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Saturday, 11th August
Everything you ever wanted to know about chocolate you'll learn in this two hour immersion workshop at Cacao Santa Fe. Led by Master Chocolatier Melanie Boudar you will learn about the cacao tree, where it's grown, the challenges farmers face growing cacao and how it's harvested. What gives chocolate its flavor? The post harvest practices like fermentation and drying of the beans and finally the critical roasting step. You will crack, winnow and grind beans into a paste suitable for a drinking chocolate and you will choose spices and sweetness creating your own signature drink. After enjoying your handiwork you will do a guided tasting of 7 unique chocolates from different origins. |
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Then on to Meow Wolf's House of Eternal Return which is an explorable, art installation filled with technology and fantastic environments to inspire visitors of all ages. The interactive experiences transport audiences into fantastical realms of story, mystery and imagination. The wildly creative art space is a collaboration of over 100 local artists that challenges current concepts of art. Meow Wolf believes in being weird, celebrating otherness, doing things differently, feeling and expressing love and many other decent things in this world.
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Dinner tonight will be at Cafe Pasqual's where the emphatically flavored cuisine is inspired by the culinary traditions of Old Mexico, New Mexico, the Mediterranean and Asia, and the food is fresh, seasonal, organic and naturally raised.
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Sunday, 12th August
Today will be spent in the downtown Santa Fe area. No trip to this part of the world would be complete without a visit to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. This is our first stop after breakfast on your own. The museum is home to many of O'Keeffe's works and boasts the largest and foremost collection of any museum. Considered one of the most significant artists of the 20th century she was devoted to creating imagery that expressed what she called "the wideness and wonder of the world as I live in it." |
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After brunch at the fabulous Casa Sena, the afternoon will be spent first with a visit to the Palace of the Governors. Originally constructed in the early 17th century as Spain's seat of government, it is now the state's history museum. This will be followed by an hour or so at the New Mexico Museum of Art before returning to the hotel to freshen up for the evening.
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Our evening will be spent at the stunning Lensic Performing Arts Center listening to Mozart's Sonata in B-flat Major for Bassoon and Cello; Popper's Requiem for Three Cellos and Piano; Mozart's Quintet in E-flat Major for Piano and Winds; and Smetana's Piano Trio in G Minor. These performances are part of Santa Fe's Chamber Music Festival.
Dinner on your own this evening with a suggestion and open reservation at world renown restaurant Geronimo's.
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Monday, 13th August
After breakfast on your own we will leave for the Ten Thousand Waves Spa spending the next several hours enjoying the serenity and luxury of their hot tub, relaxing with a 50-minute full-body therapeutic massage and then selecting one of several spa treatment options designed to address your specific needs. Lunch will be at their Japanese style restaurant Izanami. |
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In the late afternoon a shuttle will take us from our hotel to enjoy an opera-themed dinner, including wine in the open-air at the beautifully landscaped rehearsal grounds of the Santa Fe Opera. A speaker will offer an introduction to the evening's opera during dessert.
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Rounding out the day which has been filled with Japanese style experiences we will settle in for a performance of Puccini's all time favorite opera Madame Butterfly. Could there be a more fitting finale to what promises to be a day to remember for a lifetime?
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Tuesday, 14th August
Off in the morning to spend the day at Georgia O'Keeffe's beloved Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu. The day will begin with a 90-minute landscape trail ride suitable for all skill levels. We will ride into the restricted area of Ghost Ranch where O'Keeffe found her inspiration, and see through our own eyes the actual locations that were the subject of some of her paintings. The shining red and yellow cliffs of the Piedra Lumbre, the black trails of waterfalls against canyon walls, and the mesas, one in particular made famous by her many renderings of Pedernal Mountain. After lunch at the Ghost Ranch Dining Hall we will tour the landscape of Ghost Ranch by motorbus exploring the natural and cultural riches of this most unique 21,ooo acre retreat. The day will conclude with a private tour of O'Keeffe's home and studio which is now a historic house and studio museum and was the principal residence and studio of O'Keeffe between 1945 and 1984 before she moved into Santa Fe at the age of 96 where she lived for an additional two years. |
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Dinner tonight back in Santa Fe will be at the wildly popular and casual restaurant The Shed, a dining institution since 1953. World renowned for its red chile enchiladas and other blue corn specialties, as well as its tempting desserts and margaritas, The Shed offers a time tested taste of the best that Northern New Mexico has to offer in both cuisine and hospitality. This restaurant is family owned and operated and now under the management of the third generation of Carswells. A trip to Santa Fe would not be complete without a visit to The Shed.
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Wednesday, 15th August
After checking out of the Inn on the Alameda we will visit the Museum of International Folk Art. Located on beautiful Museum Hill with its panoramic views, the museum's holdings represent diverse cultures and constitute the largest collection of international folk art in the world. Lunch will be at the Museum on the Hill Cafe, where the food is fresh and straightforward. The trip will officially end when we return to the hotel. |
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