After another night of smooth seas, we had our alarm clock set for 6:15am. We had ordered room service breakfast for 6:30 and they are always right on time. Our tour, "Discover Santiago", was to meet in the theatre at 8:05 but there was a delay again with Chilean authorities clearing the ship so we could disembark. Our bus finally left for the 2 hour drive to Santiago at 8:45am. As I said yesterday, Santiago is the capital of Chile with a population of close to 6 million now.
The drive took us through 2 valleys. The first had a lot of vineyards which produced chardonnays and also some olive trees, avocado trees, and a few almond trees. The second valley had some corn fields and also vegetables. The city of Santiago lies in the 3rd valley and has mountains on both sides. Winds have a hard time moving through the valley so the city has a smog problem, however it was not bad at all today.
Our first stop was at the Presidential Palace where the President works. Strange thing is their Congress buildings are in Valparaiso and they meet there. Next stop was the main square of the city where we went in a large Cathedral. So far I am not real impressed with the tour but it gets worse. We then drive up Cristobal Hill with a nice view over the new part of Santiago. I had taken the cable cars up on the other side when I had layovers here and the view from there was MUCH better than the one we saw on this tour. After cruising 20 days to get to Santiago, where did they take us for lunch?? A nice seafood restaurant you say! NO, we were taken to a food court in a nice shopping mall. After our McNuggets and Big Mac and wasting an hour, we were back on the bus and headed to a handicraft market. By this time we only had 20 minutes for shopping here. About 19 minutes too much for me but the ladies were not very happy. After another 2 hour drive back to Valparaiso and the dock, we were back on the ship and it is now 6pm and we are sailing out of the VERY beautiful bay. The sun is hitting the colorful buildings just right and the water is so blue.
Our French captain left the ship today for his vacation (they work 3 months and then have 3 months off) so we have a new Italian captain today, Felice Patruno. I say his name in my blog as I know several of our previous Regent cruises' friends are reading this. We also have a new Food & Beverage Manager today, August Keuler. We do not know either one.
I am looking out our balcony windows as I write this and the view is really spectacular. Rebecca is getting ready now for cocktails and dinner. Last night we had sea bass prepared by a Chilean chef. I swear it was not sea bass and besides it was really over cooked so sent it back and had a very nice pasta instead. This is rare as the dining room food has been excellent. Tonight we have requested the chef to prepare for the two of us fried soft shell crabs for our entrees. YUMMY! Tomorrow is a day at sea so will post today's photos then.
