Everything/Anything and…Chess…"Despite the documented evidence by chess historian HJR Murray, I've always thought that chess was invented by a goddess"–George Koltanowski: from the foreword to:"Women in chess, players of the Modern Age"
Pretoria is the Capital of South Africa. One of 3 capitals actually! Cape Town and Bloemfontein are the other 2 Capitals of South Africa. Pretoria is the Admin Capital. The President’s Office is settled in the Union Buildings in Pretoria and for 6 months he spends his time in his office while the other 6 months, he’s in Cape Town in the Parliament! The Parliament is settled in Cape Town. Read more HEREon Wikipedia about Pretoria.
On THIS LINK on my blog, you can read more and see more pictures about Pretoria.
IT IS OCTOBER! and I can imagine….Pretoria…what you look like! Purple Jacarandas everywhere! You can’t hide yourself! This is the time when students are busy preparing for end-of-year exams…and…when they fall in love! I can remember how the men would come and visit with a bit of a Jacaranda branch! And..how you would go for a walk, bare feet…just to step on those blossoms and get your feet purple!
En jy dan ook saamstem met Louis Leipoldt se gedig…. hier..:OKTOBER MAAND! …
Thunder…in the city!
South Africa’s Reserve Bank in Pretoria, the Capital City
Pretoria: Union Buildings
Pretoria: The Voortrekker Monument – build in 1938 – The Great Trek was in 1838.
I’m still busy sorting zillions of pictures, here are a few pictures from Pretoria…I liked this taxi..the yellow was striking and the number plate…just right! This is where the road from Akasia split, turn off to Gezina and the Market and other routes….when you take this turn off and turn left again, you cross the Apies River, before entering Gezina ….I think from Van Heerden Street…is the one way …from West to East…”Apies” is the Afrikaans for “ape”….the river is named after the many apes that were found in this area when Pretoria was founded in 1855…this Apies River can be a “mighty” river! With heavy rains, places alongside the river get flooded, but that doesn’t happen very frequently though. This is a very familiar “landmark” ….the cement factory as you leave Pretoria and you travel north to Pretoria North/Akasia….or on the Mabopane highway..traffic on the road can be quite heavy…if you look at the lanes on the right…you can see….rush hour is a nightmare on this road…! We were heading towards the city….and it was after rush hour…. Traffic in Pretoria, paper boy on his way to his post…just sold us a paper!
.Gezina if you turn left…Harties (Hartbeespoort) if you keep going…..more traffic, 10-ish in the morning… I know this road like the palm of my hand! Travelled this road for a couple of years from school in the afternoon…..Zoo coming up on your left….LangenhovenHigh school as the sign board indicates…always a speed trap when you go down! I missed them most of the time, but got ONE once….it is a 60km/h zone and I drove 70….think my fine was something like R60! wasn’t much anyway…. Now, if you live in Pretoria, you know Boom Street very well!! Buses…zillions of them, because, this is Zoo-area ….and….a main route for the buses to travel to other areas easy accessible for them. There is parking for coaches at the Zoo…and as you can see by looking at the trees: It was Winter!! July/August…”boom” is the Afrikaans word for “tree”….this is also a VERY busy and “dangerous” street…crime! Though the police claimed that crime isn’t anymore that high in this area, they (the police) also claimed that they are very visible….because of all the tourists visiting the Zoo…we didn’t see them…perhaps they were around…. This is the same road…the one I travelled a couple of years from my school, just a few meters back…all these pictures were taken from inside the car…perhaps yo can see the wipers of the car!…..there wasn’t time to stop every now and then to take a shot….so, they are not as good as they should be! I was in a moving car!!…hahaha… ZOO! entrance….Boom Street…this is really a MUST if you go to Pretoria. I’ve been to London’s Zoo and it’s not a patch against Pretoria’s…I must truly say, I was a bit disappointed the day when visiting London’s Zoo….visit the Pretoria Zoo WEBSITE here.
The first day of Spring in South Africa!! And this is how I remember Pretoria!! The Jacaranda trees almost fully in bloom! When it’s October, I will just admire these pictures and picture it in my mind!
On this picture you can see the City Hall of Pretoria.
Telcom Tower in Groenkloof The cityalso called the Jacaranda City. This picture shows the view from the city from the Union Buildings, you can see the gardens of the Union Buildings. The “black” building is the Reserve Bank and the tallest building to the right of it is Absa-bank.
These last two pictures are from the Union Buildings,it was made of sandstone and was designed by Sir Herbert Baker and in November 1910 the cornerstone was laid.
Click here to see what the weatheris like in Pretoria.
Spoken by great men:"Give me 20 divisions of American soldiers and I will breach Europe. Give me 15 consisting of Englishmen and I will advance to the borders of Berlin. Give me two divisions of those marvellous fighting Boers and I will remove Germany from the face of the earth." - Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, Commander of the Allied Forces during WW2.
"The Americans fight for a free world, the English mostly for honour, glory and medals, the French and Canadians decide too late that they have to participate. The Italians are too scared to fight, the Russians have no choice. The Germans for their Fatherland. The Boers? Those sons of Bitches fight for the hell of it." American General, George 'Guts and Glory' Patton.
Chessalee 