Theme for the Day:Forrest of Life.
Word for the Day: Knysna
Pronounced Nize-nuh
Knysna means "ferns"
Waking up to the cathedral ceiling of our hotel in George was amazing. We had woken up early. Basically I was dilly dallying around the room for quite some time. I went into the bathroom to finish my makeup and John was saying "they're taking the suitcases now!" I had misheard Tina the prior evening on the suitcase pick up time. I had thought that she said 9:15 AM. When actually she had said 8:15 AM. I got "just a tad" stressed out trying to shove a few remaining items into the suitcases. I shot myself in the foot. Luckily it was not too bad as I had packed the majority of our stuff the night before.
We went over to have breakfast and then boarded the tour bus. Once I was aboard the stress just kind of melted away and I was ready for the day.
"Masambene Baantu!"
Our first stop for the day was the Garden of Eden. We went for a short walk in the forest.
We then went over to Monkeyland!!
Neil was our Monkeyland Guide.
Monkeyland is a sanctuary and rehabilitation center for the monkeys. Most of them were pets in homes or "display" monkeys. The concept is that the monkeys need to learn how to live on their own. The staff do not directly give the monkeys food. They set out food for the monkeys and then the monkeys have to come find the food.
There is a suspension bridge at Monkeyland. Neil said that it is the longest one in the Southern Hemisphere.
Lizzie had some fun monkeying around in the gift shop after the monkey tour.
One of the stuffed monkeys asked to hitch a ride to the USA. He wants to go to Disney World!!!
After Monkeyland we went over and visited Birds of Eden.
The Blue Crane is the National Bird of South Africa.
We then went to Lunch at Bramon Winery.
Our tables were at the end of the vineyard rows.
Starters were bread, salad, cheeses and pickled figs. The cheeses were Brie and White Rock Cranberry. I liked the cranberry cheese so much I went to Whole Foods and bought a version of this cheese a few days after we arrived home.
Then came the delicious Vegetable Soup.
Followed by the lovely Chicken Pot Pie.
Dessert was Lemon or Orange Sorbet.
Whilst at the winery John and I each had a glass of the Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc. (yes you read this right). Suffice it to say this was the first time that we had Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc. We both liked this very much. I could immediately tell that this Sauvignon grape came from the coastal cooler part of South Africa.
How can I tell this you ask? Honestly, I have no idea. A couple of years ago we went out to Sonoma. We went to many wineries up and down Sonoma County. I remember one of our first wine lessons. Our wine teacher was explaining the taste difference in a particular grape as one traveled South to North in Sonoma County. I just remember thinking that I would never be able to taste what he was talking about!!!
But I remember the very winery on our trip that I began to actually "taste" what was in the grapes. It was like a light bulb had gone off and it was a very bright one at that. I was floored!!!! I could taste the dirt, the volcanic ash and all the rest of the spices in the grape (Yes Shellie the grape was Cabernet Sauvignon). I felt so very blessed by this awakening.
Perhaps wine tasting is in my genes? My Dad grew his own grapes and made his own wine when I was a kid.
I absolutely love South Africa coastal wines. It's because I can taste the sea in the aftertaste of the wine. Any day that you hand me a glass of South Africa wine is a very happy day indeed!!!
After Lunch we went and checked into the Protea Hotel in Knysna. This is a beautiful nautical hotel that is part of the Knysna Waterfront. As usual, when we checked in, the keys were already done. A nice cool beverage was ready in the lobby. After finishing the drink we went up to our rooms. Our luggage was being delivered to our rooms as we entered!!!! Protea Knysna gets my vote for most beautiful view out of the hotel room. Knysna Protea Hotel also gets my vote for best hotel for close proximity to shopping and restaurants.
By the time we got to Knysna we had the unpacking "drill" down. Mostly we just left everything in the suitcase and went from there. Tina had said when we checked in that we were HOME. We were pretty comfortable with traveling from location to location. Home is where your Heart and Suitcase Is!!
I was tired but alas there was shopping to do (I could sleep on the plane on the way back). In a few minutes we were ready to hit the Waterfront. OK Brenda and Rose, READY, SET, GO!!
By the time we had reached Knysna we had considerable (David, John and Kereth are all laughing right now) South Africa shopping experiences under our belts. So this time we were not only shopping for souvenirs, we were also shopping for the best price. First we looked at all the shops and the merchandise offered. Then we went back to the stores where we wanted to make purchases at and also the stores that offered the best price for the product. If shopping were a sport we would all be purple ribbon winners!!!
Pictures below are of:
1. Replica of part of an African Door.
2. Wood carving of the continent of Africa.
3. Painted Ostrich egg. One side is Cape Town. The other side is the Africa continent with picture insets.
4. Close up of the egg holder.
The replica of part of an Africa Door is my favorite souvenir of the trip. A few years ago when we stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge it started to rain one afternoon. Because of the rain we could not go out to the parks. There is a silver lining in each cloud-One of the cast members gave us a tour of all of the beautiful artwork in the AKL lobby. One piece in the entryway is a door from Africa. This door is from the home of an African Tribal Leader. Each year the door was carved with events that happened in the village (rain, plane flying over etc). The door is essentially a story board of the village.
It is said that if you touch the door that it gives each member of the village good luck and prosperity. The cast member at AKL invited us to touch the door. Below is a picture of a piece of the door just as you go into the AKL (located just below the Exit sign) . The picture below is not a good one. I'll try to take a better when we are at Disney World in September. It was there and then that I knew that we had to go to Africa one day. Next thing I knew we were on a jumbo jet flying over the Atlantic Ocean to South Africa. Funny how these things turn out!!! It is as if Tinker Bell was there that very day and sprinkled us with Pixie Dust!!!
One of the words that Craig had taught us earlier that day was Molo. Molo means Hello!!! While shopping I noticed that one of the stores that we visited was named Molo Africa!! (Hello Arica!!!) I was so excited that I had noticed this!!!
While we were shopping I had one of those surreal moments. Was I really here doing this? I had heard about friends traveling abroad and saying "Yes we acquired this piece while we were on vacation." Now here I was doing just that. I gave myself a little pinch just to make sure that all of this was not just a great big beautiful dream. After shopping we headed back to our rooms.
We had such a "long" way to walk to Dinner at JJ's!!! It was about forty short steps to the restaurant out the back door of the hotel!!!
I had Oysters with a spiced tomato broth for my starter.
John had the Fish Soup.
My Main Dish was Kudu with Sweet Potatoes. Game meat and sweet potatoes are one of my favorite flavor profiles!!!
John had the Kingklip Fish Dish.
For Dessert we had the Malva Pudding. It was the best Malva pudding that we had the entire trip.
JJ's get my best of the best vote in several categories!!!!!!!
-Best overall Restaurant of the trip. (Based upon Food, Ambience, and Entertainment)
-Best Appetizer.
-Best Main Dish.
-Best Malva Pudding.
We had a great time looking at the labels on the wine bottles in the ceiling. If you buy a bottle of Wine at JJ's you get to decorate your own label for the wine bottle. This then goes on display in the ceiling. We saw several bottles of Disney Folk that had been there before us.
John had a glass of Eikendal's Sauvignon Blanc. A little bit of Disney Magic showered on us that night. We got to decorate our own label for the wine bottle!!! This is now on the ceiling of JJ's. Way cool!!!
What a Day and Night! Off to more Disney Dreams...
Next Up: Knysna Featherbed and Elephant Ride
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