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:
