Day 3--We got kicked out!

All I ordered was coffee!!

Since breakfast is included (thanks to Theresa and AMEX), we started off in the hotel restaurant.  They promptly led us to a very nice table…outside.  Well, it was a beautiful view, but also 63 and a little breezy.  We got two coffees, but she didn’t bring us a menu or anything.  About 5 minutes later, she showed up with a huge tray of food.  Fruit, breads, cheese and meats, and a few other bits.  Holy Moly!!  After a while, she asked how we wanted our eggs and meat, and brought round two.  Everything was so good, but so much. 

Uhhh...it's locked!!

We had planned to head to St. Cristobal hill, but the overcast sky suggested otherwise.  So, after breakfast, we headed for St. Lucia hill.  The driver dropped us off next to a locked gate.  We checked on line and it showed hours for Mon-Fri and none on the weekends.  Theresa beat herself up for a bit for making a rookie mistake.  But, we walked around a bit, and crossed the street to at least see up the hill a little.  It was kind of sad seeing almost every wall in every direction with graffiti.  But, finally we got down the road and looked over and…to the open main gate for the hill!!!  So, we crossed back over the street and headed up the hill to start exploring.  There were a lot of sketchy steps, but we made it up and had some nice views.  We ended up in a conversation with a local guy on a walk with his two young girls, and found ourselves talking economics and politics.  It was interesting to hear his views.  He also told us the story of the St Lucia hill.  Basically it speaks to the resilience of the Chilean women.

A walk on San Lucia hill.

The Catholic University of Santiago, across from the hill.

A LOT of graffiti!!!

Wait!  That gate is OPEN!

Why does Aloe look so ...unsoothing???

View from San Lucia hill

Ahhh...nothing says "park" like a canon!!

A tribute to the natives before the Spanish got here.

Inside of the battlement, inside of the tree!

These stairs aren't so bad!

The first Archbishop of Chile overlooking the city.

We made it to the top!

San Cristobal hill...a little cloudy!

Ok, these stairs are fun!

St. Michael the Archangel.

Took a moment to sit and look at the park.

Chilean Mc Donald's!

We have this little “thing”…where we try to go to McDonald’s in every country.  OK, it’s not classy, but it was kind of cute once, and well, we’re not quitters!  So, for lunch, we headed in to check that off our list.  How was it?  Well, it was McD’s.  No raving, but no complaints.

Our big plan of the day was going to a vineyard.  About 3:00 we called for our Uber.  The driver was a really nice guy and wanted to be rather chatty.  Uh, ok.  But he knew almost no English, and our Spanish isn’t really “conversational”.  So, he ended up focusing too much on Google Translate and not enough on the road.  It was a little scary!

Conch y Toro is a winery about an hour away from the center of town.  It was a nice little tour, and we got to play among the vines, check out the cellars, and then taste three nice vintages.  But, we paid $7 extra to get the upgrade, which was a tasting and pairing with a sommelier.  The group was 3 couples, one from Chile, one from Brazil, and us.  WOW!!  We have had several “tastings”, but this surpassed them all.  It was amazing!  The wines were good, but paring them with cheeses, and then actually telling us how and why they work was incredible!  At the end, the sommelier left and told us that we had 5 minutes.  Well, we started talking as a group, took some pix, and someone poked his head in and suggested it was time to leave.  We hurried a little, but not a lot.  The guy came back and told us we had to leave, as they were CLOSED!!  Ah, well.  😊

"Good from afar, but far from good!!" :-)

The house on the hill.

This lily pad was patterned after Monet's home.

Is it just me or does this immediately bring back
memories of Fluid Dynamics??

These grapes are not ready!

Theresa found her favorite vintage!

Casks for show.

Casks for "real".

The original wine cellar...
allegedly guarded by Diablo.

Wine Pairing!

Back in the room, we dug out our leftovers from last night, and the little half sandwich I made from breakfast, and we contemplated how we manage to be in a 5 star hotel!!  If they only knew!   

Dinner view!