s Departure

                 Happy July everybody! Yesterday was Ashley's 21^st birthday, and a full day off from soccer. We celebrated in Cape Town by going out to both lunch and dinner. In between, we visited the botanical gardens in Cape Town. They were absolutely beautiful, and I can only imagine they would be more spectacular during the spring and summer when everything is in bloom. It was a nice change of pace from watching soccer as we walked around the trails for an hour or so. We were scheduled to visit Robben Island yesterday as well, but we had to get a refund because all tours were cancelled due to rough seas.

                This morning Eber left for the airport and is ultimately headed back to New Orleans. I was sad to see him go, we had a lot of fun together and I just officially became our groups "fifth wheel". Dave (Mehr) and I are leaving for a little excursion of our own this evening. We will take the train in to Cape Town and then board an overnight greyhound bus to Port Elizabeth for the Brazil vs Netherlands quarterfinal. I believe it is around a 10 hour bus ride to PE, so I am hoping I'll be successful in sleeping on the bus and being rested for the game. Also in PE, we will visit the lion park where Dave and Jamaica volunteered for two weeks prior to my arrival in South Africa. I don't want to give away everything I might experience, so you'll just have to wait for the next blog! After the game we will have to catch another overnight bus back to Cape Town in order to make the quarterfinals match between Germany and Argentina. Ashley, Jesse, and Jamaica will meet us in Cape Town that afternoon and we'll all go to the game together. It will likely be the last game we attend barring some miracle that we get semi-final tickets in Cape Town. So I'm really hoping for a great game!

                It should be a few days before my next blog post, but it should be a good one recounting my two quarterfinal matches and my visit to the lion park.