20
Jun 10

Jo’Burg Day 2: Train to Soccer City

Sunday, June 20

Johannesburg, RSA

We got to Park Station at 3pm.  The station gates were all guarded but it was free to pass through.  We asked around about which platform we needed to be at for Soccer City and were pointed towards Platform 11.  The signs above the platform were for two trains, at different times, both headed to Pretoria – which is in the opposite direction of Soccer City.  There weren’t many people down there waiting – but there were a couple people dressed for the game, so we decided to stick it out.  A few cycles of 12 minutes came and went, but no trains came through Platform 11- though a few more soccer fans did arrive.  More and more though, it seemed, we were all wondering the same thing about if we were in the right place.  After awhile we tried out some South African train station restrooms – the women’s restroom was rural China-style.  All the men’s restrooms were shut down for construction, so Josh had to leave the main terminal to go find one.  By now a fellow soccer fan had gone to confirm that we were indeed at the right track (around 4pm).  We were comforted by the slowly growing number of soccer fans.  Finally, at 5pm, word came through the crowds that we needed to shift to the other side, over to Platform 12, and hop on the train that was arriving there.  As we looked around, we realized it was now fully packed with fans wearing yellow Brazil gear, yellow Bafana Bafana gear, and orange Ivory Coast gear.  And vuvuzelas!  Needless to say, since we were at the front end of the platform we were able to quickly hop on a car while there were still seats.  Within minutes, the train took off for Soccer City and we were on our way with a lively raucous crowd!  We deduced later that the trains DO run every 12 minutes, but the trains didn’t start until 5pm for an 8:30pm kick off. So while we had gotten a little nervous during the lull, it worked AWESOME and we got to the game quite early and we were glad to be a part of the masses traveling to the game together.

We were a bit early, apparently…

Waiting patiently:

On our way!

Some scenes from the ride:


20
Jun 10

Jo’Burg Day 2: Morning in Zoo Lake

Sunday, June 20

Johannesburg, RSA

After a relaxing and delicious breakfast, care of Sylvia, we spent the morning walking around our Bed & Breakfast‘s neighborhood of Zoo Lake.  There was the little Park View Village area of shops and cafes (where we had bought our cell phone the morning before) and, of course, the eponymous Zoo Lake.  We had a great walk and exploration.  When we headed back to our abode, we were pretty antsy and didn’t want to try to do anything else other than get to the stadium, see the atmosphere there and take in the excitement of our first South African World Cup game.  Sylvia had heard that the train ran every 12 minutes so we decided to head down there at 2:30 – for our 8:30 game!  Sylvia had a driver arranged for us (Justice’s partner, Thibiele) to take us to Park City Station, where we could catch the train to Soccer City for our game in the evening.


19
Jun 10

Jo’Burg Day 1: Soccer City, The City, & Suburbs

Saturday, June 19

Johannesburg, RSA

At this point, we were museum-ed out.  We asked Justice to drive us around the city so we could get a lay of the land.  First, he swung by the nearby Soccer City Stadium, which is outside the city near Soweto.  We were able to get close since it wasn’t a game day.  Then he showed us around the CBD.  When he found out that Josh was an architect, he was quick to take us to all the varied types of cool architecture in the city.  We also went to Joubert Park where there was a FanFest set up with the Ghana-Australia game showing on a huge screen.  Afterward, we went past Ellis Park Stadium – this was important because we didn’t have tickets to a game there and we really wanted to see it.  It is in the heart of the city and even though it wasn’t a game day, the security wouldn’t let us too close – but we were happy to have seen it in person nonetheless! By now we were hungry and Justice dropped us off at a FanFest in the suburb of Melrose.  They had a huge screen set up in the middle of Melrose Square showing the games.  After the second game ended we were able to get a table at a restaurant that had tables set up along one side of the square.  We had a great view of the screen for the third game of the day.  It got chilly when the sun went down, but they had heat lamps and handed out blankets.  We had a great evening and when the game was over, Justice came to take us home to Zoo Lake.

Soccer City:

CBD:

Joubert Park:

FIFA sign (at Ellis Park) “Vuvuzelas are allowed“:

Melrose Square:


19
Jun 10

Jo’Burg Day 1: Constitution Hill & Apartheid Museum

Saturday, June 19

Johannesburg, RSA

We had a BIG first day in Jo’burg.  Too big for one post.  We’re going to break it down so it doesn’t feel too overwhelming for us to write it out.  It was a bit overwhelming as we jumped in, feet first, straight to Constitution Hill and the Apartheid Museum – both recounting the tumultuous past of South Africa.

