2009-10-01 – back to where it all began

Here we are, in Stellenbosch again. Much of it is pretty much the same, although there have also been quite a few changes since 2006. It seems like they're building and renovating a lot of things in preparation for the World Cup next year.

We're staying at Bonne Esperance Guest Lodge for the next three nights, and will stay in a self-catering apartment for the remainder of the time.

After checking in at Bonne Esperance, we went for a walk through the city center, did some shopping, had a couple of beers at Basic Bistro, and then went on to the tourist information center to pick up a map listing the wineries in the area, and then walked around some more, to see what had changed, and what was still the same.

We had dinner at Cape Town Fish Market (CTFM), which is just a few blocks away from Bonne Esperance; we were too lazy and not hungry enough to put lots of energy into finding a better place. CTFM has good food, but it is a chain restaurant, so things can be a bit too standardized. The CTFM was quite busy, so we had to wait a little to get a table. No worries, we just waited at the sushi conveyor belt while we studied the menu, and by the time we were ready to order our food, we got a table right next to a big aquarium. Ms. Penguin had a Dorado Stack with prawns, spinach, feta, sundried tomatoes, and olive tapenade, while Mr. Penguin had the Calamari Duo – a combination dish with deep fried calamari and grilled calamari tubes. The food was washed down with Windhoek lager.