Today was time for a walking tour through downtown Santiago. I followed the Lonely Planet instructions and I think I saw quit much. The start was very near to the Rio Mapocho. Near the famous train station a huge fish market can be visited. From there I walked to the Placa de Armas which I knew from yesterday.

The church there looked like I imagined it always in a South American town. Some kind of prejudice which was getting true ;-)
Near the Placa de Armas is the Santiago City Museum in the Casa Colorada which gives an impressive introduction in the history of this town. The museum is really nice and even for a museum-o-phobic like me it was nice to discover.
Afterwards it was time for history.

The Moneda is world famous. in my birth year Augusto Pinochet bombed this palace because the left wing president Salvador Allende tried to make some reforms which angered the upper Chilenian class. It was the start of a long and the last military dictatorship in South America. What made it so famous nowadays is the date when all of this happened: September 11th 1973. A lot of newspapers refered to this date after the attack of the WTC.
The last task for the day was the visit of the San Cristobal mountain. There a statue of the St. Mary was built and affirmed so another prejudice against South American towns ;-) A cable car is going up. The view today was okay but nothing breathtaking.

Never the less I think it is good to get an impression of this vast city.