Weekend in Joburg

On Saturday, Simon invited me to his house for a jump in the swimming pool, a view on the sunset, and a braai. Yes, I dedicate the previous sentence to all my friends freezing in the winter of northern hemisphere ! We had amazing braai food, and a good Spanish wine.

Sunset from Simon's terrace

On Sunday, after some time at the university to use the internet connection and skype a little bit with Laura, I went for a walk in a park. It could look like a new park, compared to last time I went there ! But it's not. So, yesterday I went to the botanical gardens once again, and it looks different ! Especially because of the colors ... The dry grass let the place to green grass and tree, and it looks beautiful. In general, Joburg in this season looks great as it is all green. I was told I just missed an even nicer period when trees are full of purple flowers.

(Artificial) lake

Birds !

Birds !!

Birds !!!

Yes, I like to take pictures of birds.

Clouds

I like taking pictures of clouds, too ;-)

Back to Johannesburg !

I'm back in Jo'burg ! I arrived on Monday morning (Nov. 21st). The flight was OK - I took EgyptAir this time, with a connection in Cairo. I learned when I arrived that on that very evening when I was at Cairo airport, several people died on Tahir Square during clashes between protesters and police ... Sad.

So, I arrived in Jo'burg, and I took the Gautrain to Rosebank where Simon picked me up. The Gautrain is quite convenient, I landed at 7:40, and at 8:45 I was in Rosebank - I'm sure with a car it would have taken much longer at that time of the day !
In Jo'burg it was raining, which is kind of frustrating when you arrive from autumn. But apparently the past weeks had been so warm that the rain was rather welcome !

We went directly to the place I live, in Westdene - very close to UJ Auckland Park Campus. I have a room+kitchen+bathroom in a cottage in a house.

The bedroom - living-room

The Kitchen - the fridge is even smaller than the one we have in Lausanne !

The house

And Simon let me use his "old alpha" ! It's a 1975 car ...

Isn't it cool ? I'm not as fond of cars as Simon (obviously), so I can't really use this car to its real potential ... :-)
In the first days, it was quite scary, since it was raining and dark, plus the driving on the other side of the road, and the wipers that didn't work ... But I'm getting used to it now.

Otherwise, it's good to be back at UJ, and to be in summer. I haven't really had a chance to see everyone yet - I've been busy and didn't really get out of my office ... But on Monday, there should be some cheese-and-chocolate for the Department of Physics !

San Francisco (part VI)

Final post !
The IROS conference organized a cruise in the bay, with dinner and views on the city by day and night. It was quite nice ! (though I had to pay for it at the end ... and no-one checked my ticket !)

Anyway, we spent a nice time with Masayuki and took a lot of pictures, drank quite a lot of champagne and wine, ate a good buffet, and enjoyed the views of the bay.

The boat

Buffet !

Alcatraz

San Francisco

Under the bridge !

So, that's it for the photos of San Francisco. There would be  lot more to say and to show (Laura has more photos, but I don't have them here ...). In particular, we were in a really cool hostel, rather hippie-style, it's called The Green Tortoise. It was really nice atmosphere - a bit noisy, but it's not too much a problem. It is located in North Beach, on Broadway, surrounded by strip clubs ! It is also close to Chinatown - actually Laura had to cross Chinatown every day to go to the conference venue (Hilton on Union Square). I should also talk about the Stinking Rose (a garlic restaurant !), the burgers, the burritos, and the Chinese food ... I should mention our shopping session ... And also the amazing number of homeless people, just there, in the street, by dozens, they look like they are in another universe. This was particularly shocking as some places where they are given food are located just next to the Hilton and the area with very expensive hotels.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay in this relaxed city San Francisco. I could also mention the flight in A380 on the way back to Geneva (via Frankfurt), the almost paranoid security checks in (or towards) the US, etc, etc. But I feel I should resume talking about the primary subject of this blog : SOUTH AFRICA !
So ! Next post will be about South Africa, since I'm now back in Johannesburg !

San Francisco (part V)

The Golden Gate Bridge
After two days of clouds and fog, we decided that we had to really see the Golden Gate Bridge under a clear sky ! So we did, and we walked a lot ! The sky was blue, the sun shining, perfect conditions !
But when we started getting close, we noticed that there was actually clouds just on the bridge ! We had seen only the bottom of the bridge until now, and now we could see the top ... :-)

The top of the bridge !

Anyway, we continued towards China Beach.

Isn't that frustrating ?

It really looks like we could never see that bridge. But we decided to wait, because the wind was blowing and we were hoping it would push the cloud further !
In the meantime, we saw dolphins and seagulls.

Dophins

Seagulls

Seagulls

:-)

And finally, we were rewarded by a nice clear view of the bridge !

The Golden Gate Bridge - no clouds !!

Tourist picture

A few days later, I could also catch a nice view on the bridge from the city

 

So, finally, we could see this famous bridge !
Next (and last) post will be about the cruise organized by the conference ... more bridge photos to come, woohoo !

 

San Francisco (part IV)

Second session of photos of San Francisco.

Cable car museum
The cable car museum is very interesting (and free). It's quite impressive to see that still today, the cable cars are operated from this point. There is also an interesting part with historical pictures of after the 1906 earthquake. 

Cable car museum, from which the 4 cable car lines are operated.

Cable car museum (of course, it's an old sign :-) )

Golden Gate Park
When you look for the Golden Gate Bridge, it's better not to go to the Golden Gate park instead ! Not that the park is not good (it is !), but it is quite far especially if you're walking, and also the park itself is very, very large. We did not go in all the places. It contains several "attractions" (museums, botanical gardens), but most were closed the day we went there (we went another time for the Academy of Science Museum).
 

Laura dancing next to a lake ...

Japanese tea garden (it really looks like Kyoto !)

The finance district, seen from the Coit tower

I would trust this sign !

It is indeed a steep street !

Buildings

The port and Alcatraz

Cable car

"The world's crookedest street" ! (and a funny car/motorbike)

The Coit tower. It was close to our hostel.

The City Hall

Street

Cable car in a steep street

A steep street near Chinatown

Cable car in a steep street

Cable car in a steep street

House

Cable car in a steep street

Street and view on the SF bay

"The world's crookedest street", seen from the Coit tower

... and that's all. How frustrating, no more Golden Gate ?? Yes, there will be photos of the Golden Gate bridge in the next post ...