Posts tagged ‘Cape Town’
I love Winnipeg!
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada is my home and a wonderful place to live. Our family has just been on a more then four month journey to some of the world’s most stunning cities – Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Sydney but there is still no place like home! I am proud to be a Canadian and a “Winnipegger”. I love my city, the people in it and I look forward to flying home tomorrow. This new video showcases our city well. Enjoy!
“Your Love Never Fails” by Josh
Josh sang this song at Kids Club (Orphan Care) in Cape Town, South Africa on April 19th, the day before we left. We recorded this a week later while in Mauritius… enjoy!
Best five places to eat in Cape Town….. by Matt Guenther
Cape Town, South Africa is known as one of the world’s most beautiful and stunning cities but it also has amazing food and restaurants of all different types. Here are some of my favorites:
THE FOOD BARN:
The Food Barn in Noordhoek is a very great place to go eat on a free afternoon or to have a fancy group party. There is a restaurant that is used at night and for functions but the best part about the Food Barn is the Deli Café, which has awesome pastries and delightful meals. Other then the food the scenery is also very nice which starts off with a drive through Chapman’s Peak looking over Hout Bay and the ocean. You then go down into one or two wineries and end up at The Food Barn. The food at the Food Barn is all very good and they have very nice sandwiches on amazing ciabatta. I had one with steak, onions and béarnaise sauce which is one of the best dishes I have had.
KATIMA:
Katima is a Thai restaurant in Hout Bay that is a fancy restaurant in the evening and has the best buffet on Sunday afternoons. The Sunday buffet has an awesome selection of Thai cuisine from soups and noodle dishes to bowls and bowls of dumplings and pot stickers. They also have an amazing dessert bar with cheesecake and great ice cream. The restaurant is indoors and outdoors so you can enjoy being outside on a beautiful Sunday afternoon like we did.
ROYALE:
Royale is the best burger and milkshake place in Cape Town. They have a wide selection of burgers of 25 different types at least and vegetarian and chicken burgers as well. The burgers come with anything you want and they are always cooked to exactly the way you like it. They also have many types of milkshakes that you can mix to your desired taste, and if you don’t like burgers they also have pizzas and sandwiches. Royale is also in a funky area on Long Street that is filled with a fun atmosphere and is always busy.
ROUNDHOUSE:
The Roundhouse is a restaurant located in Camps Bay that is an awesome place to go to on a sunny afternoon or evening to look at the ocean and eat some great food. The Roundhouse is fancy at night with great food but the best part about the roundhouse is that you can go from 3 to 6pm where you sit outside in the warm afternoon and they serve you tapas and pizzas that are all very good and have very many different varieties that will suit everyone’s taste. The atmosphere feels like you’re at a big picnic and it is a wonderful place to go with your friends for a couple of hours to have a conversation and a great view.
SOUTH CHINA DIM SUM BAR:
The South China Dim Sum Bar is a hole in the wall restaurant also located on Long Street that an Asian guy from Canada started. He makes fresh dumplings, soups and Asian buns that are made while you are in the restaurant. The dumplings and soups are so good because they are fresh, even though you have to be patient for them. It is a great place to go for lunch and also a very good place for supper that is always full even on weekdays. You need to make sure you have a reservation in the evenings. If you like Asian food you will like this guy’s food because he makes all the food fresh and has passion for what he is doing.
BONUS: SIMPLY ASIA
Simply Asia is a fast food Asian restaurant that serves Thai noodle dishes, soups and stir-fries that is realty good quality for fast Asian food. Simply Asia is located all over South Africa and everyone loves them. I went there for four days in a row and probably ten to twelve times throughout my time in South Africa. If you are in a rush and need some good fast food go to simply Asia!
So long South Africa!
I can’t believe our time has come to an end. We have loved this incredible country and have once again felt so at home here. We will miss all of our friends here so much. We will miss serving in the community and church! The boys are working on posts about their time in South Africa that I will share in the next week or so.
We are leaving at 4am tomorrow for Mauritius where we will be staying for one week. We are looking forward to our ‘holiday within a holiday’.
Beautiful memories (new pictures up under gallery #10).
