Petting Cheetahs

Molly and I (fully recovered) set off on the wine route tour. There were three others on the tour: an older lady from Oxford and a "snow bird" couple from Toronto spending a month's holiday in South Africa. We drove out to the winelands to the Paarl region. We bagan the day at the Nelson Creek Vineyard. Olivia gave us an informational run down on the wine making process starting from the vines all the way to the bottle. It was an educational experience! We got to sample 5 of their wine varietals accompanied with some tasty cheeses, crackers, almonds, and dried apricots. I usually dislike dessert wine but they had an unbelievable one that was both sweet and tart to the taste. From there we drove on to Franschoek which means "French Quarter" in Afrikaans. The town was more "up scale" and catered to an expensive crowd. The traditional Dutch architecture with simple structures, shutters, white wash, and thatch rooves was picturesque against the vine covered hills and mountain ranges on all three sides of the small town. We stopped at Rickety Bridge to sample a range of their wines. Pinotage is a signature South African wine and I bought one there. Next we drove into Stellenbosch. The University there is beautiful and it had a college town feel. We had some pizza and iced coffee and wandered through shops around the town. Next stop was the Spier Wine Estate. They have a cheetah outreach center where we got to pet Joseph a 7.5 year old male cheetah. It was amazing! Definitely an experience I won't forget. We headed back to the city and shopped at the Waterfront a little before walking back to our hotel. Molly and I enjoyed a delicious meal at the top of our hotel. The restaurant is a revolving on similar to that at the Space Needle. For dessert we ordered bananas flambee with cinnamon ice cream, so good! Today we are headed to the Aquarium. More news to come!