We headed out about midday to Centro Cultural La Moneda, which is located under the Citizen's Plaza in front of La Moneda ( the Presidential Palace), where we had stopped on our Free Tour. We noticed an honour guard on the front side of the building, lots of paparazzi, and some visiting dignitaries. Tuesday March 11 is the inauguration of Michelle Bachelet as President and there are lots of folks in town for the event (though unfortunately for us, the actual inauguration takes place in Valparaiso).
 |
| Honour Guard at La Moneda |
 |
| Paparazzi taking pics of folks below... |
 | ||
| The important visitors...
In Constitution Square, we also took a picture of the back of the Salvador Allende sculpture which contains a quote from the farewell speech he recorded before he committed suicide.
"Much sooner than later, the great avenues will again be opened through which will pass free men to construct a better society"
We then walked to the other side of La Moneda, where the cultural centre is located. The centre was completed in 2006 and is very modern and has excellent exhibition spaces. The main exhibit was entitled El Nuevo Diseno Italiano (The New Italian Design), put together by the Triennale Design Museum in Milan,which we had visited in 2011.
There were 288 beautifully designed items including furniture, jewellery, utensils, lamps, etc. from 133 young designers. Many were hand crafted and very innovative. It was a fabulous showcase of the new generation of Italian designers.
Innovative jewelry design
  A number of the items were displayed on a giant convenor belt.  
Lights- Foscarini 2005
|
Denise Bonapace 2006- gloves
We then saw a smaller exhibit about Digital Fabrications of objects-- some very interesting 3D rings.
We shared a chicken and avocado sandwich at Torres Cafe in the Cultural Centre.
As we left the Cultural Centre, we saw the large Chilean flag unfurled on Citizen's Square. Quite a sight! The flag was adopted on October 18, 1817. The red stands for the blood spilled for independence, the white for the snow covered Andes, the blue for the sky and the Pacific Ocean, and the star is the guide to progress.
We decided to go for a coffee at Cafe Haiti, which has a number of locations in Santiago and was recommended by our Free Tour guide. It was founded in 1947 and there are cafes in Rome, Milan and Santiago. It has also adopted an old Santiago tradition from the 1950s of "Cafes con Piernas" ("coffee with legs"), as the servers all wear outfits with short tight skirts. The coffee was fine and service excellent.
Alano with his coffee
As we were walking back to the apartment, we saw a news kiosk with "The Clinic" newspaper. As our guide told us on Saturday, the Clinic is a left-leaning satirical paper. In 1998, Pinochet was arrested in England at The London Clinic. He gave the excuse that he couldn't testify because "he was at the Clinic and suffering from dementia". A month later, the satirical newspaper The Clinic was born and carries on to this day.
When we got back to the apartment, I went for a swim. I was the only one in the pool at about 5:00 p.m. The water was icy, but the air temperature still warm. Very refreshing!
We then headed out to Barrio Bellavista for dinner. We chose Galindo, which had been recommended by our Tour guide, our lonely planet guidebook, and the owner of our apartment, all said it is a good place, frequented by locals. Our guide had recommended a local specialty called pastel de choclo (corn pie), which I had. It was delicious and filling. It contains beef, onions, olives, hard-boiled eggs and raisons and is roasted. Alano had beef and potatoes and a big salad. Add in a couple of pisco sours (the drink of Chile) and the bill was only about $42.00 Canadian, including tip, for the two of us.
We headed back to the apartment full but happy. Another great day in Santiago.
No comments:
Post a Comment