McDonald's (Colina)

McDonald's is the biggest network of fast food around the world. In Colombia it have many restaurants around the country, such as: Bogota, Medellin, Cucuta, Barranquilla, Cali, Cartagena, Santa Marta, Pereira, Bucaramanga; it arrived in 1995 and its first restaurant was located in the Andino Mall.

The Colina's McDonald's is located over the 138 street. Is a comfortable and open space as it have Parking-lot, children's park, cafe and outside chairs. It is in a good neighboor as around it there are many houses and building, a mall, a church and a school. Sometime it is full of people and the better option is to use the automac, a way to order your food without leaving your car, or to order your food by phone to them to take it to your house in some minutes later.

They sell different hamburgers, each one with different ingredients, for the different tastes of the people, and for those ones who don't like hamburger they also sell nuggets of chicken. You can buy the food by combos or separately, if you prefer just the coke or just the chips. McDonald's have an unique menu for kids named the happy box, which is important for children because it make them fell important and special; it contains a hamburger or nuggets, chips, coke, pieces of apple and the most impotant the toy that change every month depending on what is the mode.

In the second flor there is a room where parents can celebrate the birth-day to their kids, where children can play in a kind of park and do certain  activities and hand out the cake. It is a good place to celebrate children's birth-days as they enjoy it and all of them like McDonalds, also it is well located, cheap, and easy to book. The restaurant offers you everything you need for the party such as cake, invitations, decoration, surprises, activities, food, etc.

In general this is a restaurant where people feel comfortable and enjoy the food. Everyone feels happy here, because for McDonalds every kind of person is important and what to make everyone feel special. Its variety of food make everyone eat, at least once, here. And as the motto said I'm loving it. 
 

Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santodomingo

It has a capacity for 1,300 spectators and was built in order to present all kinds of opera and musical concerts, ballet, contemporary dance and theater.

It has three levels (Platea, Balcony Balcony 1 and 2) and a space designed for all viewers take from any location an excellent view and sound reception.

The Teatro Mayor was built thinking not only the convenience of the public, but also the artists. That's why it has five dressing rooms and locker rooms, and a special room so that artists have an appropriate space for them.

I really recommend this place because it is an interesting place.This theater is a very special place to hang out with friends or family, you can have a really nice time in here, and also there is always something programmed for each week. If you want to know more about the Theater's schedule here it is:

http://www.teatromayor.com/?pagina=programacion

By: Camila Vega

Estación de la Sabana Museum

Have you ever gone to a train station that is also a museum? The estacion de la sabana is a great opportunity to see a train station that was also used formerly and nowadays is also used as a museum. It is located in la Calle 13 # 18-24 at downtown Bogotá. It is a good experience specially if you love antique cars.

As i have said before the museum la estación de la sabana is a train station, that is still working althought is no longer as crowded as it was before , and also is not in the same condition as before, People take the train from there to Zipaquira , Cajicá and Nemocón. It is a wonderful opportunity to meet better a train station and also to travel to the Catedral de sal and to the mine of Nemocón. At the inside of the museum is great because you'll find police cars that were used before and they're gorgeous , you could find cars from 1914 to 1962 and more.
Finally going to the Estación de la Sabana is the chance to make something different and to understand the differences of the transportation from before and now, and also you could enjoy an incredible time with your family travelling in train, also if you are really interested on watching cars it would be fascinating for you to see them. So you'd better go and have a nice time.



This was a kitchen.   Juanita Ahumada 8B

As you can see know the conditions are really really different.

 The rails of the trains.

 

Pictures were taken by: Mateo Ahumada.
Want to know more about the train station?:
http://www.turistren.com.co/





By: Juanita Ahumada

Titan Mall

The Titan Plaza is one of the most modern shopping centers in the city, whatever with a modern design with natural elements. Its great attraction are the famous brand stores worldwide that are only in this mall or in fewof them such as: Gap, Forever 21, LaSenza, Victoria's Secret, The North Face, Quicksilver, Bershka, Americanino.

