Day 1 R: Johannesburg

We woke up to the unfortunate excitement of the storm damage from overnight. We spent some time in the morning walking through the development and talking to people about the damages and looking inside a few homes where ceilings have collapsed. Most homes in the development have sustained some damage. Here at Marty and Peter's house it's just a couple of water spots on the ceiling, which is true for some of the other homes, too. The other surrounding developments also had a lot of damage.

Accumulated hail in the street at the low end of the development.

Late in the morning we headed to the city center to Constitution Hill, home of an old fort and several former prisons where now the prisons are open for tours and the newer Constitution Court and law library have been built. We didn't tour the Women's Gaol or Old Fort/White men's prison, but we took the guided tour through the Black Men's and Coloured Men's prisons and the Court. These prisons have the distinction of having held three Nobel Peace Prize nominees, including both Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. We learned about the terrible prison conditions, disparate treatment of prisoners based on race, prisoner gangs and hierarchies, blanket sculpting, resistance movements, and some of the torture procedures that had been used. In the Court, we learned about the rights guaranteed by the constitution (which was signed 18 years ago Dec 10) and the intentional design of the court building which reflects the transparency of the institution, the concept of "African Justice under a tree," the equality of all people, and the fact that the courts and the government are not above the law and the people. The court also had some great artwork, including a beautiful large beaded South African flag.

Constitutional Court.

Following the tour, we walked around the ramparts of the Old Fort to take in the views of the city, and then enjoyed a nice lunch in a new restaurant at the fort.

Barry, Gywen, and Marty on the Rampart at the Old Fort.

On the way home, we stopped at a very nice gallery and curios shop, where Marty bought us a cute little ceramic sculpture for Christmas. Once we got back home Gywen and I rested while Barry did a little work on the computer. in the evening, we had a very nice birthday dinner for Barry consisting of champagne, salad, grilled steak, roasted vegetables, potatoes, and of course carrot cake for the birthday boy.