Buenos Aires Part II

After sleeping off my seasickness, Javier and I decided to walk around on our own a bit in the morning.  Javier's good buddy, Brian Allen, is Argentinian and spent a semester studying in Buenos Aires.  He was kind enough to send a list of 'must see's and 'must do's while we were in the city.  We thought we'd try to knock some items off the list while enjoying a slow start to our third day.

We had breakfast in the park with a view of the Torre Monument

Brian had directed us to avoid the numerous Starbuck options found in Buenos Aires and instead direct our coffee needs towards Havanna.  Done and done.  

Here we are outside the historic Teatro Colon.

This is the widest street in the world, 9 de Julio Avenue with a nice view of the Obelisco.

Here is the capital building in a square at the end of Avenida de Mayo.  The square includes one of Rodin's original 'Thinker' sculptures.

Here it is...apparently it was vandalized a few years back and quickly pressure washed by authorities which might have ruined it forever...glad we caught it before it crumbles!

Proof we were there :)

In the afternoon we joined a bike tour of the city.  We had been told by friends who went to Buenos Aires for Christmas that the tour was a great way to see the city!  I was a bit nervous...been a while since I was on a bike and even longer since I biked in a big city, but Buenos Aires was perfectly laid out for bike riding.  There were bike lanes everywhere and even crossing 9 de Julio Avenue didn't feel too bad!

we're so ready!

I grew comfortable enough to snap this mid-ride! 

On the tour we had a quick stop in La Boca which is known for its bright colors and tango dancers in the streets. 

We were able to walk around quickly, but knew we wanted to see the neighborhood again on our own time.

the helmets were optional, but I made Javier wear one cause I was so nervous....

The tour took us by Buenos Aires' Ecological Reserve.

We weren't sure that we'd get to walk through the reserve because it was usually crowded on weekends and closed on Mondays, but it was beautiful to see!

We also found a familiar sight in Buenos Aires!  Puente de la Mujer by Santiago Calatrava looks stunningly like the bridge he designed for the Milwaukee Art Museum.

here we are in Buenos Aires (or Milwaukee?!) and its Calatrava

We ended our bike ride at Casa Rosada and saw its pink walls for ourselves!

A phenomenon of closed door restaurants is spreading through Buenos Aires and we decided to try one out and see what the fuss was all about.  Emma found a great blog from a woman who carefully documented her trip to Buenos Aires (particularly the eating parts!)  She and her husband had gone to Casa Coupage with rave reviews so we made a reservation.  Sure enough, when we arrived the door was completely unmarked and resembled a residence more than anything else.  But we rang and headed in!  Tables and chairs were set up in what would have been the living room and dining room of the house.  We were sat in the dining room where there were three other tables set.  It was intimate and not overly crowded, but very bright.  It was a wonderful atmosphere for our big night out!

documenting Javier ringing the bell to our dinner (or that of a random house...yet to be determined)

before even ordering we were greeted with the most out-of-this-world pate (good start!)

we elected to go for the 8 course tasting menu - woohoo

first course - and wine tasting in the background...the owner of the restaurant is a sommelier  and made suggestions, but allowed us to taste each wine before deciding on it for a course

I'm tempted to show you every course, but I assume it would be less interesting to you...this was our sweetbreads course (one of my favorites!)

beautiful desserts

It was such a lovely meal :) We would recommend Casa Coupage and closed door dining to anyone!

We were so excited to wake up the following day (although after so much wine...we were a bit slow to wake up) because EMMA and BOBBY were arriving!  We piddled around in the morning and were waiting for them at their hotel when they arrived (giving them little to no time to settle or freshen up after an overnight flight...).  Needless to say, our first order of business was lunch.

We went to La Rambla, also recommended by the blogger, for some steak sandwiches.  They were YUM-O.

La Rambla was located right next to La Recoleta Cemetery our destination for the afternoon.  I have never been to New Orleans, but from the movies I've seen...La Recoleta cemetery reminds me of the scenes from a New Orleans funeral.  Right in the middle of the city is a huge cemetery filled with mausoleums.  Many of which, you could peek inside to see stacks and stacks of coffins.

Peeking in to see so many

aisles and aisles

This is Evita's grave.  A small line of visitors formed to walk by and take pictures.

some looked new and were very beautiful

some looked old

I was mostly disturbed by the number of cats that were hanging about.  What were they doing there?

cats cats cats cats cats

In the afternoon we stopped by El Ateneo, a theater turned bookstore.  The stage is set up as a cafe and different genres line each floor.  It was really worth stopping by to look around!

It happened to be Valentine's Day so, while it's a bit cheesy, we decided a tango show seemed appropriate for our evening entertainment.

We got all dressed up for our big double date (Me and Emma out with Javier and Bobby)

Aren't they handsome?  And you can see a bit of the theater we were in.

I'm not much of an authority, but we really enjoyed the show!  The dancing and costumes were excellent.

They had single performers and several group numbers...

We knew it was touristy, but hey....we were tourists.

Mostly, it was SO fun to be reunited with our good friends.  It was amazing how quickly we fell right back into chatter.  Emails and FaceTime are amazing for cutting the distance, but there is something so nice about seeing friends in person.  After only day one, I was so thankful that Emma and Bobby met up with us for vacation!