We started the day at our Bed & Breakfast and Sylvia helped us sort through our plans a bit with what was practical and what wasn’t.  It’s hard to determine which sites are in walkable proximity and how best to plan time to make sure we saw and did everything we wanted too.  In addition, as advertised, Jo’burg is not a walkable city and everyone warned us to be cautious (a warning we initially heeded and then progressively tried to overcome).  After our first amazingly delicious breakfast of Sylvia’s, we were picked up by Justice, a driver she arranged for us for the day.

Our first stop was to the little village shops of Zoo Lake so we could pick up a cheap cell phone and some prepaid minutes.  That took no time at all – and now set with a South African phone number, we were on our way to Constitution Hill.  This is a heady place and leaves you with a heavy heart.  It is the site of the Old Fort Prison complex.  There is the Old Fort (where white prisoners were kept), Number Four (for black men), and the Women’s Jail.  The prison was still functional until 1983.  Now, the beautiful new Constitutional Court building is built on the hill using bricks from one of the demolished prison buildings.  We toured through Number Four and it’s exhibits (of note, there is a room documenting Gandhi’s time at Number Four and his time in South Africa) and we walked around the ramparts of the Old Fort.

It was inside Number Four that they posted one of Mandela’s quotes:

“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by
how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”
Nelson Mandela

Justice then drove us over to the Apartheid Museum near Soweto.  Again it was another thought-provoking experience for us and filled in the gaps of our education.  The museum truly illustrates how treating others unequally can get out of control and makes a good case for exercising judicious caution in the present and future.

Our favorite part of the museum was a temporary exhibit celebrating the life of Nelson Mandela.  It was awesome! We learned so much from that exhibit.  Jeannette thinks it’s crazy that the OJ Simpson trial made more of an impact in her high school than the long-awaited release of Nelson Mandela.  Our favorite quote from that exhibit was:

“The cell is an ideal place to know yourself.  People tend to measure themselves by external accomplishments, but jail allows a person to focus on internal ones, such as honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, generosity and an absence of variety.  You learn to look into yourself.”
Nelson Mandela

We decompressed from this very serious morning with a cappuccino at the Museum and then continued on our drive with Justice.

Number Four:

Old Fort Ramparts:

Josh taking photos of the city:

The view from the ramparts:

The stairs that lead up Constitution Hill between the Constitutional Court building and the prison:

The Constitutional Court:

The Apartheid Museum:


18
Jun 10

Harpoon to Zoo Lake

Thursday, June 17 to Friday, June 18

Boston, MA USA to AMS to Johannesburg, RSA

After our beers at the Harpoon Taproom, we had a short 7 hour flight to Amsterdam.  We had just enough time for cappuccinos and pastries at Schiphol before our not-so-short 11 hour flight to Johannesburg.

We were pretty bummed after our flights.  The pilot notified us of the Celtics Game 7 loss on the first flight – we were so depressed we didn’t even bring it up for days.  Then the pilot of the second flight notified us of the USA-Slovenia 2-2 tie (a game we had expected to win).  We didn’t find out until later that the USA came back strong and that it was a pretty good game.  Hearing just the final score was a big downer.   We were hoping for better things for our teams while in the air.

Back on land, because we had FIFA certificates, we got through the passport line super quick.  Then, because we didn’t check any bags, we beat everyone to customs where we had nothing to declare.  This was all very important because we had to pick up our tickets in person at the FIFA counter, which closed just 1/2 hour after our flight landed.  We just made it in time to get our tickets.

They had porters to help everyone.  A porter got us to the FIFA desk (which was tucked out of the way in the airport), to the ATM, and to the proper taxis where he tried to make sure the cabbie knew where he was taking us.  Unfortunately, it turned out the cabbie only knew our general neighborhood of Zoo Lake, but didn’t know our street.  He was nice though.  We asked if he had a map and he handed it to us, for us to find Dee Street.  Then after we found it and showed him – he asked us where we were on the map right now! Once we sussed everything out, he took us right there.  The next problem was that we didn’t think it looked right!  It wasn’t signed (turns out that is normal — good safety practice) and it just looked like a really nice house.  We didn’t think we were in the right place at all, but our cabbie just drove right up and buzzed the gate and we were in!  The owner and Zoo Lake Bed & Breakfast were gorgeous!  We highly recommend Sylvia and her Zoo Lake B&B to anyone staying in Jo’burg!

The Front Gate:

The Grounds in Back:

The crane drinks from the pool!:

The sitting area in the sunroom where we ate breakfast every day:

Our B&B puppy, Savannah!  They also had two cats!:

This was our room for the first two nights.  We changed rooms when Sylvia found out that a new round of her guests about to come were not couples (FIFA only gives one name and the number of total guests) and this room we were in could be converted to single beds.  We didn’t mind at all.  But our room was gorgeous!

We moved to THIS gorgeous room!  The whole place is gorgeous!