You know, I am REALLY glad we went to that market AFTER lunch...
It is time to head back to the university through the CBD.
Look, great big buildings and a tiny little corner cafe!
Apparently, Jo'burg was designed on a tight grid system with lots of 'corner' spots for a...ahem... good reason. This was not the first gold rush that South Africa had experienced (although it was certainly the biggest and most enduring).
The authorities had seen what had happened in Standerton when the 'gold diggers' had arrived and had the foresight to plan ahead with Jo'burg before they disclosed the news of the gold. They knew for instance that the type of man who was going to rush over and forsake everything for dreams of riches was not your ordinary upstanding model citizen. He wanted three things: somewhere to sleep, somewhere to drink, and the company of (how shall we put this?), ladies of the night. Those corner properties were for the ladies and their large revenues collected in rent and the same with the beer halls.
This old building has a sign on it that says it is for re-development. Next door is Dr Zunga & Mama...bet he gets his prescriptions filled at the Mai Mai market...
The trouble with tightly built tall buildings, the sun never gets in...
Here is a rather modern building in amongst the old ones.
Sadly, there are lots of for sale signs. It will however be nice if the buildings are bought and refurbished to their previous glory.
Like these ones...
This is the rather nicely kept (on the outside at least) Magistrates Courts.
We got off the bus in Main Street, where the Mining Houses have their headquarters. They have done such a nice job of cleaning up the street. They have had the buildings sandblasted to remove a hundred years of grime, re paved the road, planted gardens, displayed interesting objects and put up information boards. Well done! Now if only they can tackle the rest of town like this...
This is a mine head on display...
Here we are in front of one of the buildings.
This is the detail above the door of the same building.
This relief goes round the entire wall of the building, showcasing all of South Africa's animals.
Aren't we brave? Staring danger right in the...actually, could we move?
Fi says she remembers this statue so well from her childhood, but it was in a different place then...
Oh, this explains it! The Oppenheimers are the South African equivalent of the Rockefellers. They are a very wealthy mining family.
The poor bucks were vandalised by those naughty people who steal metal that I mentioned earlier...
Here is a front view.
This building is slightly less ornate than the other.
You know, during the week it looks exactly like this, but with taxis!
This is Main Street almost a hundred years ago...
And this was used for crushing the rock to extract gold. It was also vandalised for the metal and the original beams were used for firewood! Honestly, some people have no sense of history.
Here is the description.
...and a close up.
This is a rather attractive building.
This is an unattractive building that they have disguised with artwork...
Here is an interesting board about the stage coach.
Can you read it now?
Here is something else Fi only vaguely knew about, the Mapungubwe Rhino. This is obviously a reproduction. The original one is only 15cm (6Inches) long!
Here is the write up on it.
We are being called back to the bus...
We pass the ANC building which celebrates Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday.
..and the 'Trust Me Tavern', which we don't!
Our next port of call is Fordsburg and Vrededorp which I have already mentioned.
On the way, we pass through Newtown, which is also a 'cleaned up' area. This is Museum Africa, which Fi says she has to visit one day.
Here we are back where we started! Educated and exhausted, and it is a long drive back home!