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Published: July 14th 2010
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The past two weeks in Buenos Aires have been wonderful, for the most part ...
England v Germany ... we watched the game at a sports bar full of Germans in Recoleta. There was another table with English fans, but they kept very quiet. After the disappointment of the game we were cheered up by Argentina's outstanding win against Mexico. Of course their winning streak did not last and we watched as Germany went on to defeat them too. Suddenly, the mood in the city changed and went back to normal. No more World Cup hype.
However, the rest of the time has been great.
I did another week of Spanish at Vamos but I resolved to change schools and go back to basics though as I was a bit overloaded with new info and it didn't have time to sink in.
Amy went out for the day with the American family giving Andy and I an afternoon to ourselves. We went to see a movie and found a great restaurant to indulge in some stunning steak.
We kept a promise to Amy and took her to the Barbie Shop, armed with her spending money from
her birthday. Surprisingly there were only two different dolls available to buy in the shop and they were "Collectors" dolls. The story was that they had a problem with their supplier and therefore were not stocking Barbies at present. So Amy left there disappointed and empty handed.
Sunday was market day at San Telmo, the fantastic street market we'd visited at Christmas. We spent a little time dipping into the antique shops but the main attraction for us was the quality street stalls.
After we rode the A-line train from Plaza Mayo. The A-line still has it's original carriages, wood-panelled with ornate brass. The front carriage has a large window at the very front of the train where we could watch it speed through the tunnels, quite a freaky experience.
Another day we visited the Recoleta Cemetery and were given a free tour in English. It was fascinating to learn more about the cemetery, see where the very first tomb was, learn that the carved marble was brought over like a jigsaw puzzle from Italy and France and also learn about the theft of Eva Peron's body and the return some 30 years ago.
Later we
had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe.
A quick story about how nice the Argentinians are - Amy lost a scarf recently, only 30 minutes after we'd bought it for her. We were in another branch of the store we'd bought it at and were having a chat with them about how much we enjoyed Buenos Aires. Then we spotted the same type of scarf Amy had lost and we mentioned it to them. Just before we left the shop they said to Amy that they would like her to have the scarf again and insisted she take it, without charge. It was so kind of them and we were very embarrassed, but it is a good example of what the Argentinian people are like.
We've been to the famous Cafe Tortoni a couple of times. It's the oldest cafe in Argentina at 152 years old. Built by a frenchman and frequented by famous people through the decades, it's steeped in history and retains it's art-deco grandeur to this day. (They also do a wicked "Submarino" where the chocolate is shaped like a submarine).
9th of July was Independece Day for the country and the celebrations were
Folk dancing on 9th July
Argentina's Independence Day relatively low-key. We went with the American family to a folk dancing gathering at the Plaza Congress where it appeared to be groups of people from around the country coming to dance in their traditional outfits. Later that day we took the children off to see Shrek 4 so Mary-Margaret and her mother could pack their bags for their return to the States the following day. Their children were great and Amy had a wonderful time.
That evening we went with all of them to see a Tango Show at the Cafe Tortoni. It was a completely different sort of show to what we'd seen before. There was one pair of dancers, three piece band and a soloist. The band was superb, with a bass player, pianist and a bandoneĆ³n player . The soloist loved himself and stole the limelight a little. However, over all it was a quality show and perfect for the children. At the end of the night Amy said a farewell to her friends & was upset when their taxi left, she will miss them very much.
Yesterday we went over to Puerto Madero to spend an afternoon walking
around the Ecological Reserve there. It's nothing special, but it is an escape from the noise of the city. It gave us some fresh air and exercise at least.
Less than two weeks left of our holiday and we'll try and make the most of it!
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