La Moneda

Today we ventured back to the centro where we saw the famous La Moneda, which houses the seat of the President of Chile (as well as some cabinet members).  The outside is quite regal and well-guarded, and there is a really cool museum / cultural center underneath that we visited.  On the way to La Moneda there is a huge green space with the Chilean flag.  If you want to see pics, you're in luck, I remembered my camera today.

 

Steve and Sadie

Close up of me and Sadie (good belly shot)

Here is La Moneda - Sadie running off to the grass

Oh, but wait, there is a fountain, so there she goes

Enjoying the water view

Enjoying my family view :)

Below is the museum. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it's very modern and well done.  There is a lot of cool art and interesting facts.  

 This is a maze.  Steve and Sadie went through it.

Sadie NAILED it.

Lunch at el Mercado Central (the fish market I blogged about awhile ago).  It was delicious! and the restaurant was empty because we went at noon, which is way before lunch time in Santiago.  Good for us since the food came fresh and fast - Sadie actually sat through most of it!

Vitacura

Vitacura is in the northeast part of Santiago, and it seems to be a nice, peaceful area.  Sadie and I went to a coffee shop in that area for a play date yesterday, and I could have sworn I was back in the states.  The cafe had a specific play area for kids (so the moms could drink coffee while watching them play from afar) as well as a little shop to the side that had a peluqueria for kids.  We had to take a cab there since it was fairly far from our hotel and not close to a metro.  Guess we'll have to try out the bus system soon enough!

The most important discovery I had about Vitacura was that on the way to the cafe I spotted one of my fave pizza chains: Papa Johns.  From now on, Vitacura will always be known as the place that I can get PJ's bread sticks...

A mind of her own

Every day Sadie does something that surprises me.  Today, she took all her books and threw them in her crib.  Then, she looked at me with her arms raised (i.e., "momma, i want to go in my crib").  I put her in, and she proceeded to sit down and read out loud to herself.  She NEVER wants to go in her crib unless it's sleep time.  It was a moment of astonishment because I didn't know what I should do.  So, I took a picture!

Also, she is obsessed with the outside.  All she wants to do is look out the window...

Pregnant pause

Yes, this exists.  And, yes, I almost bought it.

New friends

Sadie is one lucky girl.  She has made so many friends this week.  We attended a play date for expats at a community church yesterday (no religious affiliation).  This church has a large meeting room that contains tons of toys for toddlers under 3.  Every week (for the past many years is my understanding), people have been coming.  It's very conveniently located to my hotel, and there were lots of great moms, dads, and kids.  People were from all over - the US, UK, Australia, Ireland, Hong Kong, Canada and Japan.  Pretty incredible that we all ended up in the same small room for a couple hours.  We will have to make this a weekly event.

This is a pic of Sadie after the playdate.  She was exhaustedly happy :)

We also went to another playdate at an expat's house and met people from the US, France and Malawi.  Such interesting perspectives and everyone has been so welcoming.  The woman from Malawi has a background in developmental economics, so I was pretty excited to talk to her.  It's not just all about the kids!

Ode to Toledo

For those who don't know (or don't remember), I studied abroad in Toledo, Spain my junior year of college.  That experience has been the foundation so far for my time here (based primarily on language).  So, when I was at the Jumbo today and saw the below, I couldn't help but get the warm, happy feeling inside. Yes, it is Spanish ham from Toledo.  Aw.

Ikea, is that you?

As many of you know, Steve and I absolutely love Ikea.  Because we move around so much and need to mix and match to fill our new places (not to mention how our stuff gets banged up from all the moves), over 90% of our furniture and household items are from Ikea.  And, who can resist eating at the restaurant (french toast sticks anyone??) and getting a cone after making it all the way through the store in one piece.  Well, today I was taken to the Chilean version of Ikea: HOMY.  Now, to be quite honest, I have no idea if there is any kind of affiliation, and I could probably Google it and try to figure it out, but it doesn't matter.  The facts are that the store is laid out exactly like Ikea, you walk sort of a particular direction and pass rooms decorated and laid out with tags and prices.  There are little stations around the store that have paper rulers, little pencils, and forms to fill out of what pieces of furniture you like.  Then, there is a whole couch section, a whole table/chairs section, etc. The furniture is pretty modern, but there is a good mix. I have spent quite a lot of time in multiple Ikeas (a whole 7 hours in the one right outside of Chicago, which is a story for another day), so I'm confident in my comparison.  I even took some pics so you could see for yourself.  What HOMY doesn't have is a major cafeteria like Idea does, but they did have a cafe!

 

After HOMY we went to a huge park that had a rose garden, and I took a pretty pic of the Andes overlooking the rose garden.  Just thought I would throw that in there...