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.