Southern Sun Hotel Hyde Park Due to open in September, construction of the new Southern Sun hotel above the Hyde Park shopping centre is moving ahead fast. A joint venture with Hyprop Investments who own Hyde Park shopping centre, the development is said to have a budget of R180 million. A 60 seater restaurant, whiskey […]
Read More »Sadly now closed Ami Cnr Clarence and Lancaster Ave At last a new restaurant has opened at the end of our block – a five minute walk from the Guest House. After the closing of Tre Gatti (see blog Neighbourhood Restaurants of 7 June), Ami 011 447 4648 opened on 11th July. Offering a small sophisticated […]
Read More »Walter Sisulu Gardens Temps this weekend at ca. 19 degrees but due to drop to around 13 degrees again from Tuesday. So …. make the most of the predicted warmer week-end and get out to the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens in Roodepoort. When I went a couple of weekends ago, the skies were blue, the grass was […]
Read More »From derelict Turbine Hall to modernized Anglo Gold Ashanti The old Turbine Hall in Newtown, previously derelict and dangerous, has undergone a remarkable succesful adaptation, to become Anglo Gold Ashanti’s headquarters. There are some spectacular architectural details inside ,with motifs from the old industrial building being picked up and repeated with an aesthetic elegance and power which […]
Read More »LUCKY MOO GANDHI SQUARE Sadly now closed … Went to Lucky Moo for an early lunch on Saturday. Located on the south side of Gandhi Square, this great Chinese ‘fast food’ venue looks as though it will give Chinese take-out a whole new meaning. Started by Sam Halfon in partnership with Jaco Welgemoed of Singing […]
Read More »Went to opening of Jeanette Unite’s exhibition ‘Head Gear’ last night at Gold of Africa Museum. Large scale works depict fragments of mining head gear in a powerful bold drawing style. Anglo Gold Ashanti’s extraordinary ‘new’ building – the old Turbine Hall in Newtown, provides the perfect setting. More on Anglo Gold’s fine and sensitive adaptation and renovation […]
Read More »Public Transport in Johannesburg The Confed cup went very well with Sepp Blatter ending up giving SA’s event a 7/10. One of the big criticisms was the transport to and from the stadiums and this was without the difficulties of getting from A to B without your own vehicle. But things are happening to change […]
Read More »Rugby test matches Had several Lions supporters stay over the week-end. What great guys and what sportsmanship – not a whinge about the last minute victory for the South Africans. Appropriately also had a visit from Paul Smith who wrote ‘Great Moments of Sportmanship’ and will be interviewed by John Robbie on Talk Radio 702 on Wednesday. Paul’s website […]
Read More »Johannesburg Public Transport: what are the present options? Minibus taxis Introduced throughout South Africa in 1977, these 15-seater minibuses grew into a massive virtually unregulated industry. As their name suggests, they are more akin to small buses than to traditional taxis or cabs which either roam or are called to a destination (see metered taxis […]
Read More »Supplied by SA Tourism in ‘SA Tourism Monthly Product Newsletter’ June 2009 Historically, SA Tourism has always reported on total visitor arrivals (excluding workers and contract workers), because they were not able to remove day visitors from overnight visitors (tourists) from the data released by Stats SA. The release of the January 2009 tourism figures marked […]
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