Voortrekker Museum / April 22

On our way to visit the Voortrecker Monument in Pretoria today we stopped at this viewpoint overlooking the city.  

From here is looks pretty much like any large city.  Even a little smog included.

On this side of the hill we overlooked a golf course that is only a couple of miles from Dawn's house.

We may or may not have a chance to play here but if you look closely....I'm pretty sure that is Tiger down there.  Ok, maybe not Tiger... they all look white. Must be Louis Oosthuizen & Ernie Els.  Could be Charl Schwartzel too!  They called & asked us to join them but we just too busy.  :)

Then we arrived at the Voortrekker Monument Heritage Site. Being the History and Geography buff that I am, I already knew everything about this stuff but I'm jotting down some info just for all of you.  HAHA!  The Dutch were the first white people to migrate to South Africa in the 1600s.  It is a monument to commemorate what is known as the Great Trek the Afrikaner (Afri-con-er) people (the decendents of the Dutch settlers called themselves) made from the Cape up farther into South Africa to escape the British authorities between 1834 and 1854.  Not unlike our Pioneers who pushed the Native Americans West the Voortrekkers pushed the Native Africans (Zulus, and other tribes), from their lands and killed many along the way.

This slate tells about the making of the Monument.

Donald thought we needed a picture of this mail box.   I guess.

This wall of wagons around the monument depicts the 64 wagons that were used in the battle of Blood River in Natal in 1838.  It is called the laager wall.  It is made of terrazzo, a mixture of marble pieces and cement and each wagon weighs about 8 tons. At this battle 300 men killed over 10,000 Zulus.  

This is a picture from the top of the monument overlooking Pretoria.

Inside there is a massive high domed hall 25x25x41 meters (a little larger than 25x25x41 yards), with marble floors and an impressive marble fireze (three dimensional mural) depicting historical events from the Great Trek.  It is called the Hall of Heroes.  The marble on the floor is laid in a specific pattern to take on the form of water rippling wider apart to symbolize a move to freedom that started small but culminated in a huge historical wave.  There are 27 panels chiseled out of Italian marble.  The whole thing weighs about 180 metric ton. 

There were many school children visiting here today.  You will notice they all wear uniforms in SA and these are all white students probably from private schools learning the history of the white Afrikaners.

Of course Donald could not resist putting Piper in this big kettle that is probably many centuries old with the big 

DO NOT TOUCH sign right next to it!

 

There is also a tapestry with over 3 million stitches depicting the story of women and children during the Great Trek.

After the Monument we headed back home.  This is Grace.  Dawn's housekeeper and Piper's Nanny.  Grace lives in a small room attached to the house on the weekdays and returns to her village on the weekends.  She has a 20 year old son who is going to UNISA (University of SA), a 18 year old daughter, who is a senior in high school and a 9 year old daughter.  They live in the village with Grace's mother.  When her 9 year old is out of school she often comes to Dawn's to stay with Grace.  Piper loves them both.  Grace seems to be very good to her.   I think Grace will be more a Grandmother to Piper than I will be able to be for the next few years. :(    I am making the best of it while I am here & loving it! 

Then we took about a 5 minute ride to the community center.  It is a park for all the American workers & their families.  It happens to be in the back yard (or just over the 8 foot high cement wall) of the America Ambassador to SA.

This is where Dawn had Piper's 1st Birthday Party.

It is a very nice place.  It is also used for other Embassy functions.

And I would say it's our tax dollars well at work since Donald can come here to make sand castles with his Granddaughter.