Ghent is a veritable Venice of northern Europe with its beautiful canals, waterside residences and boats that trawl the waterways. It’s such a picturesque town that all photos look good.
I have a new client in the Joburg CBD and I confess that the CBD is not one of my favourite places merely from a traffic point of view. On Monday Che and I got caught up in the gridlock that ensued, presumably as a result of the temporary closure of the Kazerne Bridge for repairs.
This means that a major route out of town for people living on the East Rand is closed for about 16 months. Off course people will find new routes and traffic patterns will stabilise once again.
In order to prevent a repeat of Monday Che and I agreed that I would walk up town to the Standard Bank precinct, which is on the edge of town, and get picked up there. An 8 to 10 minute walk to prevent potentially getting caught up in 90 minutes of chaos. This also provides me with the opportunity to take photos of interesting buildings.
I love the Joburg CBD for it old buildings, many built in a Classical style, others in the Art Dec style, and yet others, more modern. I took this photo of a building with the reflection of another building in its glass windows.
This beautiful church was built in the late Gothic style in the 15th century, and the exterior had me mesmerised at the intricacy and detail of the stonework and carvings.
According to legend, a young girl from Antwerp had a vision in which the Virgin Mary told her to steal a statue of herself and take it to this chapel. She managed to do this and arrived in Brussels by boat in 1348. The statue was placed in the chapel and became the patron of the guild of archers which later commissioned the bigger Eglise Notre Dame du Sablon. This church took about a century to build.
My advice to the young people in my life is – Get your own business, it may not be easy but it is better than being a battery for someone else’s. Take this advice from someone who has spent 25 years being a battery for other people’s business.