Saturday, April 11, 2009

Buenos Aires - Tres Dia

Day 3 began late, later than we had anticipated since we were trying to fit in quite a bit on a Saturday in Buenos Aires and we finally headed out at about 1:30pm. We hit the subway or metro near the apartment and headed down to the Recoleta neighborhood in search of the infamous largest book store in Latin America. And in all honesty it was very impressive, seeing as how it was an opera house in a past life, or so they want you to believe.





After the bookstore, where we picked up a couple of nice books on Buenos Aires, we headed in the direction of the Recoleta Cemetary... But on the way we ran into a McDonalds, which at 3pm sounded really good to someone who had not eaten all day.


After a little Mickey D's we headed on to the Cemetary. I have to admit that there is something odd about a National Attraction being a cemetary where people are spending the after life and we are going to wander it and take picture and video as if on the same scale as Disneyland. Now I am not a religous person but it felt wrong in a way... Yet here are the photos to prove that I was not above it all.






It took awhile but we eventually found the famous final resting place of Evita Peron. Now I know that it is rumored that she is moved around every so often so that people do not try to steal her, since I guess that is what goes on, it still seemed like people were quite enthralled with the idea that she was there. Flowers were on her site and not on others, indicating her status in death as in life.



There were many famous Argentinian's buried here, more than I will ever know or remember... But the thing that struck me most was the beauty of each of the burial sites. There is so much thought put into the design and at one point we even saw a family visiting a loved one that was laid to rest there.
After the cemetary, we headed out to find the large silver flower, as Paul calls it but it is otherwise known as Floralis Generica. It is next to the University of Buenos Aires Law Builiding that was also serving as a photo backdrop for this girl...

We found the flower and decided it would be a great time for a little break. No one tells you this but it is humid here and hot. Only about 84 degrees and I have to admit that I have spent most of the day sweating and most of the Portenos around me are acting like this is no big deal, some even have in sweaters. Guess you would have to live here year round to find 85 and humid a day for a sweater.




After hanging out in the park with the "large silver flower" we decided to head back to the apartment and relax before dinner. We found this place called "Casa Blanca" the night before on a late night walk and decided that we had to eat there at some point so why not tonight. After waiting till about 9pm we headed out, thinking that it had to be late enough to eat and not be the only ones doing so... Well we were wrong. We arrived at the restaurant and had the pick of any table, literally. After deciding on a table on the patio, we got settled in for what we knew was going to be a one of a kind experience. The waitress was totally amazing and met us half way with english that made me feel much more at ease and helped talk us into many things, including a beer for Paul, that we would not normally have ordered.





The meal started with homemade bread that came hot to the table with this eggplant mixture with oil and vinegar and it was to die for... I could have eaten four bowls of it, had they offered.

I had the most amazing meat that they cooked on an open grill that had the greatest woody taste, that to be honest I could never describe in a million years.

And we ordered a side of the mashed potatoes, that tasted like heaven.

With a little Caesar Salad.

Paul got the 1/4 Chicken and it was cooked on the same grill as my meat and had the same amazing flavor.

He also got the fries with his meal... Way more food then we could have ever eaten but great all the same.


Oh this was interesting, they only sold wine by the bottle so I could not have just a glass, which is not a cost issue here, but more of a finishing issue. So I ordered the bottle and really drank maybe two glasses in the two hours that we were there, so Paul decided that we were taking it with us and he put the cork in it and took it home. Totally funny and cute...

So after carrying home our bottle of wine, we hung out and listened to the party going on above us and the one across the hall... These Portenos live quite the lifestyle and stay up quite late... It is 2:30am and we are tired and ready to hit the sack and they sound like they are just getting started on the karaoke.

Wish us luck on getting some sleep tonight!

3 comments:

Katie said...

Oh kitty kitty kitty.

Looks like an awesome day. The silver flower is amazing and that food looks great.

The model is something else.

vickie said...

I thought that you would like both the model and the cat. There were a ton of cats throughout the cemetary and I am not sure what that means.

Beth said...

Aren't cats the spirit world guides? I thought that has been a belief for many different cultures at many different times in history. I wonder.... :)