Arriving in Johannesburg
We walked downstairs to baggage claim and got our bags, which were right at the front. They had really cool carts that went up and down the elevators, which was fun. After that my mom got a taxi so we could go to the place we were staying. The taxi ride was about 45 minutes, and when we got there we unloaded our bags and brought them into our rooms. The lady who was hosting us was very nice, and her name was Angelique. It was very cold when we got there and I did not have a super warm pair of pajamas. Luckily there is a heater in the bathroom but the shower had no glass on it so all the water went straight into the bathroom. It was still pretty early when we arrived, so we decided to go out to dinner. My dad started looking up places to go, and we decided to go to Hell’s Kitchen. It had very good reviews. The same driver who drove us to the airport took us there. I decided to share with everyone else at the table instead of ordering something for myself. My dad got a T-bone steak, Emmy and Zeb shared nachos, so I shared with all of them. My mom said that if we ate all her food, she would get us milkshakes. There was either chocolate or vanilla, so I chose chocolate. After we were finished with dinner the same driver that took us from the airport to Hell’s Kitchen, took us back to our hostel. I slept pretty well that night, despite the jet lag.
The First Day in South Africa
We woke up at 6:30 the next morning and had scrambled eggs, yogurt, and cereal for breakfast. Me and my dad tried to build a fire, but it kept smoking up the room when we opened the door to the fireplace, and when we closed the door the fire went out. We went out to a taxi that was driven by the same guy who drove us to our hostel and Hell’s Kitchen. He drove us to a coffee shop downtown, where me and my three siblings all got bombastically good hot chocolate‘s. After we finished those hot chocolates we walked around the spot where the coffee shop was and looked in the shops. We didn’t get anything in the first few shops, but in the very last shop, I got a hat and a pair of sunglasses that were very stylish.
Going to Church in Johannesburg
After I finished purchasing those, we headed to church. It was an all black church, but me and KB made a friend named Gracie. Me and some other boys played foosball.
Fancy Traveler eats Fancy Brunch
We went to a very fancy restaurant called Flames which was at the Four Seasons hotel for brunch as it was my mom’s birthday. They had a buffet, there but also a menu. We got some things from the menu, and me and my three siblings went and looked at the buffet and got a few things. They had a lot of desserts, most of which were full of gluten so we could not eat them. There was even a popcorn machine which was gluten free, so we had some of that.
A Long Walk and then Back to the Hostel
After the brunch we were planning to go to the mall, but everybody got tired from walking, so we got an Uber back to our hostel. We had switched rooms at the house because the toilets, electricity and heat weren’t working in the first ones. Me and Zeb moved to a new upstairs room next to KB and Emmy, and mom and dad were right below us. We were originally going to go out to dinner at a place called Rosewater. But everyone was really tired so me and dad walked to the store and bought some rice cakes and peanut butter for dinner. The power was out from 6:00 to 8:00p.m, so we had to turn the heaters on before the power went out so we would not be freezing the whole night. The sun sets at 5:30, so it feels like night time but it is only the evening.
Day 2: Visiting Museums Galore
I woke up at 7:22am, and had breakfast. We then took a taxi to the Apartheid Museum, but it was closed. So, we then went to the South African Military Museum.
South African Military Museum
At first it was not a good museum, but then we got to a room with a bunch of tanks, and you could go in them! You could actually move the big gun, on the biggest tank side to side and up and down. The room was full of tanks, but you were only allowed to go in a few of them. My favorite was a smaller tank that was next to the big one. I was always the driver so it was better in the small tank because I could reach the peddle.
Holocaust and Genocide Museum
Once we were done there we went to the Holocaust and Genocide Museum. We had not eaten lunch, so we went to a coffee shop there that was really good and had great smoothies. After lunch we headed into the museum. I learned a lot about the Rwanda genocide. It was a really sad but interesting story of how it happened told by people who survived it. After the Holocaust museum we went back to the house and got into nicer clothes because we were going to a fancy restaurant that night.
Making my own Kaftan
But before dinner we went to an experience where we got to make our own kaftans. It is the traditional clothing in South Africa. It took about three hours to work on it. I did not get to finish mine, but Emmy and Zeb did. I learned a lot of different things on sewing the kaftan. I learned new stitches and how to cut out the spot where the head goes. After we left there we went to our fancy dinner. The restaurant was called Marble. I got the risotto for my entree and for a starter I got the filet tar-tar. Risotto is my favorite food of all time, so whenever a restaurant has it I like to get it. After dinner we went back home and got ready for bed. I read a little of my book.
