Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
I arrived in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina after a 20hour bus journey. I was tired but looking forward to exploring. I dropped off my bags and took a tour around the city by bicycle. (A very tiny bicycle because as you know I'm a very small bear)!
The first thing I notice is that Buenos Aires has a very flat terrain. I started my bike tour in San Martín Square. This square looks down on the 'Big Ben' monument. As we all know The Big Ben is a famous building in London, England. Why is there a Big Ben monument in Buenos Aires? You might ask. Well the 'Big Ben' monument was actually given to the Argentinian people as a gift following the Falklands war between the English and the Argentinian people. The Argentinian people disliked this gift given to them by England because of the hardship caused to them in the war. So the Argentinian government retaliated by placing the memorial statue of the people who died in the Falklands war directly in front of the Big Ben British statue.
As a city Buenos Aires is very European in appearance. The buildings were built using influences from France, Italy and Spain. In fact Argentina is known for being the most European looking city in all of South America. Argentina was the second county in the world to construct a subway transport system. They are very proud of this.
While on my tour of Buenos Aires I saw the local soccer stadium called 'La Boca'. La Boca is the most supported soccer team in the whole of Argentina. La Boca is a very special club as all the famous Argentinian soccer players played here. Some of these famous players include Diego Maradona and Carlos Tevez. Some of my friends will be disappointed to know that Lionel Messi did not play with La Boca. This is because Messi moved to Europe after two or three months into his soccer career. La Boca's football kit is blue and yellow in colour. I know there are a lot of soccer players in Berrings who will give these great soccer players a run for their money in years to come.
Another important building in Buenos Aires is the Casa Rosada. This is a pink building which houses the president and first lady of the country. The world famous first lady Eva Peron or (Evita) lived in this building when her husband was president. Evita was an amazing, inspirational woman and did so much to improve woman's rights, the rights of the elderly and living conditions in Argentina. She is a very interesting character in history and definitely worth reading about. The film 'Evita' is a tribute to Eva Peron and roughly based on her legend. For this film Madonna rented out the Casa Rosada to film herself singing out over the balcony to the people of Argentina. This is unusual as it is generally unheard of to rent out a state building.
I was very tired after a long day peddling around on my bike so I decided I'd relax to a steak dinner which is very popular in Argentina and it was indeed delicious.
The following day I got a Tango lesson. This is a very famous Argentinian dance. It was great fun. I look forward to telling the rest of the teddies in Berrings all about it. I hope you are all working hard and having fun.
I will write to you all again soon,
Berrings Bear
- comments