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Published: January 11th 2008
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this flower opens in the day and closes at night December 29-31, 2007
So much to sum up the rest of the time in BA. We both loved the city! I would go back in a minute for sure - I have a feeling it’s a place we’ll go back to one day. It is such a big place, but easy to get around, so much to see on foot. Some highlights below…
-We had so much fun getting to know Alfredo and Valeria of
discoverBA.com . They are friends of a friend in Atlanta and were really such a huge help to us. They had set up all our car transfers (which all went without a hitch), the tours in El Calafate, the apartment and had offered much invaluable advice. And that was all before we got there. We had dinner with them twice - once at Sottovoce, a great Italian restaurant around the corner from our apartment on El Liberator, and again in Palermo Hollywood at Grappa where we got to hang out with their family. They called several places for reservations while we were there, advised us to the unexpected time change, advised on many different things to do including our New Year’s Eve night at Asia
de Cuba. We owe them a lot and hope to return the favors one day! Thank you Alfredo and Valeria!
-Recoletta Cemetery: I loved this place. A gorgeous cemetery reminiscent of Pere la Chaise in Paris if you ask me. But Recoletta’s Cemetery was more compact and right up against BA skyline of apartments, buildings, etc. Evita is buried here and we stumbled on her grave unexpectedly, but it was easy to spot - there were about a zillion tourists waiting to get down the row and see her. It is just a really interesting place with enormous family monuments with the family buried inside and below the plots. They are very ornate and just beautiful with varied styles. And I found it cute that they have many cats living in the cemetery - Dave had read that some women feed them every day which explains why they’re there.
-San Telmo Antiques Fair on Sunday: we had heard that this was a must-do if we were there on a Sunday and luckily we were. It was fantastic! A center with tons of booths with artists, vendors, etc. selling stuff. Stuff includes paintings, photographs, jewelry, purses, clothes, glassware, copperware,
trinkets, leather, puppets, etc. And then the same booths and street blankets going forever down Defensa Street. We really enjoyed walking around. We saw tango dancers in the street, a rag-tag band who made it all the way down the long street stopping people all the way (we ran into them twice), photograph posers, and another very organized mini-symphony with multiple violins and many other instruments. Just a variety of street performers all throughout the merchandise. It was quite something to soak it all in and cruise down the streets. We, of course, bought many items here!
-Meals: Wow we ate great in BA! Again, the dinners are very late and we were completely on that schedule by the time we got there, so dinner around 10:30 was the norm.
La Caballeriza was a favorite of ours. Great food at a really affordable price. I even tried some of the steak and I liked it. As I liked everything else we had there (really good chicken and salads as well). We had a really expensive breakfast at the Hyatt hotel on Alvear around the corner from our apartment. It was good, probably the best breakfast we had in BA and
the garden setting was why we went. It was gorgeous.
-We enjoyed a beautiful, though very hot, walk down Avenida de Mayo to see the Casa Rosada and the Congreso and everything in between. It is a city with such interesting, grand architecture. It was a lovely walk on New Year’s Eve even though most of the city was closed down for the holiday. There was still a demonstration complete with chanting and banging rhythms, hot children playing in the public fountains, shoppers on Florida Street, other tourists, and available cabs.
-The traffic lights switch from red to yellow to green and from green to yellow to red. I like the backwards yellow light - a heads up that it’s about to turn green. Of course every car we were in the entire time went ahead and started moving at the yellow-to-green moment. Drivers are quite aggressive, lanes are only painted on for show as no one pays any attention to organized lanes, moped and motorcycle drivers rule the road and do not obey traffic laws (are there any?), and most of the main streets were quite wide, like 6-7 lanes each way. The main and largest rode
where the Obelisk stands is Avenida 9 de Julio (Avenue of the 9th of July) - it has 12 lanes each way I think - a huge road that they have added grassy dividers with trees, fountains, etc. I wish Peachtree Road had 24 lanes.
-Not very clean streets - owners allow their dogs to go to the bathroom wherever and don’t seem to feel at all compelled to pick it up.
-Puerto Madero area: We were told this was like a “new country” to most BA natives as it is all new and just a different feel from the rest of BA. It is along the water, there’s a beautiful, soaring white pedestrian bridge. There are many nice restaurants, shops, clubs, etc. These are built in more ware-house type feeling buildings right along the water. It was pretty by day and hopping at night with people. This is where we spent New Year’s Eve and there were many, many fireworks all along the waterfront. The fireworks went on for quite awhile and it seemed like different restaurants were setting them off. It was a very fun way to ring in the new year with champagne, fireworks, and
a bunch of other people from all over (Los Angeles, Brazil, BA, etc.). And this reminds me that they liked setting off fireworks for Christmas in Punta del Este, so that was a fun treat since fireworks at Christmas really hasn’t been the norm in my US experience!
-I guess I could go on and on, but that’s enough to give an idea. Enjoy the photos to go along with it! ---A
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