Final days, final cafes...

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Back in B.A and Nico gives me my birthday presents. He says that the custom in B.A is to give second hand books as gifts -for they tell two stories -the story in the book and the story of its owners. He has bought me a Spanish English dictionary (subtle hint!😉 a theatre programme with a beautiful art deco design from their opera house Teatro Colon and also a little tango story with some beautiful illustrated postcards. He has also written me a letter and then we just spend hours in bed.

“ When I stroke your skin my hand is like a scanner trying to remember every part of you...”

We go to the Japanese Gardens which are part of the Jardins Botanicals. For some reason they are packed-so although beautiful it doesn't feel particularly relaxing or zen like – and the coy carp are corpulent bastards.

“Can we go for a coffee yet? “ he asks hopefully...later we stroll through the rose garden. There are lots of Jardins here - which is another thing I love about the city.

The next day I take myself to the most famous Cafe Notable in Buenos Aires – Cafe Tortoni. It has a very pretty art nouveau interior and has been patronised by writers such as Borges and Lorca , then I go check out the Cathedral. Another sight ticked.

Worst night's sleep in the world ever. Am never sharing a “mixed dorm” with three guys again. There is burping, there is farting, there is just general smelling and one of them proceeds to snore like something out of The Exorcist. The two other guys deal with this by coughing loudy and tutting to try and wake him up in the most passive aggressive way possible. At 37 I am officially too old for this. Later I discover the two other guys have moved rooms so now it is just me and “snoring guy.” I hurriedly move rooms too, to a mixed dorm with two girls in it. We all go to bed at 10.30 and I wake up at 10am the next day. Bliss!

Teatro Colon is the main concert hall in Buenos Aires. Built in the nineteeth century by three architects (the first two were Italians who died on the job – one of whom was stabbed by his lover - yes i know - how Italian...) Its all gold and glittery inside with halls of mirrors, sparkling crystal chandeliers reflected back again and again nd painted ceilings. Its based on Versaille - and feels very like a French palace. I had hoped to see a performance there -Lang Lang is playing, but the only tickets left are around a hundred pounds . (You can get reasonabley priced tickets to see performances at the Teatro if you book in enough time) so I make do for a walking tour instead. Argentina has a rather annoying habit of charging foreign tourists 3 times as much for its tourist attractions to milk as much as possible out of us as it does its national but the tour is worth it. We get to stand at balcony level and then down in the stalls whilst the orchestra warm up and a lone stray trombone player sits a little away from us practising som sliding scales.

Then I meet Nico at the Engish Tower or Torres de los Ingleses - near to where he works. There is not much to say abut this except that its a clock tower of red brick and stucco that was given to Buenos Aires by the British in the early 20th Century. Bitterness over The Falklands war meant that the tower changed its name to Torres Monumentale in 1982 - although most still know it as The English Tower.

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