Day 47

Day forty seven
Tuesday - 3rd March 2020

Current position
Signature Lux Hotel by Onomo
135 West Street
Nelson Mandela Square
Sandton
2146
Johannesburg
South Africa
S 26°6.39948'
E 28°3.31788'

At last the weather was kind again enabling us to visit the places we should have seen yesterday. Breakfast was more pleasent too with the sun shining as we chatted to an Argentinian chap who's riding by motorcycle from Australia to Denmark. He's on his second bike as he sells them as needs must to enable him to fly from one country to another. He was spending the day at various Embassies organising visas for him and his bike.
We are leaving for Johannesburg later today so we left our bags at the hostel and got an Uber to the Voortrekker Monument which is a massive granite structure at the top of a hill overlooking Pretoria. It was built to commemorate the Voortrekkers the Dutch Settlers who left the Cape Colony between 1835 and 1854.
We climbed the steps up to the Monument and then clambered up the steep spiral stair case to the dome at the top where there was a great view across the City. At the top of the dome there is a hole which lets a ray of sun light shine down on to the cenotaph below. When the architect Gerard Moerdijk built the Monument he did so with mathematical precision to ensure that the ray of sunlight precisely hits the centre of the cenotaph once a year on December 16 at exactly 12pm known as the day of the Vow. The ray of sunlight symbolizes God’s blessing on the life and work of the Voortrekkers.
Our next attraction was Freedom Park which could be seen from the top of the Voortrekker Monument and was just a short Uber ride away.
Freedom Park is a memorial to honour those who over the years sacrificed their lives to win freedom. It also celebrates and explores the country's diverse peoples and their common humanity. To us it was a white elephant a nasty concrete structure that had in just thirteen years started to deteriorate badly from lack of care. We couldn't understand why such a huge amount of Government money was spent on a building like this when there is a dire need for power stations. Looking at the financial information online the running costs are as large as the building itself and with little income it's little wonder it's falling into disrepair. We found it quite depressing when comparing it to the Voortrekker Monument which was well maintained. Having said that there were few visitors at either site. We being the only ones at Freedom Park.
We had a late lunch in the Park's deserted café before having a quick look round the museum and we then got another Uber back to the hostel to pick up our bags then on to the Gautrain Station for the train back to Johannesburg. Luckily we were going into Johannesburg as all the rush hour commuters were coming out.
Within half an hour we were checking back into the Lux Hotel where we stayed the last time we were in town. It was a little bit like going home.
In the evening we ate at a Greek restaurant in the shopping mall. Since the last time we were here life size statues of Nelson Mandela had popped up everywhere advertising the Nelson Mandela Exhibition on the third floor.
When we returned to our room l noticed that we had missed whatsapp call from Ashley so I called him back and he gave us all the news from back home.