Exploring Santiago

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Trip Start Dec 14, 2009 Previous
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  Santiago, Chile
Tuesday, December 15, 2009

We landed in Atlanta at 8:20PM which is exactly when our plane to Santiago was supposed to take off.  Luckily it was delayed, but only to 8:47PM.  We walked off our plane at 8:39PM and of course we were at gate A and needed to get to gate E.  We took a train which arrived minutes before takeoff.  I then ran all the way to the gate to ask them to hold it.  We were the last ones to board the plane.  The flight was over nine hours and I enjoyed the view out the window in the final hour.  There was massive cloud coverage.  Then I saw a peak poke through and gradually there were more peaks and more until it was all mountains down below.


I arrived in Santiago with my parents around 9:30AM.  Damian and Shelley soon arrived too.  Together we went to our hotel, the Ritz Carlton,  to check in. 









Around 1PM we took a private tour.  Of course our first stop was to eat lunch.  I got to sample some Chilean beers.


















Our next stop was San Cristobal which is a hill (mountain) which rose 900 feet and provided fantastic 360 degree panaramic views of the city.  On the top was a statue of the Virgen de la Imaculada.
















Next we took a drive through Bellavista.  I wish we would have more time to walk around but it was just a quick pass through.  The buildings were in bright colors and many decorated with artistic graffiti.













Next stop was the preColombian museum with terrific artifacts from numerous cultures in the Americas.


















We then walked through Santiago and visited the Alberto Cruz-Mont and Union Club buildings.
Finally we visited Iglesia San Francisco which was one of the earliest settlements from the 1500s.















Back at the hotel we met the tour group at 6:30PM to meet the tour group and then had a dinner together.  The wine was endless.

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Santiago	Santiago	Santiago	Santiago
Santiago	Santiago	Santiago	Santiago
Santiago	Santiago	Santiago	Santiago
Santiago	Santiago	Santiago	Museo Chileno de arte preColombino
Museo Chileno de arte preColombino 1	Museo Chileno de arte preColombino2	Aztec wall	Chemamull
San Cristobal	San Cristobal	San Cristobal	San Cristobal
San Cristobal	Bellavista	Bellavista	Bellavista
Bellavista

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