Stellenbosch and Paarl

Well, I’m back in Strand after spending a week travelling. Before that I basically spent a week in Stellenbosch. I’ll try to catch up over the next couple of days, sharing more of my thoughts instead of an itinerary. But for now, here’s the rundown…

I spent the week before last wandering around Stellenbosch while Estelle was in rehearsal for a physical theater piece. I got permission to sit in on a few rehearsals and was intrigued by watching a physical theater workshop in progress. I now have several pages of notes about my thoughts, musings on how what I saw linked to my own training, and ideas for workshops. I don’t know when I will have the chance to use this knowledge, but hopefully eventually something works out!

Stellenbosch is just the same as always—clean white Cape Dutch architecture in front of strong mountains jutting into the blue sky. There are lines of trees dressed in their finest autumn colors along Victoria Street. Java has the same menu and my favorite bookstore on Dorp Street is still run by the same woman. The mountains still turn dusky rose at golden hour, the hour before the sun sinks below the horizon.

I feel like I haven’t left, even though it’s been 2.5 years since I last graced the Red Square on campus. It is a little odd: I’d expected that I would want to spend a good amount of time revisiting my old haunts in Stellenbosch. I did a little of that, yes, but I don’t feel a need to go to places simply because I’ve been there before and have good memories of the place/event. I don’t have to go to Brazen Head to remember the nights out, or find the pottery shop I liked just to know that it is there. I much prefer to sit in a sidewalk café and drink tea, observing life around me and drinking in the sight of the mountains. Just being in the city is enough for me.

The highlight of the week was meeting up with Daniel and Jacques (along with Estelle and some of her friends) for nachos and drinks at Cubana. (Nachos at Cubana beat nachos at Spur any day--cottage cheese? Feta cheese? What?!--but were still a little strange because the chips were Doritos under all the toppings.) It was lovely to be able to catch up with old friends. Simply lovely. :)

Another notable excursion was nougat and champagne tasting at the nearby J.C. LeRoux sparkling wine cellar with Estelle. Three full glasses of champagne and two of sparkling wine later, along with their coordinating five nougats, I had quite the headache! It seems that nougat is not enough substance to temper the very generous ‘tasting’ portions. Thank goodness Estelle fared much better than I did and could drive us home!

Saturday the 11th, Estelle and I headed out to the Stellenbosch fresh food market. I remember going to the market during the semester I studied there; Josh, Drew and I walked forever and a day across the city to get there. Today, it has been moved to the Olde Libertas theater area and is about 4x as large. After sampling many varieties of pesto, cheese, chutney, etc, etc, I bought a schwarma and then was told I must buy a piece of German chocolate cake. The cake was too rich for me to eat more than a few bites, so I actually kept it in the car and worked on it throughout the day...it only melted a little.

Then it was off to nearby Paarl. (By the way, the ‘r’ is basically completely silent—just say “Paul” and you’ll be fine!) We started at the Afrikaans Language Monument, located at the top of the highest hill in town. It’s quite a large statue with many symbolic elements: 4 pillar-like-things to represent the European language influences (Dutch, German, French, English), 3 sphere-like-things for the African influences (isiXhosa, isiZulu, seSotho), 1 block-like-things for the Asian influences, 1 tall spire to show the growth of Afrikaans as a language and a smaller spire for the RSA. For all of the beautiful meaning behind it, the monument is also known as a climbing apparatus that offers great views!

Paarl is known for having the longest Main Street in South Africa (12 km) and a variety of architecture styles, along with numerous churches. We even stopped for a drink at the oldest pub in South Africa! With a rambunctious live band entertaining a large crowd at 3 in the afternoon, it seemed to be doing quite well for itself. Estelle and I then spent some time on an architecture walk, admiring the intricate styles and picking our favorite places. There were two quaint houses for sale right next to each other—I think we should become neighbors...

Sunday was Estelle’s grandmother’s birthday, so the extended family went out for lunch in Durbanville (close to Cape Town). Cattle Baron, a steakhouse, offered a nice buffet that included what was essentially brisket. Estelle was quite excited to learn this, since she’d heard of brisket in books but never really knew what it meant. I got to meet even more of Estelle’s extended family, as well as see all the members I was familiar with. As usual, everyone was extremely welcoming and made me feel like part of the family.

More to come soon, as well as updates about the last week spent in Hout Bay and Cape Town.