Happy St. Patrick's Day

No green rivers, or parades in the city.  Actually, there was no mention of St. Patrick's Day, but that did not stop us from having our own celebration.  Ryan put on Pandora with Irish Traditional Radio, I cooked up a festive dinner.  No corned beef, but I did make Shepherd's pie (with my own twist, and no lamb) and Irish Soda Bread.

May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.

Here, fishy fishy

Two days in Hermanus was the perfect rest we needed.  We caught up on a large amount of sleep, and explored the quiet town of Hermanus.  Famously known for its whale watching, it was not the season, and we did not see any whales.  Ryan enjoyed morning runs along the Cliff Path, I enjoyed morning walks.  The coastline was beautiful, our lodging was, once again, lovely and relaxing.

A small album, with a few more pictures of Hermanus can be found HERE. 

With all this calmness, it is ironic that the main event we had planned for this location was shark diving!  Here, fishy fishy, I want to see you....

Unfortunately the water was murky, and we could only see the sharks when they were very close to the cage (plus the water was extremely cold, and we all know how much I hate being cold).  We enjoyed the views from the deck more, and were able to get some awesome pictures. More shark pictures can be found HERE.

The Wedding Cup

A small, planned detour during our drive from Cape Town to Hermanus, took us into Stellenbosch.  I had made reservations at Warwick Wine Estate for their Big 5 Wine Safari.  Through a bit of investigation, I heard it was a beautiful estate, great views, and the wine safari was something more entertaining than the other basic wine tastings.  We greatly enjoyed the tour, in which our "Wine Advisor" told us about the various grapes, and compared them to the Big 5 animals.  Our safari led us to a tasting area, where we were able to taste a variety of the wines produced at Warwick.

Warwick Wine Estate has a Wedding Cup as its logo.  During the estate founder's travels, she learned the story behind The Wedding Cup, and enjoyed it so much, she chose it for Warwick.  A summary of The Wedding Cup (copied from Warwick's website):

The legend of the Warwick Wedding Cup revolves around the beautiful Princess Kunigunde. She was the beloved daughter of the King and Queen of old Nuremberg, whose hand had been promised in marriage to a Prince from a faraway kingdom

Princess Kunigunde fell in love with a young, handsome and ambitious Silversmith. Although Kunigunde`s father did not approve of their love, it was clear that she only wanted the Silversmith to be her husband. The King became so enraged that he had the young Silversmith thrown into the deepest darkest dungeon. Not even his daughter`s bitter tears would change her father`s mind. To her father`s dismay, imprisoning the young man did not end his daughter`s love for the Silversmith. Instead, he could only watch as his daughter grew paler and paler as a result of the separation from her true love. The King and Queen reluctantly made the following proposal: He told his daughter, "If your Silversmith can make a chalice from which two people can drink at the same time without spilling one single drop, I will free him and you shall become his bride". Of course he was certain nobody could perform such a task. Inspired by love and with skillful hands, the young Silversmith created a masterpiece. He sculpted a girl with a smile as beautiful as his own true love`s. Her skirt was hollowed to serve as a cup. Her raised arms held a chalice that swivels so that it could be filled and then swung towards another. The challenge was met. The Silversmith and the Princess joined hands in marriage and with the bridal cup set forth a romantic and memorable tradition as charming today as it was originally hundreds of years ago. 

To this day and to many couples the chalice remains a symbol of their love. Happiness and good fortune await the couple who drink from this cup.

Princess Kunigunde and the Silversmith lived happily ever after.

Ryan and I were chosen to give the Wedding Cup a try.  

After surviving our Wine Safari, we made our way down the road to another estate where I had made dinner reservations for a traditional South African barbecue.  It may have been because we were already feeling pretty stuffed from our previous days of eating, but the dinner was good, but not fantastic.  We did enjoy the face painting!

Endless adventures...

If someone asked me, "Of all the places you have travelled, where would you most want to live?"  Without hesitation, I would say, Cape Town.  We have been to many wonderful places, many places I would love to visit again, but none have been a place where I could actually see myself taking residence.  Cape Town has an endless list of things to do, covering all interests.  And, if for some reason you run out of things to do in Cape Town, you are surrounded by wine country, or a long weekend along the Garden Route.  Feeling a bit more adventurous?  Hop on a plane, and go on safari.  The options are endless.  Two main options we chose during our last couple days in Cape Town were visiting Robben Island, and hiking Lion's Head.

Sitting on a rock ledge, looking over Cape Town with Robben Island in the distance.

Prior to our trip, I read Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom.  First of all, I highly recommend you read it. Not only is it well written, but his life is one of endless courage, passion, and faith that good will come.  His words made my trip to Robben Island much more meaningful.  Our introduction bus tour of the island was quick, and lacked inspiration, but then our tour of the prison began.  Our guide was a former inmate.  His tour not only showed us the various areas of the prison, but gave us a glimpse into the life of a prisoner on Robben Island.

