Paris1972-Versailles2003

Glad to be able to see this older post and updating with pleasure. I had done quite a bit of business with South Africa but never visited from the Americas. Once in Europe, had the opportunity to go five times! Great experiences and this one unique. Let me tell you a bit about curiosities of Sandton, South Africa, part II !! Hope you enjoy it as I Many times we hear of far away places that we would like to visit one day; South Africa was one of them for me. I did not go into the famous safaris but did mostly city dwelling trips and even took public transportation; that is fine with me as cities are it with a beach even better.  I had the opportunity to visit the country since 2012  to 2017 five times, and each time proved to be an experience ,even catching up with friends from my previous life in travel forum VT. The memories will be kept forever. I like for my sake and your interests to recall a bit of the places I have been not including those on far away from these cities for which I have no pictures. Of course, I have other posts on specifics in my blog this one is sort of an introduction. Moving on to Sandton, this is basically a chic suburb of Johannesburg. Sandton is an affluent area situated in the Johannesburg town, Gauteng province. The name comes from the combination of two of its suburbs , Sandown and Bryanston. I am told that Zandfontein, Driefontein  is the name in Afrikaans and Dutch for  Three Springs/Fountains and Rietfontein is Afrikaans and Dutch for Reed Spring or Fountain of Reeds; both encumbered what was to become Sandton. After the demise of Apartheid, Sandton initially formed part of the interim Eastern Metropolitan Substructure, and in 1996 came to be included, along with the former towns of Randburg and Roodepoort as part of the newly demarcated City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality thus losing its separate municipal government and town status. Despite this, Sandton is still unofficially earmarked as a distinct region of the city and operates as a macro-suburb. Sandton is home to the Sandton Convention Center , one of the largest convention centers  in Africa. The Sandton Central commercial node, centred on the suburbs of Sandown and Sandhurst has some of the best and most expensive commercial properties and offices in South Africa. Sandtoncity, ranks among the largest shopping centers in Africa with all to do for a day, I love it here lol! lunch at Wimpy’s!! webpage: https://sandtoncity.com/ Sandton houses the flagship station of the Gautrain (taken and easy nice convenient) rapid rail link. The station is located on the corner of West Street and Rivonia Road. Another area I visited a lot while there was Fourways; this is part of  Sandton. I always travel in country by car or plane to go to East London but the main access routes to Fourways are off the N1 at R511 William Nicol Drive or along R564 Witkoppen Road. There is another huge shopping center mall here that I went for lunches Fourways Mall; webpage: https://fourwaysmall.com/ Another shopping area I was taken was Pinesloppes Shopping Centre which was near where I went , here had lunch at a place no longer existing see my other post. webpage: http://pineslopesboulevard.co.za/ And yet another shopping center I went for lunch was Fourways Crossing Mall where I had the best lunch at Fournos Bakery ,see post. Mall webpage: https://www.fourwayscrossing.co.za/ And a bit more on Sandton official webpage: https://sandtoncentral.co.za/our-history The South Africa tourist board: https://www.southafrica.net/za/en/ There you go folks, a nice experience in exotic South Africa. A wonderful experience and new friends, looking forward for a repeat, eventually !! Again, hope you enjoy this post on curiosities of Sandton, South Africa, part II !! as I. And remember, happy travels , good health, and many cheers to all !!!