south africa: sandton and rosebank
i apologise in advance. this post will be unabashedly, unashamedly all about drool-worthy cars. but to keep you reading to the end, i promise to put something about art in it.
since lebo works in sandton, we decided to hitch a ride with her one day and spend the day checking it out. sandton grew in the 1990s as many businesses moved out of johannesburg and set up in sandton. the result is that it's like a piece of wall street that was ripped out of new york and planted in the middle of the veldt. the johannesburg stock exchange is here. the 2nd largest mall in the southern hemisphere is here. the rich and famous hang out here.
speaking of that second largest mall, thats were we started off our day. its named sandton city. you could find us hanging out in the shops that us fashionistas naturally gravitate towards...
haha. it was more like us country bumpkins in awe. although their display was definitely eye-catching. anyone who has an idea what this is, i'd love to find out. so we wandered around, mouths agape at all the expensive stuff. the centerpiece of this mall is mandela square, which has a giant 6m tall statue of nelson mandela.
one thing i really loved about sandton city, is that they have the huge mall and everything, and right across mandela square, they have a public library. any place that puts a public library next to such a commercial center has to be great, doesnt it? we went in and spent a happy hour secretly eating chocolate amidst the excellent selection of books. it was a pretty fancy design for a library, as well...
stepping out from sandton city, i was excited to see a rolls convertible...
little did i know that was only the beginning. we walked around sandton a bit more - not too many people (walking around, that is, there were lots of cars on the street). then turning a corner we found an aston dealership. boy was i excited. the picture below is not, in fact, the aston martin showroom. its their garage. it was cleaner than a bethel kitchen.
by this time i had had enough excitement for one day and needed calming down. only to turn the corner and discover the mclaren supercar showroom (see how i did that? i used the word 'supercar' there just in case anyone is not aware of what an awesome car a mclaren is). the very pleasant saleslady let me sit in it and what can i say? i almost wet myself in happiness.
and next door to that they had a couple ferraris, a mustang fastback (replica i think from the movie gone in 60 seconds) and a few other awesome cars.
i wont even get started on the ducati showroom next door. after a cold shower i was able to calm down and move on to our next destination, rosebank.
after a quick meeting with lebo in a park for lunch, our next stop was the highly impressive gautrain. this is their high speed train that is very modern and very efficient. a few minutes later we were in rosebank.
our destination in rosebank was everard read gallery. this famous gallery was established in 1912. 1912! this small but totally awesome gallery is....awesome. but first, we had a nice experience as we wandered down the lovely tree-lined streets of rosebank, we spotted two sisters offering magazines. so of course we stopped and started chatting. turns out these two sisters were from eritrea and one of them had passed through kenya and met me. its not just a small world, its tiny.
they invited us over for 'tea' although this turned out to be a full blown injera and doro wot. we werent complaining since we love ethiopian food. we fully enjoyed the time we spent associating with these 2 dear sisters who have overcome unthinkable trials in their lives.
after they escorted us back to where they found us, we went down the street a block and walked into the everard read. wow. they dont have a lot on display, but what they have is awesome. awesome, i say. every piece they had on display was creative, original and totally interesting.
i really enjoyed this artist who looked like he threw paint at the canvas randomly but when you step back its a beautiful portrait. heres another one of his.
so if you are ever in south africa, put this little gallery on your to do list. its absolutely worth it. (also a certain luxury car dealership in sandton city).
next stop - johannesburg
since lebo works in sandton, we decided to hitch a ride with her one day and spend the day checking it out. sandton grew in the 1990s as many businesses moved out of johannesburg and set up in sandton. the result is that it's like a piece of wall street that was ripped out of new york and planted in the middle of the veldt. the johannesburg stock exchange is here. the 2nd largest mall in the southern hemisphere is here. the rich and famous hang out here.
speaking of that second largest mall, thats were we started off our day. its named sandton city. you could find us hanging out in the shops that us fashionistas naturally gravitate towards...
haha. it was more like us country bumpkins in awe. although their display was definitely eye-catching. anyone who has an idea what this is, i'd love to find out. so we wandered around, mouths agape at all the expensive stuff. the centerpiece of this mall is mandela square, which has a giant 6m tall statue of nelson mandela.
one thing i really loved about sandton city, is that they have the huge mall and everything, and right across mandela square, they have a public library. any place that puts a public library next to such a commercial center has to be great, doesnt it? we went in and spent a happy hour secretly eating chocolate amidst the excellent selection of books. it was a pretty fancy design for a library, as well...
stepping out from sandton city, i was excited to see a rolls convertible...
little did i know that was only the beginning. we walked around sandton a bit more - not too many people (walking around, that is, there were lots of cars on the street). then turning a corner we found an aston dealership. boy was i excited. the picture below is not, in fact, the aston martin showroom. its their garage. it was cleaner than a bethel kitchen.
by this time i had had enough excitement for one day and needed calming down. only to turn the corner and discover the mclaren supercar showroom (see how i did that? i used the word 'supercar' there just in case anyone is not aware of what an awesome car a mclaren is). the very pleasant saleslady let me sit in it and what can i say? i almost wet myself in happiness.
and next door to that they had a couple ferraris, a mustang fastback (replica i think from the movie gone in 60 seconds) and a few other awesome cars.
i wont even get started on the ducati showroom next door. after a cold shower i was able to calm down and move on to our next destination, rosebank.
after a quick meeting with lebo in a park for lunch, our next stop was the highly impressive gautrain. this is their high speed train that is very modern and very efficient. a few minutes later we were in rosebank.
our destination in rosebank was everard read gallery. this famous gallery was established in 1912. 1912! this small but totally awesome gallery is....awesome. but first, we had a nice experience as we wandered down the lovely tree-lined streets of rosebank, we spotted two sisters offering magazines. so of course we stopped and started chatting. turns out these two sisters were from eritrea and one of them had passed through kenya and met me. its not just a small world, its tiny.
they invited us over for 'tea' although this turned out to be a full blown injera and doro wot. we werent complaining since we love ethiopian food. we fully enjoyed the time we spent associating with these 2 dear sisters who have overcome unthinkable trials in their lives.
after they escorted us back to where they found us, we went down the street a block and walked into the everard read. wow. they dont have a lot on display, but what they have is awesome. awesome, i say. every piece they had on display was creative, original and totally interesting.
i really enjoyed this artist who looked like he threw paint at the canvas randomly but when you step back its a beautiful portrait. heres another one of his.
so if you are ever in south africa, put this little gallery on your to do list. its absolutely worth it. (also a certain luxury car dealership in sandton city).
next stop - johannesburg
