Friday, June 11th, 8.50am
Fifth floor - Garden Hotel; Eastern Boulevard, Cape Town.
That sounds grand and the view would be magnificent if it wasn't for the massive trees that are blocking the view.
Cape Town is a spectacular city. Table Mountain stands there like a mighty shrine, dominating the scene.
Driving around it from the airport yesterday I couldn't help but think about Close Encounters of the Third Kind, that movie were Richard Dreyfuss makes mountains out of every bit of trash he could find.
One is also acutely aware driving south towards the coast of the disparity here between the haves and have-nots. Mile after mile of townships parked cheek by jowl to the motorway giving way to more opulence as one gets nearer to this city of 1.3 million people.
The British Airways flight down from Johannesburg afforded spectacular views of the arid terrain known as the Karoo - thanks to the pilots sitting in front of us for that information.
It's the driest part of South Africa and yet the landscape appears to have been etched by the flow of water. From 35,000 feet the mountains at the front of the range are riveted and it looks like there may have been a massive lake here millions or billions of years ago. One particular mountain had the appearance of the hide of an elephant, striated and asymmetric - a magnificent sight!
I digress from the point of this journey - the World Cup. The RTÉ gang of 12 has fragmented and gone its separate ways. I am now with Colm Magee, my producer for the next three weeks, and Ray Houghton, who so spectacularly scored Ireland's goal in Giants Stadium. Can you believe it was 16 years ago?
Ray can't go anywhere without someone coming over and saying hello. Last night we went to a restaurant recommended by Jamie Macken. Typical of me, I can't remember the name but I know it began with a 'B'. One thing is for sure, we will not go hungry in this country.
It surprised me that Mitchell's Bar in the Waterfront area wasn't more crowded. There was a smattering of Uruguayans here for tonight's game against France; and many of the locals were sporting the colours of the rainbow nation; but hardly a French man or woman was to be seen and the atmosphere was quite sober for the eve of the tournament. Maybe we were in the wrong place.
Now the tournament begins with the opening game in Johannesburg - South Africa v Mexico. The entire world will be watching. The festival of football that comes round every four years is all about 32 tribes going to battle in a peaceful war.
Soccer and sport generally, allows us to get excited about who and what we are without the danger of blood being spilt. We can heartily sing the anthem and brashly believe in our home space without threatening our opponent. At least that's what we all hope for - a peaceful coming together of many nations united by our love of sport.
I was reading yesterday that this tournament has been insured by Lloyds of London for €6.5billion. Can you imagine how that figure was calculated: the stadiums, the infrastructure, the players (€3.5 billion), the television signals and so on. It gives one a sense of the enormous scale of this event.
So far, South Africa has proven itself to be a worthy host. Though it was sad to hear about those teenage English supporters that were killed in a coach crash, when so many people come together in one place there are bound to be tragedies. That would happen whether they were sports fans or just here to go on safari.
Now for our first game in the magnificent Green Point arena. I have not been there yet. The pictures of it are spectacular. I can't wait. The excitement wakes you up in the morning and sustains you through the day.
As the 8.30pm kick off approaches the adrenaline will kick in and Ray and I will have the privilege of trying to describe the action for the viewers on RTÉ Two. It is an honour to be here!
Enjoy the Cup!