It is located in Bogota, linked to the Transmilenio station, and over the Avenida Boyacá. A good location as it is surounded by neighborhoods and in the middle of some important avenues so many of the people have an easy access to the mall. 

This mall is very similar to the USA malls, in the way the stores are placed and the architecture of it. It has 4 floors and each one of them have something special. In the last floor there are restaurant, the cine, playland and a terrace where people can talk or have a good moment with someone. In one part there is a water control where kids can play controling the water and trying to make a secuence with it.

Is the only mall in colombia that on its cinema include The MEGA CINECO SALA that has a screen bigger than the normal ones, with a better sound and projection of 3D movies. Is one of the fewest malls that have playland, a place for playing in some machines for all the ages and kinds of likes.

This mall is the newest one and is the one that provides more diversity of food, clothes, banks,  toys, etc. You can have a great time here, for shopping or just to take a ride, talk and met with people.

By: Laura Zambrano

Neighborhood Niza

the other neighborhood i want to show is Niza, wich has been founded nearly 1962, this neighborhood is being known for their houses, apparments and for its mall, " Niza", the name as his Neighborhood, The neighborhood was without any buildings more than 50 years ago.

 

 

 

The neighborhood of Niza is an open space of houses that made chanes of individual houses and buildings where you can find appartments basicly small but very confortable, this picture shows an example of a house, one of the largest ones were your garage can hold not 1 car but 2, is very useful, but you have to be careful because it is a closed area.







this is the mall of Niza, I think is Known for it's service, it's panamericana's shop, and their banks, here on weekends mostly you can find an small shop in front of the panamericana's shop were you can buy beautiful things that are not expensive so that's why I recommend the Niza's mall, always you will find here agood parking lot service.

This is another reason why I recommend this Neighborhood, this are some of the areas that are without construction so is a beautiful experience to come here and see how the vast territory had evolve, for closing I believe Niza is a great Neighborhood and If you need to relax it is a good place because I have had that experience before and it functions.

 

 

 

 A video explaining the mall

 

 

By: Nicolas Vivas

Neighborhood Usaquen

In Bogota, there are many Neighborhoods known and famous for their touristic and economic activities, colonial buildings or their colonial zones, in this blog I elected Usaquen and Niza.

Usaquen is famous for their colonial buildings and their economic and touristic activities, with its famous Flea Market and it's country club with the golf playgrounds, actually today it's local mayor is Juan Pablo Camacho. Having 544.924 habitants, you can come here to see many interesting things that can tell you great history of Bogota, but what kind of history?

Usaquen's most important aspects are their touristic activities were you can see great part of the precolombian history. Usaquen was a Muisca village, when Spaniards arrived to America a great ranch was built in a part of the nowadays Usaquen's neighborhood known as the Santa Barbara's ranch and at time of the 20th century it was demolished and the part that is still there is known as the Santa Barbara ranch mall it was very huge and it is thought that the part that survived was a small piece of land.

 An special characteristic is that many people of other countries, even of other continents come to see the rich history which is in here, the Flea Market had always been very known for their articles were you can have articles of classical things and modern things.

 In the central park of the neighborhood you can find a church. This is a good place to come in family because there are some play zones, there are also delicious food restaurants, entertainment stores and some fountains, in my opinion it is a nice place to go on the afternoon, not at night because it's very cold.

It is a very good idea to visit neighborhoods not only for school jobs. It is always a very beautiful place to get to know more about your country. It is really important to take advantage of this opportunity and you get to know this places and have fun with them learning more about our country.

 

  

By: Nicolás Vivas 8B

Julio Mario Santodomingo Cultural Library

This new library was inaugurated on May 26th 2010. It is one of the biggest, newest and with the best technological advances in South America, it's composed by over 35 thousand volumes in which there is music, books, audiovisual material and an special emphasis on arts. You can come here and have a great time with your family or on your own. Also, is a great oportunity for the ones who live in different locations such as Suba and Usaquen. In addition to this, for the people who love to read and want to have a nice experience you can have your own BibloRed card. This is a new opportunity in which you can send a form on internet with your personal information and you can get your Library I.D. in less than two weeks! The most interesting thing about this personal card or I.D. is that with this card you can borrow books in any library which is operated by BibloRed.

