Cultural Center, Ice Cream, and Other Fun in Santiago

Today, we visited the Cultural Center housed in the basement of the President's Palace. It contains a weaving and woodcraft gallery, a couple of photographic art galleries, and an activity room for kids. (There is also some sort of movie theater, but it was closed for a private event.) It was a great way to pass some time on a rainy day.

Centro Cultural La Moneda

When the museum closed for lunch at 2:00,  we walked over to Heladería Emporio La Rosa, seeing lots of interesting things along the way. The shop claims to be one of the 25 best in the world, and there were some unique flavors to choose from. I tried two new-to-me flavors: rose and honey made from the ulmo flowers that grow in Chile.

(Side story: Upon arrival at the ice cream shop, Clay decided he had never needed to go to the bathroom so badly in his life, and of course, the shop didn't have a bathroom. The nearest public bathroom was a block away, inside a museum. I trotted him over there and sent him into the restroom, and he promptly returned to tell me he wasn't tall enough for the urinals and that all the stalls were locked. I then took him into the women's restroom, and completely scandalized the janitor, who quickly kicked us out and told us we had to use the bathroom "para niños." That turned out to be a locked room, and we were supposed to call someone on an intercom to have it opened. My Spanish intentionally became very poor at that point because I wanted the lady to just let us in since Clay was hopping around doing a crazy potty dance. Instead, the janitor went to get the security guard, who went to the desk where there was supposed to be, but wasn't, someone to answer the intercom for the locked bathroom. The security guard gathered up the key, left his post, and finally opened the bathroom door for us. It was really a wild time, but thankfully Clay was able to hold it, and we didn't cause any more of a scene in the museum!)

Sights of Santiago:
The President's Palace,
Bandera del Bicentenario,
lovely street art, pop-up bookstore,
animated soldiers selling Moscow Mules,
the national library's columns covered in lifejackets
to honor refugees, the entrance to the museum where
I took Clay to the bathroom, and a graffitied sculpture

Heladería Emporio La Rosa

After eating our ice cream, Jeff and I wanted to go see the fish market. The kids weren't interested in that, so we brought them back to the apartment before heading out on our own. On our way to the market, we shared a Chilean "completa" (hot dog with "everything"), just to say we had tried one. We saw (and smelled!) the market, and then we wandered through a big park, catching sight of a beautiful rainbow. We stopped briefly at the National Museum of Fine Arts since it was right there in the park. Eventually we ended up in a very fun area, with lots of patio restaurants, and had a wonderful dinner at Quitral.

Completa, rainbow over a monument,
Mecado Cental--outside and inside

National Museum of Fine Arts

Date night at Quitral

Another Fun Week in Mendoza

I can't believe it's been a week since my last post! As usual, there has been plenty going on, but the days have been getting away from me to record all of it. I started my proofreading course, which has been interesting and informative and a little humbling. Weston and Max have been engrossed in their books. Ruth has been writing a story of her own. Clay has been very busy drawing, playing, and practicing his Spanish. And Jeff moved up to the next level of Spanish classes.

We've also gotten together with friends a few times, visited a chocolate factory, eaten some fabulous and cheap food, taken a couple of lovely hikes, played at parks, and watched a couple of World Cup games. It's been a wonderful week!

La Cabaña Chocolate Factory 

Good eats and drinks--at home and out

Date night at Don Aldo

Cutie Clay
(At his favorite playground, playing the "drums" at the house,
at the chocolate factory,  and doing pull-ups at the park)

A walk in the park

Out and about in Mendoza
(Weston with a huge calzone, a beautiful abandoned building,
Clay at the art store, the amphitheater at one of the plazas,
swing picnic table, walking by one of the acequias that makes
Mendoza so lush, a church, one of many sidewalk cafes)

Cerro de la Gloria hike

World Cup Watching

Various combinations of us have gone out at different times this week.

Day Six in D.C.

It was another full and fun day in D.C.! We spent most of it at the National Museum of American History, where there was so much to see and do and learn. Later in the day, we saw the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and the Albert Einstein Memorial. We also scoped out the Department of State building. As Jeff is currently on step two of a very long process to apply for a diplomatic position within the department, we thought it would be good to know where his future potential office might be located. Finally, we made our way over to The Carving Room for a delicious dinner. We are loving D.C. and can't believe we just have one more full day here!

Creating old school computer images at NMAH 

Trying out a kid-sized penny-farthing

Learning about chocolate

We weren't allowed to take pictures, but it was awesome to see the actual flag
that inspired the writing of the Star Spangled Banner.

Lunch break

Jeff was so happy to find an everything-on-it hog dog

 

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

Korean War Memorial

Vietnam War Memorial

Albert Einstein Memorial

Surely not one of the main attractions in D.C. but certainly of interest to us 

Dinner at the Carving Room

Day Five in D.C.

After a leisurely morning, we headed over to Mt. Vernon to learn more about America's first president. The property was absolutely beautiful, and we thoroughly enjoyed the tour of the mansion and exploring the grounds and outbuildings.

Washington's Home

The grounds at Mt. Vernon were gorgeous!

George Washington had terrible teeth and had to have
several sets of dentures made. He was self-conscious of this,
which is one reason he always looks so serious in portraits.

The swearing in ceremony

A meeting of the great minds

From there, we made our way to Old Town Alexandria for a late lunch at Virtue Feed and Grain. The food was delicious, and the little town was lovely!

Virtue Feed and Grain in Old Town Alexandria

Weston's lobster pot pie

Our next stop was Arlington Cemetery, and truly I have no words. It completely took my breath away, and I walked around with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes the entire time we were there. We were just in time to observe the last changing of the guard for the day at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which was a beautiful and moving thing to behold.

So incredibly thankful for the sacrifice of these brave souls

The changing of the guard at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Finally, we stopped to pick up "dinner" at Dangerously Delicious Pies and Coffee. I would not really recommend having chocolate pecan pie for dinner every night, but sometimes when you're on vacation, you've just got to go with what feels right.

Dinner

Day Three in D.C.

We had the great privilege to visit Lincoln's Cottage this morning. It is one of the lesser known attractions and most people don't make the effort to get out there, even though it is only three miles from the capitol building. We really enjoyed the tour and museum and appreciated how our tour guide made Lincoln come alive for us.

Lincoln's Cottage

Max was so excited to "meet" his favorite president

Cannons are always a big hit with boys

After our tour of the Cottage, we headed over to Annapolis to tour the Naval Academy. The campus was lovely, and it was so interesting to learn about midshipmen life. When we finished up at the Academy, we made our way down to City Dock for lunch at Middleton Tavern.

Honoring America's first Navy hero

I loved this event building!

The Navy's first plane was built by the Wright brothers

The dorm building was designed to look like the Palace of Versailles in France

The kids really loved seeing the crypt of John Paul Jones

Clay being "Bill" the goat

Middleton Tavern

Eventually, we made our way back to D.C. and stopped by the Jefferson Memorial to pay our respects to another great man before heading back to our apartment to watch the Aggie game.

The back side of the Jefferson Memorial and the beautiful fall colors

Tribute to Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson Memorial