Johannesburg and Pretoria

Our friends Gordana and Branco Cavric, asked us to go along with them this past weekend driving to Johannesburg and Pretoria. Gordana is the chief of medicine at PMH and her husband is an urban planning professor at U of Botswana. They like to drive there and visit "the big cities" and thought we'd like to come.
The drive to JoBurg is 4 hours (sometimes at 200 km/hr!). We stayed in the northern section called "Fourways" in a charming country house with 2 large Bull-boer dogs, a very needy cat, and a fish pond full of hungry Koi. After breakfast on Saturday we set off for the "Origins Museum" at a local university, which had excellent exhibits regarding prehistoric man in Southern Africa, and a great set of videos describing the life of the San, the south African bushmen who live throughout the region.
We travelled on the the "Old Fort", the prison on Constitution Hill which formerly housed criminals mixed with political prisoners, in a harsh and cruel setting, blacks and "colored" separated from whites, with major differences in food, treatment, and survival. The Constitutional Court is on the grounds of the demolished prison, a symbolic demonstration of the present erasing the past. Somehow, I think the laws may have changed, but personal behavior and attitudes are slow to evolve as quickly.
Johannesburg is a huge city, 5 million inhabitants, built on a collection of hills, with huge driving distances from section to section. The old downtown has moved to a new section surrounding "Mandella Center" (named after you-know-who) and the malls in this place are very high end and with few vacancies. In addition, I was struck by the never-ending cavalcade of auto dealerships, all premium models (BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Lexus, Ford, GM, Toyota, etc). The rich collection of commerce must speak for a prosperous economy.
Dinner Friday was at the "MonteCasino", a faux Italian mall and casino that was very reminiscent of Las Vegas and Epcot combined. Saturday night we went to "Sophia's", and homage to Sophia Loren, who combined Greek heritage with Italian panache and beauty. We discovered ostrich and gamesbock carpaccio at MonteCasino, and beef carpaccio at Sophias, while Branco drank grappa. I settled for Jack Daniel's.
Sunday included an art show and a drive to Pretoria, the national capital, a very manicured appearance and a somewhat smaller, more intimate feel than JoBurg had.
We drove home with a big sky full of thunderheads and scattered rain showers. The border crossing is cumbersome but generally benign. It was a great weekend and the Cavrics were wonderful to have put out such effort to help us experience nearby RSA.