I'd like to say I had a great night's sleep, but I didn't. Tony, on the other hand is well rested. Not sure why. The bed was great. Maybe it was the late dinner, the wine, or just pure exhaustion! Oh well. We're meeting up with Linda & Gordon, and Dean & Pat, our Orange County friends. Our plan is to taxi over to the Recoleta Cemetery. And then see what happens.
By 9:30 the six of us head out in 2 taxis and a few minutes later are dropped off at the entrance of
Cementerio de la Recoleta. We wandered through in search of the Cemeteries most famous occupant, Eva Peron. Fortunately one of us knew this ol' gal was entombed under her maiden name Duarte. If you're interested,
here's the story of her entombment. Eva may be the most popular, but there are many more stories, just as interesting.
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| Eva Peron |
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| Some mausoleums are well kept |
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| And some mausoleums are not well kept |
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| Dean, Tony & Gordon |
Right outside the cemetery is a park where local artists are setting up their stalls for the Sunday craft fair. We stroll through the park and the heat is beginning to build. Remember, it's summer down here. Dean suggested we find the gelato store his tour guide recommended yesterday. I had cell service, so a quick Google search located Freddo's. Minutes later we're enjoying some of the local, and quickly melting gelato.
At this point Dean & Pat head off to visit one of the local museums while we, along with Linda & Gordon grab a taxi and head over to the Plaza de Mayo. We see Casa Rosada (Pink House) which houses the federal government offices. Being Sunday, the grounds and building are closed, so it's just a few pictures for us. From there we head across the Plaza to the Metropolitan Cathedral. Even though there is a Sunday mass in progress, we are able to tour the side chapels.
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| Casa Rosada |
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| Plaza de Mayo |
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| Metropolitan Cathedral |
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| Metropolitan Cathedral - The Nave |
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Crossing to the other side of the Plaza we quickly tour the National Historical Museum. It's hot! And extremely humid! And the building has no air conditioning. So we decide to head back to the hotel by foot hoping to find a restaurant for lunch along the way. Before we know we're back at the extremely inviting and air conditioned hotel were we grab an icy beer and some lunch and head up to our rooms for a siesta.
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| National Historical Museum |
Around 4 pm we're back in the lobby where we meet Marcelo. The hotel has arranged for him to drive us to some of the local neighborhoods. So off we go to La Boca's el Caminito, the waterfront neighborhood of colorful houses. In the 1830's the area was settled by European immigrants, many of them from Genoa. Homes were built from scrap, and left over paint was used to liven up their dwellings. Marcelo walked us through the neighborhood which was quite lively that evening. Just blocks away the soccer team La Bocca Juniors were about to start playing.
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| La Boca el Caminito |
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| La Boca el Caminito |
From La Boca we drove through the newest and most wealthy neighborhood, Puerto Madero. Still quite warm, but at least the sun was not as intense, we walked along the waterfront and across "Punte de la Mujer", Bridge of the Woman, designed by Santiago Calatrava, the designer of the Reiman (winged) Bridge in Milwaukee.
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| Puerto Madero & Punte de la Mujer |
After the waterfront, we head back to the hotel and meet up with Pat & Dean for a light supper. Then back to our rooms to pack. Tomorrow morning we head to Iguazu Falls!
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