Round and Round Santiago

 I will attempt to catch up the blog today and add photos. We are on the ships wifi so it is slow so I can’t read what I have written and may repeat myself.

Today was a late start but it is our day to do the on off bus around Santiago. The up side is the pick up right outside our hotel and the big red bus arrived as we walked out the door. Bodes well for a great day. The day is warm and according to the thermometer on the bus it is 94 degrees although officially weather.com says it is only 90.  One of the highlights is the Metropolitan Park. You are able to take a cable car to the top oh the mountain and see the Statue of the Virgin Mary above the city and see the church.  The city spreads out below with great views all of which at this time of the year difficult to see due to the smog. There is a funicular that takes you down the hill at a 45 degree slope.   Dan had hoped to see the Japanese Garden within this park but I did convince him that it was way too hot to walk up and down some of the hills to find it.  So back on the hop on hop off we go.

The country and city opened up to business and industry in the 1980’s and 90’s. Since that time buildings and high rises were built. The architecture of these modern buildings is creative and beautiful as well as the older buildings and church’s from the early 1900’s. There are an abundance of trees along many of the streets although with the population at 15-20 million people there are a lot of cars, buses and traffic although there are subways. 

We completed 2 circuits since we weren’t sure we understood all we heard on the audio tape. We got off the bus and walked into the restaurant business area to find a wine shop. Even with google maps we almost missed it but there were no wrong turns. Just didn’t realize the “wine club” shop would only be 8 feet wide and 15 feet deep and the busiest place around.  We did not see any grocery stores to buy wine and the bottles I would buy at the wineries were a lot more expensive than 5-6 dollars a bottle. 

Tonight we need to pack as we leave in the am for more wineries and transfer to the ship. Excitement is yet to come.