San Francisco California
Cape Town South Africa
For this online field trip I choose to take the class to places that I have already been. First I choose San Francisco; I think a lot of people in our class probably will choose it as well because of its diverse culture, as well as location, and a world famous name.
The second world city I chose was Cape Town South Africa. I know that most people probably haven’t been there but it really is an amazing place and it reminded me a lot of San Francisco when I was there in January.
I think when talking about San Francisco there are a lot of assumptions people make about living there. They say you’re either really rich and snobby, or gay, or Asian and probably most of all Liberal. For Cape Town its hard to say, I think I see it from a different perspective because I have been there and I have experience the culture. I think most would say its just a beach city, it doesn’t really have any culture or depth to it, its just all about the beaches and the night life.
When comparing San Francisco to Cape Town there are a lot of similarities. First they are both based around the ocean, San Francisco has the bay and Cape Town has its over version of a bay as well. Secondly something most people wouldn’t know is that they both have very famous Islands. In San Francisco there is Alcatraz which use to be a prison and in Cape Town there is Robben Island which once held world famous Nelson Mandela. Third and something that is really close to home for me, both locations are very close to the wine country. It has to do with the weather patterns and San Francisco and Cape Town both have Mediterranean Climates which is really only in 3 other locations in the world. Just 45north of San Francisco there is the Sonoma and Napa Valleys which are famous for their wines, and about an hour outside of Cape Town there is the Stellenbosch wine region.
While Cape Town and San Francisco are very similar they have a lot of differences as well. I think the most noticeable one is the lack of diversity in Cape Town, in San Francisco people are from every walk of life, and every corner of the earth and I really think we take the for granted. Secondly Cape Town has more of a “beach” feel then San Francisco; both locations do have almost equally cold water though! Lastly there is a size difference, in the city of Cape Town there were roughly 2,967,000 in 2003 while in San Francisco there were 764976 as of 2007. Most people think that San Francisco has a huge population but it is really restricted and quite small for such a world famous city.
Overall both these cities connect very well with our study of humanities. In both cases they break the mold of their stereotypes, and we really get to see how diverse these locations are. Both have a lot of historical connections as well as a lot of political connections being in such prime locations.
With Alcatraz and Robben Island both being very popular tourist destinations because of their history I'd like to know how many people step foot on those Islands each year. All when comparing California wine to South African wine I wonder what the main differences are.
From last week I read about California Cuisine in Linda Beavers blog. She makes a really good point about being open when trying different ethnic foods, its all about the experience so you really have to try everything with an open mind. I agree with Linda when saying the California Cuisine shows a lot about our diverse culture, just the restaurants you can find in a few miles in Santa Rosa shows how many different people from different cultures make up our home.
Cape Town
Cape Town Times
San Francisco
San Francisco Chronicle
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