The morning of our last day, we decided between hiking Table Mountain, and Lion's Head.  We ultimately chose Lion's Head, we had already seen Table Mountain, and we only had the morning before we were planning to leave for our start along the Garden Route.  Lion's Head was advertised as a leisurely walk, with incredible views.  It was a beautiful morning.  After a another delicious breakfast, and before our drive to Hermanus began, a walk with incredible views sounded great, I was in.  In South Africa, leisurely apparently means, side of cliff climbing, ladders, and chains to reach the top.  Regardless, it was still an incredible adventure, and they were NOT lying about the views.  I would not hesitate to hike Lion's Head again, packing a small picnic to enjoy while enjoying the views.

Always needing to be organized, I kept Robben Island, and Lion's Head separate.  They are two small photo albums.  If you wish to view the albums, the links are below:

Robben Island

Lion's Head

Cape of Good Hope, and Boulders Beach

We were very fortunate to know someone living in Cape Town.  A rotating coworker of Ryan's lives in Cape Town with his family, and our trip happened to occur during his four weeks rotation home.  He offered to be our personal tour guide for a day, and drove us along the beautiful Chapman's Peak Drive to Cape of Good Hope, then along to Boulders Beach.  Our day ended at his home, where we enjoyed a traditional braai, a South African barbecue.

Chapman's Peak Drive

Cape of Good Hope

I cannot even begin to explain how excited I was for Boulders Beach.  

Our day left us with many, many pictures.  It still brings me great joy to browse through the penguin pictures.  I hope you also enjoy our album of Cape of Good Hope, and Boulders Beach.

Table Mountain

After each trip, I find myself wanting to look through the pictures, and relive the adventures and memories.  I do not always find myself wanting to edit pictures, deleting the blurry or multiples.  I especially do not look forward to uploading the pictures since our internet is much too slow.  But, anytime I log into the website, and view past photo albums, I am always happy I chose to create an album.  I have finally sat down, and begun the process of creating photo albums for our South Africa trip.  Starting with, Table Mountain...

Our flight landed early afternoon in Cape Town.  After a quick car rental, and drive, we reached our guest house.  We would spend the next four days in Cape Town.  Upon arrival, our lovely hostess explained that the weather was exceptionally clear on Table Mountain, and if we had no other plans, we should head to the top.  Originally, Ryan and I planned to hike to the top of Table Mountain, but with the afternoon growing later, we decided to ride the cable car up, telling ourselves if we had time later, we would hike up a different day (we never had the opportunity).

View of Lion's Head from the top of Table Mountain.  Robben Island is also visible, to the right of Lion's Head.  We would find ourselves hiking up Lion's Head, and visiting Robben Island on upcoming, separate days.  

A quick cable ride up, and then we spent the next couple hours hiking around the top.  We explored numerous paths, Ryan found a particularly amazing photo spot.  His find, and his standing on the rock drew the attention of other hikers, and he quickly drew a crowd.  I put my "big girl" pants on, and braved the climb to the top, and stood for what turned out to be an amazing picture.  If I remember correctly, as Ryan was taking the pictures, his words were, "Your Mother is going to be so mad at me."  Considering the events we had planned (and others we did not were to come), me, standing on the edge of this rock would be the least of my Mother's worries.

The time quickly passed, our stomachs grew hungry, so we decided to once again, hop in the cable car, and make our way back down.  That night, after Ryan saved me from our first uninvited room guest (see photo album), we jumped in a taxi for the V&A Waterfront, and feasted on our first of many, many, way too many delicious meals.  

If you missed the link in the first paragraph, and wish to view our Table Mountain. Cape Town, South Africa Photo Album, click HERE.

731 Days....

As we landed at the airport yesterday, on our final leg back to Novorossiysk, I leaned over to Ryan and whispered, "Tomorrow is the 2 year anniversary."  I could see in his eyes that he was quickly going through both "anniversaries" marriage/wedding.  No, not marriage/wedding anniversary, our anniversary of moving to Russia.  March 7, 2011.

731 days of living in Russia.  Wait, 2 years is only 730 days?  Not to be forgotten, 2012 was a leap year, and gave us one lovely, extra day in Russia.  As I type this, I wish I could say this would be our last March 7th in Russia, but it is not certain.  A lot has happened in two years, many adventures have taken place, and much growth has occurred among us, both personally and professionally.

We will see what the next 365 days bring us, and where we may end up.  No ideas yet, but I like to tell myself (to make myself feel better), the idea of surprise makes things that much more exciting.