A fine dia in Valparaíso

After listening to some of "Whada ya know" on NPR this morning (Feldman was in Washington, right across from Peoria) we headed out to Valparaíso for a little ascensor riding. First we tried Ascensor Artillera, but it appeared to have been shut down for quite a while, as there were vines growing over it. At least we were escorted there by a friendly dog, who went with us all the way from the Metro over to the ascensor, a distance of about 12 blocks.

 So we backtracked to Ascensor Cordillera, which we took up, thinking we could walk up the hill and take Ascensor San Agustin back down. But we were stopped by a carabinero, who told us it was a bad idea for tourists to go up that hill. He let us know that people had things grabbed from around their necks: purses, cameras, etc. He directed us to a little museum which we went to instead.

The museum was a house built for Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald who was really quite an interesting man. Horatio Hornblower, and Master and Commander were both based on his life and exploits.

"The Museo del Mar Lord Cochrane was built in 1842 for the dashing Scottish naval hero Lord Thomas Cochrane (who set up Chile's navy), but was never occupied by him. The building, a tile-roofed, colonial-style house above Plaza Sotomayor, held Chile's first astronomical observatory."

From: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/chile/valparaiso/sights/museums-galleries/museo-del-mar-lord-cochrane#ixzz2wj0PCwLz

The exhibit that we saw was a series of photos of plankton and other tiny sea creatures. And yes, there were stunning views:

Next, we decided to head over to Ascensor El Peral, which I'd been up last weekend with MJ. You can see it here, in the distance, under the building with the green roof (that's Museo de Bellas Artes):

So we got one more picture in at Lord Cochrane's place, then it was down the stairs next to Ascensor Cordillera (or, Ascensor Gato, as we saw at least 5 cats on the way up:

Joel was pretty fashed by then (one of my favorite British terms) thus the next stop was something to eat. Joel was also a bit tired, as you can see, although he perked up later.

We then went back down to the metro via the Ascensor Concepción. This one cost 300 pesos, or about 60 cents, but all the others were only 100 pesos. I think it best to end here, and put up some of the mural art in another post. Thanks for reading!