Buenos Aires - Day 24

In the last week of my stay I finally had Empanadas, a signature dish of Argentina (and probably some others Latin-Amerika countries). It's a stuffed bread, they usually eat them at lunch or even breakfast and they are filled with meat, ham and cheese and also with sweet things.
For todays lunch we went to an Empanaderia :-) and I was surprised how much better it tasted than I had expected.They made them fresh after I had chosen some from a huge list of possible options. We discovered that they are marked right at the bread to show the filling. I had Empanadas Caprese (tomate, mozzarella) and Empanadas con Carne Suave (beef, not spicy).
After school the forecasted thunderstorm was about to approach and the air was very humid, at 37 Celsius in the shadows. So at about halfway home I entered a cafe with air-condition and had coffee, medialunas and fresh orange juice. It was the Cafe Plaza Dorrego. It's the prototype of an 100-years old tango bar with a black-and-white tiled floor, very old and dark wooden furniture showing many many scratches and lots of dusty gin bottles on the shelf. The waiter wears a formal dress like in the good old days and they play old tango like this. Could have stayed there for hours...

While I was searching the tango music for the link above I came across this tango clip! I guess I should have signed in for the tango classes..now it's too late :-(

Later, in the evening the first rain shower strafed the city and left a magnificent rainbow..

Buenos Aires - Day 22

A fine Sunday with again about 34 Celsius in the shadows, almost too hot to be outside. I decided to walk the city anyway, once more several kilometers. But most of the time on the side of the street which is in the shadow, a habit learned in the first days here from the locals.It was about noon when I felt I needed a break, so I went in one of these lovely old cafes. I love these with the old wooden chairs and tables, nothing fancy, nothing for tourists, just plain old neighborhood cafe shops. Like a handful of other old men in the otherwise empty cafe I pulled out the Sunday edition of La Nacion, ordered a coffee and two medialunes and started to read for an hour, right next to the open window. Inside the large room a couple of old ceiling fans tried to cool the hot air which came in from the outside. It was almost silent on the street, only an occasional car or some pedestrians passed. I love these places :-)

Then, after another hour of walking I reached Abasto Shopping, the biggest mall inside the city limits of Buenos Aires...with about 250+ stores. Spent there several hours :-)
Among the three McDonalds restaurants is one which serves kosher hamburgers, because it's an jewish neighborhood. As far as I know it is the only one outside Israel.

For the kids they have also almost anything possible, including an indoor giant wheel and sort of a cable car.

Back home, in the evening, I was disturbed again by strange sounds outside :-) This time it were the firefighters, looking for the source of some smoke from the building behind the beer advertisement on the other side of the street. Eventually they left without doing anything, the smoke had suddenly stopped. Probably someone had an extra smokey barbecue (asado).

Buenos Aires - Day 21

Saturday once more, this time my last Saturday in Baires. After sleeping a little bit longer than usual, until about 11 :-) I went to an appointment with two friends from school. The plan was to explore the Recoleta district once more and to visit the famous cemetery....
...and the market around it.
But before actually entering the cemetery we had to gain some strenght and decided to have lunch (almuerzo) at the local Hard Rock Cafe in the Buenos Aires Design complex.
I had something which the menu named "the famous haystack salad", with tortilla stripes, grilled chicken and honey-mustard dressing, it was quite good.
Then we entered the Recoleta Cemetery which is indeed a surprising sight. The graves aren't under the floor but rather small houses. In total the cemetery looked more like a city of/for the dead. Many of the mausoleums are pieces of art. Although we were very unsure if it's okay to admire mausoleums as pieces of art? Eventually we decided that the buried persons won't go and complain about our visit..





The most famous grave is the one of Eva (Evita) Peron, which lies here after a rather strange odyssey following her death (see Wiki link).
Some more of the statues.....this is my favorite (please see enlarged picture: the right side of her face).


After so much about death we had to resurrect ourselves with a coffee..again in the coffee garden of the Museo des Bellas Artes.
On the opposite side of the street there is a park and a sculpture dedicated to the United Nations.
We then followed the street through the green area of Recoleta...
..right into the next shopping center :-)
Then, outside again, we visited the Plaza Alemania. Well, there are other places dedicated to other countries like Spain and Italy as well. Don't know what the group of Germans in the picture is actually doing? It looks rather strange... :-)
The Plaza Alemania reminded us of the long and hot day and we went into a cafe a couple of streets further and had the German national drink, which was very cold and simply great at that moment.
Later we said goodbye for the day and I went home walking through the city for more than one hour, don't wanted to take the subway. It was still very warm, perfect summer evening air..

Besides other streets I followed the Calle Corientes for a while, which is also called The Broadway of Buenos Aires because of the many theater shows...

Buenos Aires - Day 20 - Panoramas

Two panorama shots of today: first the Plaza de Mayo..And second the corner of Defensa and Chile, with my ice cream shop on the left edge.

Buenos Aires - Day 20

Today, on my way home, I eventually visited the main catholic church of Argentina, the Catedral Metropolitana. From the outside it looks rather than a temple than a cathedral.
The inside, however, looks much more like the cathedrals I've seen so far..
Also the mausoleum of a national hero is inside the cathedral: General San Martin A guard of honor flanks the entrance.
Some other interesting things were there as well, but unfortunately I don't remember all of the labels.


Then, following the Calle Defensa to San Telmo....
...and had a coffee and ice cream at Vessa Heladería at the corner of Defensa and Chile streets. It was an "ice dream" :-), even if it looks quite simple on the picture. San Telmo has several ice cream shops, I certainly will try some more of them.
Then, after running a couple of rounds in Puerto Madero, I just sat down and enjoyed the evening sun in front of my "panorama window", have only one week left :-(