We only have two more full days in South Africa!! Three more sleeps and that is it. It feels so sad to think about leaving this incredible country and so many amazing friends. We have come to love this place even more and it truly does feel like ‘home away from home’. Our last few weeks have been full of so many fantastic memories:
Matt and Sam wanted to try sandboarding, so we all enjoyed some absolutely gorgeous sand dunes. We have had many dinners and visits with friends here which has been so enjoyable. We were at Mitchell’s Plain again for the feeding program which is a joy to be a part of. Matt & Sam turned fourteen on April 15th and they wanted to celebrate by going boogie-boarding at Muizenberg followed by a delicious lunch at The River Cafe. We spent a gorgeous afternoon hiking up Lion’s Head and loving the fresh air. Josh, Matt & Sam had a quick ice skating session at the Grand West Arena where I was attending the Colour Conference. The ice is actually fantastic and in fact there was the IIHF Division 3 World Hockey Championships happening there – hilarious! Some of the teams were North Korea, Luxembourg, Ireland and Israel. The hockey was surprisingly good.
The boys have been getting in a good amount of school work in the midst of all of our fun. Matt and Sam have been speeding right along and Josh is on track to finish his courses by the end of May.
Colour Conference!!! Wow, it was truly a powerful time being together with over 5,000 women plus 1,000 volunteers. I was so blessed by the tremendous speaking by Bobbie Houston, Priscilla Shirer and Helen Burns. The music was uplifiting and so inspiring. I was part of a host team in the network lounge, so I was privileged to meet many great ladies and pastors from all South Africa…. and a few from even further away. I also had a fantastic time being part of a group of 80 who were lantern bearers as part of the closing item where we rose from our seat in the dark arena while carrying our lantern and singing all the way onto the stage… just gorgeous! I loved watching Josh serve with so many other guys. He was a host and did such a fantastic job. He also was part of a 12 member singing group that did a song called “Wonder”. Awesome, awesome, awesome!! It is a weekend I will never forget and I am so thankful to have been a part of it.
Tonight we babysat the three sweetest little girls – Cecily (5), Adelaide (2) and Emmeline (11 weeks). Their parents deserved a break and we had so much fun with these cuties. Our boys are great now at playing “Princess” too.
Our last two days are busy right up until we go. We are spending one more afternoon at Tembaletu and one more afternoon at the Kids Club in Westlake. One more supper with friends and one more youth night for the boys. We will miss everyone here so much! We love these people and friendships and it feels like family.
We love this city!
Tonight will be our fifth night in Cape Town. It has been so wonderful to be back in this gorgeous part of the world and we are feeling very settled in. Waking up in Camps Bay to the view of the ocean, Lion’s Head and The Twelve Apostles Mountain Range has been so fantastic. Some of you may not know that we lived in South Africa in 2009 for five months. We have loved it ever since and were also back here to visit in 2011. It has been so much fun these past few days to see many familiar faces and have some great conversations. Sunday we spent the morning at Mitchell’s Plain attending a Hillsong church service launch. It was fantastic to be a part of this! We are excited to go back tomorrow as part of a program with the Hillsong Africa Foundation. http://hillsongafrica.com/ We will be handing out hot meals and helping with a kid’s program – we are excited to be a part of this! Mitchell’s Plain is one of South Africa’s largest townships about 32km from downtown Cape Town. The meal program hands out up to 400 hot meals every week and for some people that is one of their only meals during the week. I’m sure it will be a humbling experience and we are looking forward to serving there each week. We hope to volunteer with some other programs and will keep you posted.
It is funny for me but I have not taken that many photos yet. The scenery is stunning of course but I feel like we have just been taking it all in. As we have lived here before, I also feel a bit like it is “home” and so familiar and have been just loving being here more then taking pictures of everything. For those of you enjoying our many photos, don’t worry – I will get my act together soon!
Other highlights these past few days:
* arriving in our lovely rented home late Friday night to find two awesome boxes of treats and goodies from our dear friends Phil & Lucinda, the pastors here at Hillsong Cape Town.
* Walking with Dave thru our neighbourhood and breathing in the lovely air and soaking in the scenery.
* Having a BBQ suppper last night on our deck watching the sunset over the ocean.
* Seeing so many familiar faces! Today we dropped in at Camps Bay Primary School where the boys went in 2009. We have a lovely chat with the principal and Josh is going back tomorrow to visit a favorite teacher from his time here.
* Driving and going to familiar spots – places to eat, walk, beaches, etc.
* Going to the Sunday evening service at Hillsong Cape Town. Wow!
* Reading, relaxing, running and swimming!
* Meeting Gloria – the lovely housekeeper who looks after our home we are renting. She is so outgoing and fun.
That’s our update for now. We will post pictures soon.
The Guenther's Big Adventure 