March 4, 2010

On Wednesday, I stumbled across a list of restaruants recomended by Frommer's. One was only a couple a blocks away. I had noticed the building but not the restaurant.

http://www.palacioespanol.com.ar/historia.asp

The hall, for it seated over 200, was high ceilinged and guilded. The website shows the interior.

There was a swelt, tanned, well dressed european lady seated close by whom I imagined was a food critic as she carefully ordered every course and scribbled in a composition book the whole time. At one point she gave me a weak wave, as I guess I was probably staring.

March 4, 2010

Retiro, the main trasportation hub has three train lines, the long distance bus station, and is the terminus of one metro line to the suburbs as well as most city buses.

After a day of hard pouring rain, I though I would take a bus trip to a San Antonio de Areco, a picturesque town in the pampas two hours away. I took the metro to the train station and walked to the long distance bus station where I found there were 250 ticket counters (each bus is a separate company) and 75 bus queues. I managed to get to the correct purchase counter but worried about the return and did not go.

March 2, 2010

When I returned from Uruaguay I took the obligatory tour bus ride. operated by the city in
10 garbed languages with 10 on/off stops along the way where most would not want to get off.

Always a good idea, I took a two day pass, so I got to see a lot that I had already walked past the week before.










Plaza Naciones Unidas. One of the most photographed images in BA, the Floralis Generica opens and closes at sunrise/sunset each day by hydrolic lifts.










The imposing law school. Formerly a military HQ.

Theatre Colon, closed for renovation since 2006, is considered one of the best opera houses in the world. It opened in 1908 with a performance of Verdi's Aida.

March 1, 2020

Now back in BA. Started my walk that day and ran into a large street rally. Hard to know if it was pro government or against.

Cristina Fernández or Cristina Kirchner, is the current President of Argentina. A member of the Justicialist Party, she was a Senator for Buenos Aires Province prior to taking office. She is the wife of former President of Argentina Néstor Kirchner, and acted as First Lady during his term.Fernández started her political career in the Peronist Youth movement of the Justicialist Party in the 1970s

February 29, 2010

The last day my bus did not leave until 4pm, so I headed off to a restaurant adjacent to the pier where the cruise ship tenders came in for day trips. But it was being used for the award ceremony for a 2mile open water race. About 1pm I was able to have another excellent fish meal and catch my a final bayside view of the city. Notice the tall ships. You will see the same ones again in BA the next week.




Houses, apartment buildings, even comercial buildings a unique box-like style. Many had ornamental facades of flagstone or tile. I really did not get any good pictures to show this; but here are a couple of pictures out the bus window.

February 28, 2010

Next day the sun came out and people flocked to the beach. These pictures are of the Atlantic ocean side of the pennisula. At this point the pennisula is very narrow with only 2 miles separating the ocean from the bay.

In the afternoon a huge truck lumbered down the main street, and teenage workers set up rows of folding chairs curbside for about a mile.

Several of the restaurants had these airconditioned glass enclosures on the curb side of the sidewalk. Others just doubled their usual number of outside tables, obliterating the sidewalk in places. The shops of course remained open during the parade. After midnight people settled in with their kids for a serious steak dinner. This last picture is the open flame grille inside my adopted restaurant where I had my first and last steak dinner.

After 10pm that night there was a carnival parade.

February 26, 2010

Beachwear was sold on the beach. These guys actually walked the length of the beach over and over. As did news sellers and ice cream vendors.

I had a fresh fish lunch in a hole-in-the wall.

February 24, 2010

Uruguay is just across the bay from Buenos Aires. Many from BA head off to an eastern penisula for winter holiday--Punta del Este. It was a one hour ferry ride and a four hour bus. It had a large marina with both fishing boats and pleasure boats. The weather continued to be bad, so no one was on the beach.

February 22, 2010

Back to the first hotel. It continued to rain hard. So I stayed in for the day. The hotel had outdoor pool and indoor pool with a glass bottom that you could view from the lobby 5 floors below. Sauna, hot tub, free internet...no need to go outside. So here is a picture of the room. Glass shower; concrete floor. The next day the sun came out. The first picture was typical. Everywhere the corner cafe delivered to the local businesses. And another street scene in front of the hotel.

February 22, 2010

It continued to rain all weekend, so I took a crosstown bus for 35 cents and walked back a couple of miles to the hotel.

I found a Japanese Garden, the largest outside Japan.

And more street performers, at the Latin American Museum and on the main pedestian shoping street.

And curiously this American restaurant row.

February 21, 2010

BA is a sprawling city, so on the weekend I moved to Recoleta, a ritzy neighborhood across town. Like NYC Upper East Side, it had midrise apartments, restaurants and boutiques. Full of parks, monuments, French architecture, and wide avenues, it is best known for its cemetary.

Eva Peron's body was kidnapped by the military and hidden in Italy for 17 years before being put to rest in the Duarte family plot.

Copies of important French buildings became the model for the Argentine rich in the early 1900's. Lost in the Great Depression, some still exist as museums and clubs. The Museo Nacionale de Arte Decorativo has a marble staircase inspired by Versailles, carved wooden ceilings, stained-glass panels and huge stone fireplaces.

February 20, 2010

Tigre, founded in 1820, is a 17 mile train ride from downtown. It sits on an island created by several small streams and rivers. Riverside restaurants, antique shops, and an amusement park make it a favorite weekend retreat.

The BA Rowing Club is one of many former mansions of the elite. The casino built in 1910 is now the local museum.

The classic Marina Regata Club is now a hotel.

Vintage mahagony motorboats are the favorite way to travel the maze of waterways.