She's Got Legs

Zoe has been laying on her bed next to my desk more often lately as opposed to my couch. I'm not sure why but I always get a little nervous when she does something different.



I obviously woke her up with my camera...time for a stretch.



Roll on the back for a few seconds....



Then back to sleep!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Last Friday night to relax at home- I'll be in Dallas, Chicago & Louisville the next 3 Saturdays!

Our South African Art

We had the awesome privilege of meeting a wonderful painter, Miq Miles, who had a beautiful three-panel sunset painting that we both thought would look awesome in our house. Better than any trinket or t-shirt we could bring back from our trip, we decided some artwork was a better investment. The art prices on almost everything were so much cheaper compared to what we'd pay for something similar in the states.



Our only problem was getting it home. We spent about 3 hours driving around the airport, around town, around shipping companies before settling on the good old South African postal service. After waiting in line, we discovered they don't take credit cards & had to ATM a few more South African rand during our last few hours in the country to be able to ship our painting home.



I was only giving it 50/50 odds that it would actually make it to the US & make it in one piece. It arrived at my office about 2 weeks after we'd returned home & of course Zoe had to investigate.



We ended up hanging it in our kitchen area in the little walk-through between the bedroom and the dining area.



We both really love it & think it was totally worth the hassle of shipping it home.



The other thing I really like about the painting is that it has some depth to the paint & some texture on the canvas.



Did I also mention that I loved these trees when we saw them out on safari? I'm so glad we found such an awesome piece of art as our souvenir from South Africa.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: DONE! At least with South Africa photos. I'll pick up and return to Mauritius in a few days once I get caught up on some other blogging things.

Grace Hotel & Sunday Market

We stayed at a lovely hotel called The Grace in the Rosemont area of Johannesburg. It was a beautiful older hotel, with tons of character and history.



After the outside shower at Lion Sands, H had to settle for peep out window shower on the 7th floor.



We were so exhausted from our adventures first full week of vacation & we needed a day just to lay around and do nothing!



It was a very formal hotel with tons of personality. Each floor had a beautifully painted piece of art as you stepped off the elevator.



The balcony on each floor was open below & the second floor was connected to the mall.



We wandered downstairs to discover there was a wonderful flea market that is only open on Sundays.



There were dozens of local artists showing off all types of paintings and other crafts. We bought something....come back tomorrow to see what!



Tons of trinkets and dollar-store type of items, but they did have some live music playing and a few hot food stands where you could try some local flavor.



I loved seeing all the spices for sale in giant bags- it's so neat that's done similar but slightly different in every country.



There was this women & she'd made all this food at home and brought it to the market to sell. I was so amazed & asked if I could take her photo. There were also fresh breads and cheeses for sale that looked really yummy.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: One of our good friends is graduating from the police academy tonight.

Constitution Hill

We were really hoping to see the Apartheid Museum, but unfortunately, it is closed on Sundays. We were a bit bummed almost skipped the alternative Constitution Hill & Old 4. However, we really enjoyed an up-close tour of South Africa's Supreme (constitutional) court.



The area was once a fort, as it is the highest place around & it long served as one of the roughest & toughest prisons on SA.



We toured the women's prisons and couldn't believe the conditions, especially for non-white prisoners. There were some great exhibits in the men's prison, and they had many displays about the political prisoners in apartheid's history.



The real highlight here was touring Constitution Hill. The building is only a few years old, but it contains some gorgeous art & incredible architectural details. The designers did an amazing job of blending all the cultures, history and art of the country in the various elements of the building. Above, each of the officially recognized languages is represented.



These massive wooden doors were at least 30' tall and each panel was hand-carved wood describing some of the fundamental tenants of the constitution just written in 1994.



The lobby area was beautiful & filled with symbolic art.



These metal leaves represented the forest and the close ties of the people to nature.



This ladder stood outside the doors into the courtroom and each rung represented various points in South African history



These hand-crafted bronze doors led into the Constitution Court.



We were able to have free reign inside the court and walk around as we pleased. It was so amazing to us as our guide explained a bit about how their legal system worked and how the justices were selected. Part of their belief is that the court should be open to all- anybody can some and watch a trail, proceedings are open to the press and translated into the native languages.



There were several women on the court & quite a few African and Indian judges. In front of each judge's seat is a cowhide- symbolizing how they are all the same but each still unique.



I have a thing for photographing flags of the countries that we visit and this quilted flag with beads on it was just gorgeous.



Walking up close, I was able to see the tens of thousands of beads adorning the flag in intricate patterns.



This symbol was also quite predominant around the court. I love how you can't tell if the people are black or white (gold), but they all blend together under the tree.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: My running buddy is back in town today- no more slacking!

Johannesburg

Continuing on with our big Africa trip, our next stop after safari was Johannesburg. I wish I'd done a little more research & had a better understanding of South Africa in general. This is by far the largest city in SA & there were many more flights choices to get to Jo-burg each day than to Cape Town. It's a typical large city & was the center of the apartheid battle. As you can see with all the soccer signs, they are VERY excited about the 2010 World Cup.



This was one of the first things we saw & I had to laugh because it's such a common sight in most American big cities. I'm glad we stopped here, but this was probably the least favorite part of our trip for both of us.



We had a great view from our hotel & I was very impressed with how well so many of the beautiful trees had been preserved around the city as it had grown.



We took a full-day city tour that included many of the distinct boroughs & former shanty towns that played such a prominent role in the battles against apartheid.



One area of town we drove through featured high-rise upon high-rise where thousands of people lived in close-quarters. It reminded me very much of the apartments of New York City.



It was quite an interesting town- many, many contrasts. When we drove through the "rich" part of town, we'd never seen so many high walled compounds, so many fences & barbed wire, or guard shacks at every single house. It was a sober reminder that there were still many class disparities in the city.



Also, around the city we saw huge piles of dirt. Apparently, at the height of the gold and gem rush, many people had been forced to work the mines just outside of town where they piled high the efforts of their digging.



We made our way over to Soweto- one of the larger townships & home to some of the worst violence during apartheid. Our guide assured us it was a fairly safe place to visit (during the day at least).



We saw lots of larger housing complexes that still lacked many of the basics- such as plumbing and electricity.



However, the government had been building some newer apartments to replace these older ones.



Most of the neighborhoods were what I'd consider typical lower-income types of places. It was neat to get out in the city and see some of this stuff first-hand.



We did see a few areas with some very poor looking shanty-towns, but it was not as common as I expected.



Try as I might use Google, I couldn't not figure out what the name of this monument, but I remember it commemorates one of the riots & killings on a college campus during apartheid.



In the Kliptown square, there was also a Flame of Freedom Monument dedicated to the Freedom Charter of the African National Congress. It's similar to our Declaration of Independence and the ideals that the country wants to strive to reach with their new government.



Each of the declarations is etched into a concrete piece of a round pie shaped slab that was about 15' feet across. There is supposed to be a flame of freedom burning in the center.



It's fascinating to see what the highest hopes and dreams were of these people for their country and to realize that people generally want the same thing all around the globe.



And I thought this was pretty iconic- one of their giant new football stadiums shadows over a small shantytown.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Found a tenant to rent out the duplex & hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here.