This is the main plaza before the Presidential Palace in Bogota. We saw a photograph of this plaza taken during the Narco wars and the plaza was completely full of armored tanks protecting the palace.
This is a kinda creepy but also kinda cool “sculpture” in the plaza!
Cathy stood in front of a large Delft tile plaque attached to a building. The is the largest piece of Delft we have seen!
Michael guided us to the national military museum where we saw this elaborately engraved cannon. Most of the “wars” depicted in the museum were the Narco wars, something that we had forgotten about, but they were devastating for Colombia. It was very interesting and eye-opening.
We walked from downtown to the cab pickup area adjacent to a Starbucks, across the street from the university. We avoided the rain by diving into one of the small cafes for lunch. As you can see, there is not a lot of room for full size (American) cars. Motorcycles, powered bicycles and bicycles are the way to get through the traffic.
After riding the funicular to the top of Mt. Monserrate, we walked the steps up to the Sanctuary, passing the illuminated Stations of the Cross on the way.
The exterior of the Monserrate Sanctuary was decorated for the holidays. The low clouds are starting to roll in (remember we are over 10,000 feet up) so before entering the church, I took a side trip down the hill to capture the photos below of Bogota.
This is the interior of Monserrate Sanctuary. There was a mass in progress, so I did not take pictures.
After taking the gondola down the mountain (a shorter wait vs the funicular) I ventured out, past the railing to capture this manger scene that we spotted on the way down.
Back in the hotel we changed and took a taxi to a local restaurant for dinner, accompanied with both Argentine and Chilean wine.
Travelling with the Schinglers 