Chile

I really have a special place in my heart for Chile- it's my favorite place to travel so far and I have so much more of it to explore. My husband is from there so this works out well :) There are so many things to say and recos for Chile so instead of making this a narrative I am just going to list places to go by region. I have a few blogger friends that are from the US and living in Chile so hopefully I'll get a lot of comments with additional recos :)


Santiago, Chile

Los Adobes de Argomedo- This is a traditional Chilean restaurant that serves parrillada (miscellaneous barbecued meat) along with a great dinner show. The show features music and dance from different regions in Chile and has audience participation ;) . This is highly recommended for tourists. Every person we have taken there really enjoys it. Also, the Pascuenses dress very "authentically" which makes for nice eye candy ;)

Tip y Tap- If you have any German blood in you (and even if you don't) you will LOVE this place for lomitos (pork sandwiches), fries (Chile seems to have the best fries ever), and the beer they brew. Don't' pass this up and make sure you get avocado on your lomito.

Fuente Suiza- My husband argues that this place is better than Tip y Tap for lomitos but I give Tip y Tap the edge. Fuente Suiza is also a good place and the scene is a bit more "local".

Fritz is also a good place for lomitos and is located in the mall. Did I mention I love lomitos?

Pirque

Concha y Toro Vineyard- this is a great vineyard with beautiful grounds and has my favorite brand of Carmenere wine which I HIGHLY recommend.

La Vaquita Echa- This is a very cute and beautiful "traditional" Chilean restaurant that serves parrillada (miscellaneous barbecued meat). The backdrop of this restaurant is gorgeous. It is located very near Concha y Toro so a great place to go and eat before the vineyard so that you have food to soak up the wine.

Valparaiso

Cafe Turri- Take the incline up to Turri and enjoy a great lunch/dinner over a beautiful view of the ocean/ sea port.

Maitencillo/Zapallar

The beach town of Maitencillo is really cute. These smaller beach towns are great to walk around in and spend time completely relaxing, enjoying your own pace, enjoying the beautiful natural scenery, and having the priceless feeling of not having a care in the world. I have never been more relaxed in my entire life than I have here. You really can't go wrong at any of the local restaurants. The seafood could not get much more fresh unless you walk over to the ocean and catch it yourself (and actually by the time you were able to descale it the fisherman there would have you beat- you really should watch them cut up fish at the local market there- it's an art form).

The Zapallar beach is incredibly beautiful with it's surroundings- palm trees, pine trees, flowers, houses, raging ocean. Search google images for Zapallar and see what I mean. I highly recommend eating an empananda (a sort of pastry filled with various ingredients and baked or fried- baked shrimp and cheese is my favorite) and having a beer (I prefer Cristal) at the restaurant right on the beach.

Indianapolis, Indiana

We took a long weekend trip to Indianapolis and really enjoyed the vibe the city has. We stayed at the Hilton Indianapolis which was (for the price) very nice. It was centrally located (within walking distance to the Circle Centre mall and breakfast was included. The hotel is slightly outdated but clean. We had a room with 2 queen beds and a pull out couch that was in a separate sitting area which was great for adults with kids.

The main reason we went there was to visit the Indianapolis Children's Museum which is the largest children's museum in the world. They have very cool exhibits and it's fun for adults too (we all had fun in the lab making cheese). I recommend purchasing/printing your tickets online before-hand to avoid the lines. There is free parking which is great.

I highly recommend The Canal that runs in the city which is great for a leisurely walk/bike. You can rent bikes that will fit 5 people. The city really did a great job with this.

We were disappointed that we didn't get to eat there but there is a Fogo De Chao which is a chain but not every city in the US has a churrascaria and S says that this one is THE churrascaria to go to in Sao Paulo and is VERY good.

We did eat at the Adobo Grill in downtown which has really good Mexican food. I highly recommend the guacamole- a cart comes out and they make it from scratch right in front of you. S says it was the best he ever had and this is coming from a Chilean who has eaten avocado just about every day of his life.

We had dinner at the Taste of Tango (36 E Washington St) which is an Argentine restaurant and very romantic. The calamari is really good and so are the dulce de leche crepes.

The highlight of the trip to me was going to Broad Ripple Village which is coined Indy's Greenwich Village filled with very cool one-of-a-kind stores, boutiques, and very local restaurants. We ate at Petite Chou which was amazing. It is a cafe and you can't go wrong with anything on the menu (we had the turkey sandwich and the chicken, asparagus, and mushroom crepe). There will probably be a wait to get a table but it is worth it (and even offer free coffee while you wait). They don't have a children's menu but there are many items on the menu that kids would like. My son E had a peanut butter and banana sandwich that was really good (he ate every bit without any coaxing which is rare).

All in all Indy is a great place for a long weekend.