More Than We Expected - Sunday, June 12, 2016

Sunday was all about the view. And walking. LOTS of walking!! Here is the evidence to prove it:

In case you can't read the fine print, that is a total of 10.62 miles and the equivalent of 24 flights up. It was a wonderful day,but a reminder to write down travel advice given to us after flying all night. Axel and Patricia advised us that we could hike or bike up to Cerro San Cristobal for a wonderful view. But apparently we recalled the amount of time it would take (1.5 hours) for the biking version. Jim pulled something in his back a few days before we left, so he figured he would be better off walking, so off we went.

Our walk started near the condo where a lovely park is centered in the median of the main thoroughfare. 

After a few blocks a footbridge took us over the river

to the entrance of Parque Metropolotano

The park is closed to cars on the weekends. Instead the roads are filled with bicyclists and pedestrians. 

It ended up being about a 2.5 hour walk to the top, but the views along the way were well worth it. 

At the top of the hill is the statue of the Virgin Mary - it is said that she protects Santiago.

Many candles and trinkets are left beneath her in memoriam.

The area around the statue was surrounded by an art installation of paintered crosses.

Since our walk had been more of a long hike, we decided to take the lazy way down, knowing that it would put us in city center and we hadn't taken along our instructions about which subway and bus to take home.  But that is what makes this an adventure!

Once at the bottom we figured there was time to visit the Museo Bellas Artes.

Our destination was at the end of this lovely park, and we enjoyed the view of the gargoyle peaking his head over the top of this building.

The museum is a gorgeous structure, and the oldest art museum in South Americal.  Originally established in 1880, it moved to the current location 1910 when it opened as part of the Centennial celebration of Chile.  It's facade is a replica of the Petite Palais in Paris which we also enjoyed on our last visit there.

There was an interesting installation in memory of the 2010 earthquake - all of the pieces were made from the rubble of one house that was destroyed.

It was getting dark, so we knew we needed to tackle finding our way home.  We were so pleased with ourselves as we easily found a subway station on the correct line!  Unfortunately, we had an incorrect memory of what station to go to.  So we came up to the street level, not recognizing anything around us!  We wandered around trying to navigate our way to something familiar via our gps-google maps.  A beacon of hope came to us in the form of a Starbucks with their reliable free WiFi.  We google mapped our route which was about another 30 minute walk.

These little moments (and the tired feet to go with them) are just part of the adventure!