Day 48

Day forty eight 
Wednesday - 4th 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'

We had a slow start and didn't leave our room till gone half ten. We caught an Uber to what we thought was an African Art Shop to see if we could buy a Colonial Gentleman. When the Uber pulled up outside it looked like someone's house which didn't seem right as we were expecting a shop. The driver said he'd wait as I went up to the gate which opened as I approached. A lady walked down to meet me and when I asked is this the Moyo African Art shop she replied yes. I gave a thumbs up to Ros and the Uber driver and the taxi drove off. It transpired that the carved Colonial Gentlemen are made on the Ivory Coast and the lady only had the thin stretched gentlemen in stock but she took my email address just in case she can find one although I don't hold out much hope.
We said goodbye and called another Uber to take us to Constitution Hill which is a former prison complex that bears testament to South Africa's turbulent past.
There is no other prison in South Africa that has held captive the large number of world-renowned men and women as those held in Constitution Hill’s Old Fort the Women's Jail and Block Number Four. They have held captive Nelson Mandela Mahatma Gandhi Joe Slovo Albertina Sisulu Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Fatima Meer.
Today Constitutional Hill is home to South Africa's Constitutional Court which endorses the rights of all citizens and is the highest Court in the land.
We booked in for the one o'clock tour and were not surprised to find that yet again we were the only two on the two hour tour.
Our guide was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic but we did laugh as he kept saying right everybody when there was only the two of us. The two hours passed quickly as he gave us ten minutes here and there to look round and take photographs after each talk he gave us. The cells etc were very similar to the ones we'd seen on Robben Island and the description of the food and the slopping out was exactly the same too as were the isolation cells. The end of the tour took us to the modern day Courthouse where our guide explained in detail the Court Procedures. He also explained the the meaning behind the decor describing how the new part of the building dovetailed into the old. At the end of the tour he thanked everybody for being so attentive. He then left leaving us to look at the photographs recording the struggle for freedom displayed on the walls in the lobby of the Courthouse. Some of the photographs showed very graphically the violence that took place during those dark times.
We then got an Uber to Park Gautrain Station where whilst having a coffee and a doughnut I noticed a Tourist Information shop. We went in and the very helpful loyoung man who used to be a tour guide assisted us to find what we hope will be a good Soweto tour. Fingers crossed we will be picked up tomorrow from our hotel for the four hour trip.
The Gautrain back to Sandton took no time at all as we beat the rush hour traffic.
We ate in the Mall again sampling another good Ostrich steak.