12 January 2017 (continued in Pretoria)…
Picture 1) Panorama overlooking the grounds at The Union Buildings.
Picture 2) Good ol’ Whats-His-Name.
Picture 3) The crowd in front of Mandela’s statue includes a handful of “helpful” photographers who will pose you high-fiving Mandela for a small fee, and they aggressively harassed everyone trying to take a picture from that spot.
Picture 4) Fun donkey and television sculpture
Picture 5) Caledonian Stadium, 114 years old. It looks to be abandoned but apparently is at the center of civic debate. See: http://theheritageportal.co.za/thread/caledonian-stadium-arcadia-tshwane
Picture 6) Melrose House Museum
Picture 7) Burgers Park, named not for the 19th century burghers, and not for the dinnertime treat, but for …
… Picture 8) Thomas François Burgers, the fourth president of the South African Republic in the 1870s.
Picture 9) Goofy friend in Burgers Park. Another really nice urban setting, with beautiful landscaping, a very safe vibe.
Picture 10) the public greenhouse in Burgers Park, which didn’t seem all that well maintained.
At this point in my afternoon I was feeling grand about Pretoria and was hoping to walk to see the Voortrekker Monument. The streets just east of the train station were quite nice, but soon I was back on Paul Kruger Street (see previous entry).
I was in full-tourist mode, with boots, shorts, safari hat, notebook, etc. I stopped to check my map and a local (in his 20s?) called out to me - “Hey, nice boots.” I nodded and smiled and then tried to ignore him and walked toward the station.
He walked alongside me, trying to make some kind of small talk, but I ignored him and said “no, no thanks” over and over, and walked more and more briskly.
“Hey how about you give me some money for something to eat, man.”
“No, no, not today, sorry.”
“Man, you going to the bus station, I take you to the bus station, you give me some money to eat something.”
“No thanks.”
“Hey man you just go like that, you no give me something, you meet my friends at the train station, the big guys, big like this, you no give me something, they shoot you.”
“No, sorry”
“They gonna shoot you, I tell them and they gonna shoot you, you think I’m kidding, no, they gonna shoot you.”
Two or three similar exchanges followed…
At my first opportunity, I snapped off a super-quick surprise right turn into a Nando’s chicken joint, and he didn’t follow. Bought a bottle of water, calmed down a bit, waited ten minutes, took off my fabric hat which screamed “TOURIST,” and got to the station.
I don’t think it was any *real* danger, but it certainly was aggravating and a little unsettling - a reminder that I really have to be on my guard at all times and keep working to avoid situations where I stick out like that.
I looked at my planned walk to Voortrekker and decided the route was too sketchy (cross some train tracks, follow a major highway on an access road, other minor streets on the way …) and I was in no mood for any more risk. Time to go home. I might go see it later in the week if I rent a car.
Then, at the train station I couldn’t find the Gautrain platforms. I walked over to the information booth - another mistake. It’s where enterprising hucksters hang out and offer to tell you what you need to know without waiting on line if you just give them some money "for some food." I got nabbed in this one and was glad to have two 5R pieces in my pocket to just give up in exchange for directions to the platform.
So, Pretoria started bad, got great, and ended awful. Tonight, back to the relative safety of an American-style mall for dinner in a suburb called Parkhurst.