Welcome to Soweto, a township within the city of Johannesburg. Soweto (the name made up of the first two letters of South Western Townships) is actually made of up 29 previously separate townships. The population of Soweto is about 1.3 million.

People, mostly Black Africans, of many different income levels live in Soweto. The houses in the photo are probably middle-income houses.

More middle-income houses. These are the houses we saw the most of.

But the housing in Soweto ranges from shacks to mansions. We did not go into the mansion area.

Lower-income housing.

Lower-income housing. If someone is very poor with no income, the government supplies them free housing.

There are still empty fields in Soweto. We asked about the trash on the ground here and also in some of the housing developments. We were told that their trash-removal service had been out on strike and is just now catching up removing the trash.

Soweto has shopping areas.

It also is now a big entertainment center.

And cultural center.

Now on Vilakazi Street, Orlando West (a part of the original Orlando township), Soweto. It is the only street in the world that at the same time had two Noble Laureates living on it: Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Tourist street sign.

Mandela's Family Restaurant around the corner.

My tour mate Pauline in a photo with school children she met on the street.

At the Mandela House, celebrating Nelson Mandela's return at 8115 Orlando West on 13 February 1990.

"Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world," Nelson Mandela.

"That night, I returned with Winnie to the 8115 in Orlando West. It was only then that I knew in my heart that I had left prison. For me, No. 8115 was the centrepoint of my world, the placed marked with an X in my mental geography," Nelson Mandela.

Nelson Mandela's house, now a museum.

It was a small house with no more than four or five small rooms. This was a bedroom.

There were many photos on the walls. This photo is of a young Nelson Mandela.

There were also posters such as this one of the 40th anniversary of the 1956 Women's March which took place in Pretoria, South Africa, to petition the government for women's needs such as child care, equal rights with men in regard to property and marriage, etc. The sponsor of the march was the Federation of South African Women, an anti-apartheid organization.

There were a number of pictures and photos of Winnie Mandela in the exhibit. Winnie was Mandela's second wife. His first wife, Evelyn, and he divorced in 1957. He married Winnie in 1958. They split up in 1996. In 1998, Mandela married Graca Machel, who became Mandela's widow in 2013 when he died at age 95.

A younger Winnie.

This is the only photo I saw in the exhibit of Mandela and a world leader, here Castro. I asked about it. In 1988, Cuban forces came to the aid of a Soviet-led People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) offensive againt the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). UNITA was supported by the apartheid South Africa regime's military. The South African forces lost and this was felt to be a victory against apartheid and, hence, the friendship with Castro.

The back of the Mandela house.

Back on our bus and passing souvenir stands.

More souvenirs.

More souvenirs with mannequins in front.

Close-up.

More signs for the tourists. Uncle Toms refers to Uncle Tom's Hall built in the early days in the township of Orlando West and believed to be named after the white superintendent of the township who people called Uncle Tom.

A mural seen from the bus with a picture of Nelson Mandela and also of the Orlando Towers.

We could see the Orlando Towers from here. They were once the cooling towers of a power station. Today, there is a bridge between them and bungee jumping.

Close-up of the tower on the left of people playing musical instruments.

Education is stressed on the tower on the right with an advertisement for Vodacom, the cell phone network you are connected to in South Africa. I have seen other designs in photos of the towers so it seems that the designs change.

Our next stop was at the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum. Hector Pieterson was a 12-year-old student who was shot to death by police during the June 16, 1976, Soweto Uprising. Students from the high schools came out to protest the government's new policy that secondary school education would be taught only in Afrikaans, not in their native languages.

"In memory of Hector Peterson [Pieterson] and all other young heroes and heroines of our struggle who laid down their lives for freedom, peace and democracy."

The Hector Pieterson Museum. No photos were allowed of the exhibits inside it, which told the story of the 1976 Soweto Uprising.

Mural in the museum's parking lot.

Souvenir stands next to the museum.

"I Have Been to Soweto" T-shirts for sale.

Some very nice tile artwork for sale.

I bought one of them and found out that they were made by young children. They did a great job on them.

Mural seen on our drive to our next stop.

Public art.

Hills left over from yellow earth diamond mining.

FNB Stadium.

Our last stop was at the Apartheid Museum.

Nelson Rolihlahla Manela, 1918-2013. There was a Nelson Mandela exhibit in the museum.

On the wall: "To be free is not merely to cast off ones chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others," Nelson Mandela.

The man in the blue shirt on the left of the photo and the man in the yellow shirt on the right of the photo are actually included in the mirrors. This artwork is called Journeys. The discovery of gold in Johannesburg in 1886 brought people from both Southern Africa and other parts of the world here, a racially mixed community but apartheid was set up to segregate this racial mixture.

As can we seen at the rear of the last photo are some of The Pillars of the Constitution (1996 new constitution): the pillars being democracy, equality, reconcillation, diversity, responsibility, respect, and freedom. Photo of the freedom pillar.

Before entering the museum, we were given one of two tickets. I was given the Blankes, Whites ticket.

Others in my group were given the White ticket or the Nie-Blankes, Non-Whites ticket.

What side of the museum that we entered on was based on our ticket (racial) classification. Apartheid was based on racial classification, with our tickets illustrating these classifications.

Identity documents would have to be shown during apartheid to prove what your racial classifcation was.

Another racial divide: taxis for white and taxis for non-whites. We were not allowed to take photos in the museum. You can see some othe exhibitions at the museum's website (Google "Apartheid Museum").