Nov 23, Wednesday

Nov 23, Wednesday

Well I really made up for that lazy day I had on Tuesday.   At 8 am I went down to the lobby so that they could check to see if I could get on the city tour.  Done !  The bus would pick me up at 9, so I had a quick breakfast and got ready for the day.   It was a very slow start since they were still picking up passengers and there was a lot of traffic, but by 10 am we started the official tour.   There were no maps however so it was hard to figure out where we were.  Still, I got a lot of pictures despite the fact that it was basically a “drive-by”  tour of the various barrios of BA:  Centro, Recoleta, Palermo, Monserrat,  La Boca, San Telmo & Puerto Madero.  

 Old & new architecture throughout the city

   One of the museums I need to go back to

  Memorial to Eva Perron, who died of cancer at the age of only 33

  One of the downtown buildings

 Art on a highrise

During the 3 hours, we only got 3 stops.  One at the main historical square “Plaza de Mayo”:  just enough time to walk around the plaza, take pictures of the buildings, and go for a quick walk-about in the Cathedral. 

  Plaza de Mayo

  Casa Rosada, Government Building

  The Cathedral

  More buildings in the square

The second stop was at the baseball (soccer) stadium where no one was interested in paying extra to get a glimpse of the inside, but this was the mandatory “shopping” stop at the sports shop  {kind of like the Turkish carpet shop when you do a tour in Morocco, Greece or Turkey}.  

The third stop was the best one, in an area of Buenos Aires called “La Boca” (original port) in the “Caminito” streets, an artsy funky area known for its Tango cafés & bars and multi coloured buildings.  

Beautiful wall art.  The window helps to give perspective on the size of this work.

  One of the restaurants

  The streets of El Caminito

  More art on the streets

  The old port

  Buildings in the Puerto Madero area

  El puente de la mujer  (the Woman Bridge)

  Modern buildings and warehouses converted to shops and condos.  + yachts in the marina.

Got dropped off a few blocks from my hotel and the first thing I spotted at the first corner was a Starbucks.  Now I would prefer a Colombian coffee shop if I could find one, but Starbucks will do as a “Need-my-cafeine” replacement.   Had a quick bite with my large café latté and continued on my way.  I decided to walk past the Ibis Hotel and return to the Obelisk on Avenida 9 de Julio. 

 Crossing Avenida 9 de Julio

This avenue is supposedly the widest one in the entire world.  From there I asked for directions to the nearest Tourist Information Kiosk, got a city map as well as a few brochures and began to re-orient myself.   Decided to take the Metro to visit one of the areas mentioned during the city tour:  The Japanese Gardens and the Rose Gardens in the Palermo area of BA.

The metro stop didn’t reach my destination, so I had quite a long walk to get there, past the zoo where I spotted a few animals & birds through the gates & foliage.    Walked through a huge park and had to ask for directions a few times since I couldn’t see any signs anywhere, but it was definitely worth the long walk.

  The street beside the zoo

  Giraffe peaking out from its enclosure

  Can't remember the name of these animals, but I have seen them before in Peru

  Japanese Gardens

Japanese Gardens

From there I needed to ask for directions to the Rose Gardens since it was just off my map !    The taxi driver I asked was very nice and pointed me in the right direction, with a warning that I should be careful of my camera since young people have a tendency to steal them and sell them for drug money.   “Gracias Señor !”   It was another long walk to the Rose Gardens and I finally realized that I had my leather soled black loafers on.  Fine for the city tour which was mostly on a bus, but not so good on gravel walks.  OUCH !  OUCH !  OUCH !   I swear I could feel every single pebble through the soles of my feet.  Walking to the rose gardens along the flowering jacaronda trees. 

The Rose Gardens

From there I needed to get walk to the zoo and walk back to the metro stop.  I had planned on visiting the Botanical Gardens that were beside the zoo, but from the glimpse I got of it, and the fact that my feet were incredibly sore, I decided to just catch the metro back to Avenina 9 de Julio and walk back to my hotel instead.   Spotted a small grocery store a few blocks from the Ibis, so I stopped to purchase a few bottles of water, a few bottles of juice, and a bottle of wine.   I really need to replace those liquids in my body.      ;-)   

I downed one entire bottle of water and one bottle of juice before taking my shower. 

The glass of wine was for dessert.