Royal bed and I had a massive cuddle session this morning. I didn’t want it to end, but the moment small rays of sun shot through the dark shades, I jumped up with excitement. Another day of exploring.
After catching up on work, we set out to the heart of Recoleta, first stopping at the Recoleta cemetary, which was basically an outdoor mausoleum where Eva Peron is buried. Not knowing I should’ve looked for “Duarte”, not “Peron”, we walked down lane after lane of expensive, elaborate plots, more like houses, some having glass fronts, or stained glass doors, or giant statues, or even observing a few that had been grave robbed. Next, we walked through the Sunday “hippie market” where crafters sell various pieces of jewelry, leather, and mate -wear (pronounced ma-tay). Next, we crossed the street to the Plaza de las Naciones Unidas to view the largest steel artpiece I’ve ever seen, called the Floralis Genérica, which is complete with interactive hydraulics. It’s a large flower that opens and closes its pedals each day. Very cool, and I’m not very “arty”. We strolled around the area for a bit, looking back at the massive steel erection every so often, deciding we should visit San Telmo since on Sundays, since they have an open market (quite the to-do in the area). We hopped on the #93 bus towards San Telmo. Right off the bus, we could hear music and people talking and lots going on. San Telmo is an older part of Buenos Aires. It probably has its original roads, which are cobblestone and very rigid. We walked through the open markets, me stopping to snap shots of street performers, Jason patiently waiting, or snapping shots of his own. We each found treasures as we looked around at all the flashy and mostly antique goods being sold. JG found an antique lighter and I found wooden painted artwork that looks like a canvas at first glance, but when you look closer, it tells a more interactive story by begging you to open the various wooden doors. Once they’re all open (2-3 doors), you see a couple romantically dancing the tango, wrapped in each others arms with nothing but music tying them together. Well, music and maybe a cocktail or two. We stopped at a local pub for a [wordsmith: need word for “didn’t fill me up”] salad and a mediocre sandwich, where we met some American tourists. It was comforting in a strange way to hear our language being spoken and actually feel like an active participant for a brief moment. We walked around a bit more and ended up at the center square (25th de Mayo). We took a few pictures outside the “Pink House” where the President, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, conducts business. The Pink House lights up at night, neon pink. You can catch a glimpse of it from just about every major thoroughfare in the vicinity, which there are many since the City spans out in every direction from this particular center of town. We took the subway (my first subway ride ever) from this part of town up to the Congressional Building (3 stops). The subway cars were at least 75 years old, maybe 100. Very charming but very curious, since they seemed to inch backward a little bit each time we took off. We then came back to our neck of the woods, stopped in a local Plaza (park), watched as the many young couples snuggled on park benches or blatantly made out in the open. Then saw an older couple holding hands, strolling through the park. It’s a very love-filled park apparently. Walked back to our flat, jumped in the shower and started thinking about dinner.
We ordered what was to be the best meal yet around 11pm at ‘red.’, which is on the island side of Puerto Madero, where we ate on the mainland side last night. I had salmon wrapped in filo dough set on a bed of rossi potatoes and vegetables scattered on the plate. JG had Risotto with Octopus, perfectly prepared. Not tough or chewy in any way. The Argentine football (soccer) team won the championship tonight and happened to celebrate at the hotel we were having dinner at. After finishing our meal and wine, we checked out the ‘white bar’ on the same floor. Since the drinks were almost as expensive as our meals, we decided to head back and do laundry since we’re in our last night at the palace before heading out to the beaches of Uruguay. Our splurge of a meal cost $$357 pesos ($90 USD). Pretty sweet.
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