In this library, as in many others you can have a great experience. They usually have events such as foreign performances or cultural plays; if there is no special event there are also many things you can do in or out from the library:

• You can consult.
• Borrow books for two weeks.
• Have your own I.D. card.
• An internet room.
• Sonoteca
• Ludoteca
• Videoteca
• Bebeteca
• And a room specifically for Bogota, in which you can find information about it's history and everything related to Bogota.

Although you can do many things inside the library it's surroundings are also very beautiful, you can spend a great time with your family or enjoy the place, take pictures and meet new people. 


This library being one of the most beautiful and interesting of all is a very important cultural place for the city. You should really consider on going and spending time on trying to get knowing this beautiful place and making every moment a nice one with family and friends.



By: Camila Vega 8B

SantaFe Mall

Here, in this mall you can do many different things alone, with family or friends. You'll find different stores, restaurants and activities to do. As it is one of the biggest malls in the country you can imagine how many people there are in here and how many things you can do.

SantaFe is one of the biggest and most important malls in the country with 500 stores in three levels. It was oppened the on May 13th, 2006. It is located by the northern highway of the city. It is divided on locations named by different countries such as Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, France, Italy. Also, it has different stores for every kind of likes and ages.

 In my opininon this mall is the widest one because there are large paths where you can walk loosely, the stores are big and even when there are lots of people it still looks very big and wide. The food court is big enough for everybody, and there are places where you can sit, watch tv, or even read (magazines, books, newspapers, etc). It is also in a very strategic location as it has buildings and houses all around it, a bridge that joins the northern highway with the mall, and a Transmilenio station.

To conclude, this mall is one of the best malls. It has activities for everyone; for the youngest ones there is Divercity and some activities the owners do in some bays; for teenagers the photo boxes, restaurants, cinema and also some activities the mall does; and for the oldest ones restaurants, shores, cinema, casino, etc. 

By:  Laura Zambrano 8B

The Beatles Experience

Have you ever heard The Beatles?

The 2 world's biggest exhibitions of The Beatles are for the first time in Colombia. If you want to see great pictures, having a good time with your family or you just want to know more about The Beatles , What are you waiting for !? , This great exhibition gives you the opportunity of having a unique and an unforgettable experience.

This is the entrance of the exhibition.

The Beatles experience is a very interesting opportunity to get to know this band created in 1960, if you would like to watch some pictures of their tours and also the "Britanic invassion" pictures you should go because it is a very complete exhibition. But what is "The Beatles Experience"? It is an exhibition full of things to do, for example if you'd like to write something to them there are many boards inside the museum , Also inside the museum there is an artist that have been painting The Beatles for many years and you can ask him to paint you next to The Beatles but of course not the real Beatles, instead you can imagine that it really happened.

But if you don't like to watch pictures there are more options for example there are conferences that are led by Manolo Bellon from Colombia which knows many things about The Beatles; but if you even don't like it , you could play Rockband of the Beatles in Xbox , participate in auctions of things of The Beatles, watch a big collection of things etc.

Finally, I want to invite you to visit this exhibition because despite of the fact there are many innovating things, there are many things you can do and you can also spend a good time with your family. You could also get charmed for all these activities, and if you love The Beatles, Why not going? The picture on the left is a picture of me in the exhibition and althought my face is funny, behind it there is John Lennon and Yoko in their beds. This is the only part inside the museum were you can take pictures. 

By: Juanita Ahumada 8B

Introduction Touristic Bogota

Hi, we are Laura Zambrano, Juanita Ahumada, Nicolás Vivas and Camila Vega and we are going to introduce you in a very brief but interesting way many of the cultural centers and places in Bogota, such as  libraries, museums, restaurants, thematic parks, theaters, sport (places), cinemas, Bogota Colonial/modern history, festivals/events, churches, malls and neighborhoods. You can find here many things such as pictures, general information and interviews.