Intermission - Weekend Getaway, Valparaíso!

This past weekend Mr. Rye and I drove down to Valparaíso for a little getaway!

Valparaíso is the port city of Santiago, Chile.  It is very similar to San Francisco, CA, but instead of trolley cars, Valpo is full of funiculars to bring people from sea level to the hills.

Some of the oldest funiculars date back to the 1800s - a time and place in history Isabel Allende capitalized on in her book, Daughter of Fortune.

Apparently not everyone got the memo that you don't have to clime the stairs home anymore...

Can you believe he went all the way up?  Very epic.  He made it look like this was his daily walk home (it probably is!).

Valpo is also full of unique mural art...

...and social awareness demonstrations.

This particular demonstration was meant to educate the public on domestic violence.  Nearly a hundred muslin wedding dresses were stationed in front of the Hall of Justice in solidarity for those who died at the hands of an abusive husband.

The other great thing about Valpo is that its sister city, Viña del Mar has the best artisan jewelry in Chile!  The last time I went to Viña, I found a beautiful pair of silver earrings with abalone-inlay.  The price?  $6000 chilean pesos!  That's about $10!!  All the artisans I've talked with in Chile have never heard of ETSY.  When I tell them about it, I can almost see the dollar signs in their eyes!  Hopefully more Chilean artisans will set up shop on etsy soon.  In the mean time, I set out on Saturday to find some wedding jewelry.

I don't normally wear necklaces, only simple earrings, but I may need to make an exception for this - naturally colored pearls strung on a long silver chain.  A bit reminiscent of abalone, no?

BTW, this isn't my actual wedding dress! Fooled ya! ;) I bought this little number off ebay a while ago for a TTD session, but haven't gotten around to that yet.

Let me know what you think of the necklace!  Who knows, maybe I'll end up finding something better before September... probably not, though ;) .  I'm dying to find some abalone or pearl earrings to go with this!

All photos taken by me.

A foggy morning in Valparaíso

Have a happy Wednesday!

How have you made time for weekend getaways during the busy planning?  Have you found any wedding-related inspiration or treasures along the way?