Exploring Buenos Aires - Day 5

Today was probably the most beautiful day (weather wise) we experienced while we were in Buenos Aires. The weather was super nice the whole time, a couple of times a little rainy, a couple of times a little too hot and humid, but today, today the sun was shining bright, it was partly cloudy and there was a nice breeze. Absolutely perfect!

Charlotte told us about the dog walking in Buenos Aires, but it wasn't until today that we got to see it (and we saw A LOT of it...we joked to each other that it must be dog walking day). She had told us that several years ago there was a write up in the paper (on the front cover if I'm not mistaking) about how many dogs one person could walk. Apparently the number was set at 8 and there were diagrams and everything.

I didn't count how many he had, but he looks legal.

This gal was really sweet and actually stopped when she noticed I was trying to get a picture.

As I've mentioned the ice cream more than a couple of times, I couldn't resist taking a picture of these ice cream delivery bikes. (yep, that's right Elizabeth, you can have it delivered!)

Freddo (ice cream chain) Delivery bikes

And speaking of delivery... Charlotte also told us to keep our eye out for a waiter walking through the streets carrying a tray with coffee, juice, food or whatever on it. Just like the dog walking, we saw one today (the only one we saw). Apparently, if you are up in your office and you would like a hot cup of coffee, you call the cafe on the corner and a waiter will deliver it to you. How neat is that?

Waiter delivering refreshments

Today we toured the Palacio de las Aguas Corrientes. This building was built in 1894 and occupies an entire city block. The building is gorgeous. And again, as I mentioned about other buildings before, it is a government building. It was the old water works building. We hustled down there to do the guided tour, only for it to be in Spanish...darn. It was loud and clear, though, that this building and the purpose for why it was built (Buenos Aires' water control) was a major undertaking. The museum was small and quirky (to quote the tourist guide) and it had all sorts of faucets, toilets, pipes, meters, everything to do with a modern bathroom. Although we couldn't understand much of what the guide said, it was still quite interesting.

Palacio de las Aguas Corrientes (water palace)

The detail of the tiles was amazing

More detail...

And more

Tre in front of the "water palace"

Ha! Here was a guy taking a break to have some Mate - it's everywhere I'm telling you!

After the "water palace", we headed to the Cementerio de la Recoleta (if you remember, it was closed when we tried to see it on our first day in the city). 4 words... We were blown away. We had no idea what it was going to be like and it was unbelievable. I was picturing a creepy place with dirt and bones and old headstones, but it was huge. Sort of a little city with rows and rows and rows of giant tombs, statues, marble and stained glass...simply amazing. Some were abandoned, some were well maintained, some were giant (like a small building) and some were small/simple (still big, yet a smaller "small building").

One of the many walkways in the cemetery

Tre in front of one of 1000's of really neat tombs

Jen in front of a tomb (felt kind of weird to smile, you know?)

(inside one of the tombs) A little morbid, I know, but it was kind of beautiful, too

Vibrant purple plant that caught Tre's eye...maybe a "Purple Heart Wandering Jew"?

Eva (Evita) Peron's family tomb

Eva Peron's plaque on the family tomb

And of course there were many, many cats to watch over the dead

After the cemetery, we walked several blocks to the Museo de Isaac Fernandez Blanco. Here are a few shots from our walk.

Another statue/plaza - loved them all, so beautiful

Not sure how you can be open for 25 hours, but they say they are - ha.

Just a shot of another typical street...gotta love all the different architecture

As you can probably imagine, there are too many museums to choose from, so we followed the guidance of one of the guide books. In it they had a list of the 21 things not to miss in Buenos Aires, which included this museum, as well as the Evita museum and MALBA, but we'll get to those later.

It was a museum of Latin American art. We couldn't take any pictures, but what I remember were a lot of variations of the Virgin Mary, Christ and all things religious looking (paintings, sculptures and metal works) and also their renowned collection of silver. A quote from the guidebook, "...it's highlight is a fabulous collection of silverware". And I must say we were quite taken with how far Mate paraphernalia goes back - ha!

After the museum, we wandered over to a place called La Ideal. Charlotte told us we should go and watch the "old people" dance. It was a 2 story building. On the first floor they had tango shows (we weren't there at quite the right time for a show) and on the 2nd floor they had a big dance floor surrounded by tables and a dj playing tango music. You could pay about $4 and sit there all day and watch or dance and enjoy a drink or two. There were all sorts of couples dancing...mostly older couples, but I loved sitting there watching them (a big thank you to my husband for keeping me company and not complaining too much). It wasn't like the fancy dancing that we saw at the show we went to, but it was still wonderful...and probably more "authentic".

In front of La Ideal

The upstairs where the "old people" danced

After watching the couples dance, we headed to the subway. Charlotte had suggested we go to a "seriously good last meal" at Las Lilas in Puerto Madero, so we headed home to get freshened up.

Subway at rush hour...hot, sticky and super crowded!

We got to Las Lilas and there was a 45 min wait for first available, so we wandered down the boardwalk and took some pictures.

In front of Puente de la Mujer (woman's bridge) - I liked Tre's idea that it was an ultra modern version of an obelisk. But, in actuality it's a walk bridge and special swing bridge that rotates 90 degrees in order to allow water vessels to pass. I would have liked to have seen it in action.

Waiting for our table (the first and only time we wore jeans)

Look at that meat!

Charlotte was right this was a "seriously good last meal" - perfectly pink steak, pureed potatoes and a whole grilled onion - delicious!

This is kind of funny... I was so excited to see a toilet cover (the 1st and only time during the whole trip), that I didn't notice this until the 2nd time I used the bathroom at Las Lilas. I HAD to take a picture!

A heart, really???