Pictures: Police 1, Shari 0

So on Wednesday, I checked in at the Reef Hotel Gold in the Central Business District (CBD) of  Johannesburg about midday.  I was beat because it was 5 ½ hrs. from LAX to JFK, a 5 hour layover at JFK and then 15 hours to Johannesburg, South Africa (JNB).  Remember, I'm winging it on this trip so I had not reserved a room for my first night in Joburg.  I figured since I arrived at 8 am in the morning, how tough could it be to get a room before nightfall?   I picked this place off Expedia while I was sitting in an internet cafe at JNB airport and it had two things I needed – internet access and a shuttle from the airport.  Plus it was a good price.
A little background, Johannesburg is a city of 6 million people and they just hosted the World Cup in 2010.  They are very proud of the job they did and rightfully so.  A lot of money and effort has gone into cleaning things up, adding a metro rail train called the Gautrain and they are in the midst of a major revitalizing of this downtown area.  The Reef hotel opened just as the World Cup started and is in a converted Government building.  I have an office on the 8th floor that been wonderfully renovated to a hip trendy room with a platform bed, farm sink in the lavatory and a quarter round shower.  The old cafeteria on the 3rd floor is now the hotel's restaurant. Very cool. 
When I travel, I really try to get myself on local time asap so I checked in, freshened up and decided to go for a walk around the area to get the lay of the land.  I ended up at in a plaza that had a big statue of a very young Gandhi in a business suit – not his usual look!    I found out later that he came to South Africa as a young lawyer in his mid twenties, and became politically active over the harsh treatment of Indians.  This is where he developed the philosophy of Passive Resistance (called Satyagraha here) – resisting oppression by using principled and peaceful refusal to cooperate with unjust laws.  From 1906 to 1914 he lead the Passive Resistance Movement.  He left South Africa in 1914, never to return.  
Walking back to the hotel I saw a really beautiful older building across the street from a brick building being demolished and I stopped to take pictures of both.  I had just finished snapping the rundown brick building and I was framing the beautiful building when 2 armed  police men came up to me to ask me what I was doing and informed me that you are not allowed to take pictures of Government facilities.  Apparently the older building was still in use for some legislative purpose.  You know, it never occurred to me that taking pictures of the government building would ever be a problem.  I apologized to the officers and said I wouldn't do it again.  And I won't.   Police 1, Shari 0.