My day in Soweto with Em & Co. turned out great. Didn't make it to the shopping mall, but did hit the Apartheid Museum on the way out of Joburg (as Emily put it succinctly, that was one f-ed up system!), lunch at Wandies Place (I don't know what the South Africans do to their spinach, but it was consistently amazing), and stop briefly at Nelson Mandela's house. I'd love to hear his reflections on what it's like to be deified within your own lifetime, but I guess that's the kind of things that newly minted saints tend not to speak about. The history we saw in general was all just shockingly recent -- Mandela's house wasn't built until the mid 40s, the Museum was filled with video clips of surviving student organizers and resistance fighters of the 80s, and the heads of government now were also the movers and shakers (and prisoners) of the last chapter. In all, it seems like a true miracle that South Africa managed to get itself together without descending into a complete bloodbath with no possibility of return.
And now I'm in London! After an uneventful flight, other than watching a fun American Bollywood movie (Dostana) about two guys who pretend to be gay to get a fab apartment and fast track immigration (?!?!), I made an unsuccessful attempt to meet up with some folks from my Botswana tour group, and then headed into town. My hotel is literally right next to the British Museum, which is pretty cool. Had a good walk around the area, caught a bit of a free bank holiday concert in Leicester Square, picked up a ticket to Spring Awakening, showered, napped, and did the highlights tour of the Museum (Rosetta stone, Parthenon sculptures, friezes, and mummies). All in all, a good full day, though London is clearly a city to which I'll have to return.
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