Buenos Aires Part I

Javier and I got a week off of school in February (because of the end of the semester).  We decided a little visit to Argentina would do nicely and, lucky for us, Emma and Bobby decided the same!!  Our break was somewhat awkward (Wednesday to Wednesday) so we got into Buenos Aires a bit before our friends and had a day or two to enjoy on our own.

We started our trip with an interesting introduction to the city: our Airbnb apartment.  Javier and I have booked spots on Airbnb before and been super happy so far.  It's nice to have a bit more space when you're staying for a while so we like the whole apartment option.  We booked with Lucas and were super happy with the place.  The apartment was in the neighborhood called Palmero, filled with tree lined streets and tons of restaurants.  It was really Emma and Bobby that picked the neighborhood, but we were SO happy with the selection.  The location made it super convenient for late night dinners and drinks and easy walks back to bed....which for us was in an apartment full of fun and unique decorations which gave the place a quirky, vacationesque feel. 

pineapples and lots of Buenos Aires books

comfy bed

I loved some of the wall art - especially one that had 'somewhere' printed over a rainbow (see what they did there....)

cute little kitchen that we didn't really use...although we had the best of intentions

I loved these decals on the bathroom door

We showered after our overnight travel and went on a graffiti tour in the afternoon.  We booked the tour with Graffitimundo who says their tours: 'reveal the extraordinary history of the city’s vibrant urban art culture, from its fiery political origins, to the modern context in which Buenos Aires has become one of the world’s most exciting cities for street art.'  We thought the tour would be a fun way to get to know a few neighborhoods and see a different side of the city.  I was super pleased with the tour.  Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and we learned about aspects of the city that we would not have on a regular ole tour.  Looking back at the pictures I took made we remember how cool some of the art was!  

This was the first wall we looked at.  The artist lived in the building at the time and simply had some friends go out and add their work to his wall after a barbecue.  I included the building next door in the picture so you could see the juxtaposition. 

whale blimps

both of these were painted during a street art festival.  The piece on the right was done by a local artist named Jaz who often investigates local issues through animals in combat.

The white scarves on the wall are in homage to the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.  During a period of military dictatorship in Argentina, many young people who were against the ruling government disappeared.  The mothers of those that disappeared wore white scarfs as a sign that they had a missing child.  They would wear the scarf and march in circles in Plaza de Mayo hoping for information from others who might know of their child's whereabouts.  Even today women march each Thursday asking for the return of their children and possible grandchildren, as now they are the grandmothers of the disappeared children.

Here is our guide and a wall by Cabaio who typically uses stencils in his work.  Interestingly, artists that use stencils do not typically sign their work since it may not be construed as original.

Here we are in front of Cabaio.

This is a collaborative piece.  We saw several of these and I thought they were pretty cool.  Several street artists come together to make one combined work.

This, too, was another collaborative work.  (The two combatting bears are Jaz's contribution)

On our first night in Buenos Aires we went to a Thai restaurant because we've been missing Thai food that much.  It was DELICIOUS!

On day two we decided to cross the water into Uruguay.  Javier knew there was a small colonial town called Colonia del Sacramento where we could spend some slow down time away from the big city.  I'm sure it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but we really enjoyed it.

Fresh off the boat we used this map to realize that we could walk....everywhere.

First priority was lunch: chivito.  These steak sandwiches were so large we could have ordered one and split it to be full.  We also tried some Uruguayan beer, Patricia, to wash it all down with.

After lunch, we started with the old gate of the city.

Most of the old city wall was preserved in the old town.

The town was colonized by the Portuguese who used gorgeous tile to mark their streets and buildings.  Many of the tiles were still in place throughout the old streets. 

This is the oldest street in town!

The lighthouse and surrounding ruins were beautiful.

it was such a sunny and beautiful day.

I did not want to, but my husband did...so we climbed to the top of the lighthouse.  It was a narrow, spiral staircase up, but the view was worth it.

We could see the Iglesia Matriz from the top!

Here is the tile inside that tells you all sorts of stuff about the lighthouse.

This was a breathtaking map of the original colonial town.  (Every tile we saw was super beautiful.  Javier's grandmother, Grandma Pat, gifted us with these lovely Portuguese appetizer plates for our wedding and the tiles continually reminded us of them.)

Here is the inside of Iglesia Matriz.  It was quiet and cool inside, a nice respite from the hot and sunny day. 

Everywhere we went we saw beautiful scenery 

Our day in Uruguay had to include a big scoop of helado.

We decided to spend the evening with a bottle of wine on the beach.  (Local wine...not our favorite...)

Time on the beach allowed us to see a magnificent sunset on the harbor.

A perfect way to end our day.

We ran back to old town in time to see the sun drop into the ocean.

It was a truly relaxing and beautiful day.  I was so happy that we decided to spend some time discovering Colonia.  Unfortunately our boat ride back was not as pleasant as the trip to Colonia.  We should have known what we were in for when the attendants on the boat started handing out sick bags before we were even moving....needless to say.... I was not feeling up for dinner and went straight to bed when we got home.  I was a little bummed that it meant we missed a dinner in Buenos Aires, but we more than made up for it the next night!