Diamond Reflecting

An early start to the day on the plane as we were landing soon after 6 am; it had been an excellent flight.  Leaving the plane was swift but getting through passport control certainly wasn’t – it took ages!
We went to our hotel and, despite being very early for checking in, we only had to wait a few minutes for the cleaning to be finished before being allowed in.  The room is spacious and comfortable – it will be fine for a couple of nights.  We headed out on the hotel’s shuttle service to pick up the tour bus that goes around Johannesburg.  We got off at the Apartheid Museum to look at the history of this in South Africa – well displayed and informative showing an horrendous aspect to the city’s past.  We also looked at an unusual piece of architecture called the’ Diamond’ in Diagonal Street (not Alley!).  This is an unusual building in that different side reflecting different parts of the cities – the clouds were building up and so we got some interesting shots with the sky reflected in the building; my blip is another side of the Diamond with a derelict building reflected.
 
Johannesburg is a very dirty city with litter everywhere and lots of people living rough on the streets.  It is supposed to be undergoing regeneration but there’s an awful lot to do! The pavements are in a dreadful state with repairs half done; we found everyone to be very friendly though and it was interesting to walk through areas looking at their architecture and graffiti.

We have walked a long way today in addition to the bus, but got back to the hotel ahead of the rain and thunderstorm.  Currently sitting in the restaurant with the thunder and lightening crashing all round - very dramatic!