Misty Hills 2

Today I began the day with an "affiliated persons" tour to the African Craft Market
in Johannesburg. Eight participants rode by van into Johannesburg to the Rosebank Craft Market. Since it was Sunday morning, it was a relatively quiet time.
The merchants wanted us to come into their stalls but we felt we were fairly skilled at negotiating prices. There were many beaded items as well as many batik items for sale. Carved wooden items were also abundant, but heavy! I tried to think about Christmas shopping but, quite frankly, most of the items I bought are for me! We ate lunch at a Thai restaurant outside the market (highly recommended by another participant and deservedly so) and then returned to Misty Hills.
Along the road to the market, we certainly saw the contrasts of Africa- shanty towns and palatial mansions were abundant. Life in the shanty towns was certainly vibrant- with hundreds of people milling about, walking on the side of the roads, and/or selling things to anyone who would stop to look.
Phil’s meeting officially begins tomorrow but today there were student presentations, so he had options for the morning also. When I returned from our tour at 2 p.m., we went for a walk on the grounds. It really is quite lovely. The birds are everywhere- but today the doves are really “cooing” up a storm everywhere.
Tonight we have a cocktail party to attend and then will eat dinner with other participants. For the next two nights there will be “galas” for the meeting participants.
The food offered to meeting participants has been delicious – lots of fresh fruits and a wide variety of African dishes at each meal. The wines, as expected, are wonderful and Phil is finding the South African beers to be very good.
I am still wrestling with a bit of jet lag which meant that last night I was wide awake from about 2-5 so today I am endeavoring to stay awake until a reasonable time and hopefully sleep through the night.
Below are some of our pictures from the grounds of Misty Hills: The last picture is a large carved chess board. The second is the swimming pool, which is lovely to look at but no one is swimming.
(I doubt it reached 60 degrees today)