Day 3: The Old Fort Prison Museum and Constitution Hill
I woke up at 6:45 AM. I had steak, leftovers from the last nights’ dinner with scrambled eggs for breakfast. We then left to go to The Old Fort. It was used as a fort to keep out the British during the Boer War, but then it was turned into a prison. Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi were kept in that prison. I learned a lot there. All the black prisoners were treated much worse than the white ones. The white prisoners got a mattress and a pillow and a bunch of other stuff for a bed, but the black prisoners only got two sleeping mats and three blankets. Also, the white people got much better food. They got bread and pudding and all these other things, but the black prisoners did not get bread or pudding, and only disgusting mash. It was a really big place, and we did not have time to explore the whole thing, but we did get a drink before leaving.
Visiting Soweto and Nelson Mandela’s House
After the prison we were going to do a tour of Soweto, but we were really hungry so we went and got lunch at this place that was really cool. At the lunch place I got chicken wings with fries, which are called chips here. After lunch we left and went to Soweto.
The spot where we were to meet up was the Hector Pieterson memorial. We did not go in the museum but we learned a lot about him on the tour. Our guide arrived, and he introduced himself. His name was Tebago, and I immediately liked him. He started by telling us about the student protests, and how even though it was a peaceful protest, the police open fired on the children with guns, and 600 kids were killed.
Hector Pieterson was not part of the protest but he was still killed. Why he was so popular was because he was thought of to be the youngest person killed, but later they found out that the youngest person killed was actually an 8 year old girl. The second reason was because a picture was published of Mbuyisa Makhubo carrying him, and his sister, Antoinette Sithole, was running next to them. We walked down to the place where Hector Pieterson was shot, which was very saddening and angering.
After that we walked down the sidewalk and saw some dancers, we watched them perform, and gave them some tips. We finished walking down to Nelson Mandela’s house which my mom had reserved tickets for. It was really great to see the house that he actually lived in. He had three wives over his lifetime, and his third wife made a world record for marrying two presidents in different countries.
After the Nelson Mandela house, we went to the Desmond Tutu’s house. We did not get to go inside, but we got to see a big wall. We walked for a little bit and came to Winnie Mandela’s house. She was Nelson’s second wife, but they got divorced. After that we went to a beer tasting house, and since only my dad wanted to and was eligible to drink beer, he tried all of the flavors.
Nest, we headed to the Soweto Towers which are old unused nuclear reactor cooling towers where you could now bungee jump off them. The Bungee Jumping was closed. You could also free fall from inside of them into a net. I was not able to do that due to my back injury, but I would have if I could have! We were debating on whether or not to go up to the top due to how little time we had to get to our reservation for dinner, but our taxi was a while away and either way, we would be a little bit late, and we did not want to just sit down and do nothing. The view from the top was spectacular, and I got some great photos of the sunset.
We went back down and got in our taxi to go to the restaurant. It was called Saint. When we got there we figured out it was a sister restaurant to Marble, the restaurant we had gone to the night before. The dinner was great, and totally worth it.
Day 4: Diamond Mine Visit
We woke up and went down to have breakfast. I had the same thing every morning, scrambled eggs. Lombard, our taxi driver, drove us to the Cullinan Diamond Mine. We were going to do a tour there and get to see how they find all of the diamonds. When we got there we went into a room where we got to see a video explaining all of the things we needed to know. Cullinan mine is a very famous mine. They found the world’s largest diamond there. They split that diamond up into nine big pieces, and 64 other pieces. It was really cool to get to see all around the diamond mine. We did not get to go inside the mine, but only around it. Once we were done there, we went to Harry’s Pancakes and got dutch babies, which were even gluten free! I got the savory one, which had pork, peaches, and onions. After I finished my pancake, I then got a sweet one that had chocolate. Once we were done with that, we went to a cooking class. We learned how to make traditional African food. There was cow intestines and chicken feet which was gross. We also got to eat it. Once we finished with that we went back to the hostel.
Day 5: Visiting the Apartheid Museum
After nearly a week in Johannesburg we prepared to leave the hostel we were staying in. It was kind of sad to leave, but I was excited to go to our new place. Before we actually went to our new place we went to the Apartheid museum. It was a very sad museum, but definitely a good place to visit. I learned a lot on how the black people were treated in their own land. I only got about ⅔ of the way through though. After the Apartheid museum we left on a car ride to go to the new place we were staying. The place was called Cradle Boutique Hotel. It is a really cool place. There was a pool, and the rooms are little cabins that have roofs made of straw or “thatch.” We will leave on Sunday, so we don’t have that long there. We chilled the rest of the day, tired from the drive and feeling exhausted from the emotions of the Apartheid Museum.