South America Day 13 - Buenos Aires

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Today is rather disjointed as many tourist attractions are closed on Mondays. Our hotel is in the banking district so has been like a ghost town all weekend. However, this morning it is heaving and all the shops and cafes are open, not just McDonalds, where we had breakfast yesterday. This is a problem, as the old man doesn’t cope well with choice and we have to study numerous menus before we are finally able to sit down and order some actual food.

Most of the morning we wander around Buenos Aires admiring the city’s architecture. We brave a guided tour of the Palacio Barolo; an Art Deco tower block where each floor represents a different verse of Dante’s Divine Comedy. You start in the foyer (hell) then work your way up through purgatory to heaven. Ironically, you can reach purgatory by lift, but the final 8 floors to heaven have to be climbed on foot.

It’s an amazing building with the added bonus of great views across the city to the River Plate. We climb into to the glass domed lighthouse at the top for a stunning, if vertiginous view.

Once we have descended from heaven, we walk as far as the Congress building in a park surrounded by sculptures and dog poo. Then we return via the renovated waterfront area of Puerto Madero with its Puente Mujer swing bridge, boats and trendy cafes.

In the afternoon we go to Galerias Pacifico; it’s a shopping mall, however its domed ceiling is the work 5 prominent muralists. We had planned to eat in the food court but 3 full circuits determines that there is nothing on any of the menus acceptable to the old man. Apparently he wants to be healthy and have a salad. So we find a restaurant and he orders a salad which includes fried fish in batter, cheese, ham and eggs. He also orders a beer which comes with 3 bowls of nuts. So not all that healthy.

Once our pretend healthy meal has been consumed, it’s back to the hotel for an early night ready for tomorrow’s day trip to Uruguay.

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