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Hello All!
So Buenos Aires! Is great!
MONDAY
We arrived at our hostel, and we couldn't check in straight away, so we ditched our bags and went off in search of a bank. Was a very different feeling walking round a big city, but Palermo (the area we are staying in) seemed really nice, much nicer than other big cities we have visited in South America. After the bank, we cheated and stopped at McDonalds for lunch! Arrived back at the hostel, where we updated the blog and tried to put our pics up.
We finally managed to check in. The hotel is nice, we had to share our room (not used to that!) but the room was large and only had two sets of bunkbeds in it, with a bathroom. Sorted through our rancid rucksacks, but we had already missed the laundry run for the day, so tired and stinking we headed to the supermarket to buy some food for dinner. This comprised of paella from a packet and some added stir fried veg, was quite nice actually!
Were quite tired so we headed back up to the room for any early night.
TUESDAY.
Woke up fairly early, ready to see the sights! Walked and got the subway to the ´Microcentre´. The subway is the busiest we have been on outside of London! Armpit facial massage anyone? We had to stay on for 10 stops too, and it got more and more busy!
We made it to the end of the line, and Plaza de Mayo. Saw a lot of impressive and important buildings, including the famous presidential palace where Evita gave her famous speech, i.e. where Madonna sang "Don't cry for me Argentina" J
Walked up Ave de Mayo, until we reached Ave 9 de Julio, which someone has told us is the widest street in the World, which could be true considering it does have about 12 lanes in each direction! Walked up to the Olbelisco, which looks remarkably like the WashingtonMonument! Then on the Theatre Colon, which looks very impressive in the guide book but was unfortunately closed.
Walked back up to the main square, then to the port area of Puerto Madero. This was very nice, and reminded us of Keyside in Newcastle, or even the Albert Docks in Liverpool. Walked along trying to find somewhere to eat, but was all quite expensive so ventured back to the centre where we found a little café and had a steak sandwich. Considered what to do for the rest of the afternoon, and decided to head to another area of town, Recoleta.
Back on the subway of doom, and a fairly long walk to the cemetery where Evita´s tomb is. Got harassed by a charity worker at the entrance to the cemetery, who gave us a poorly translated leaflet on ´The AIDS´. We headed inside the cemetery which was very eerie! The whole place is like its own little town! All of the tombs are like little houses, or churches with their own little streets! Most of the tombs have doors with glass in, so you can actually see the coffins inside! Very creepy! Some of them are very elaborate, with statues, furniture, sculpture etc!
We found Evita´s tomb, and got someone to take our picture, very weird considering it is technically someone's grave! Did not know whether it was inappropriate to smile! Fully freaked out, we left, and stopped for some praline peanuts from a street seller. We tried to find a little market we read about, so walked round the back of the cemetery (past the neighboring Hard Rock Café!) but couldn't find the market. Walked back to the subway, stopping at a net café, to upload photos and skype the men back at home.
Got to the hostel and chilled for a bit before heading out for dinner. We walked round Palermo for a little while, and is quite a lovely area. We finally settled on a little Italian place. We both had Antipasto to start, which was priced on the weight of it, and B got hers half price for guessing the correct weight! (Although they did help her out a lot with her guess!) Following the Chinese incident in New York, we were very conservative with our plates! Both had homemade pasta for main course, very nice but very rich! And T discovered she was not a fan of gnocchi, Of course we accompanied our meal with a nice bottle of wine from Mendoza!
Only problem was, when the waitress came with the bill (or ´the gooch´ as it may now be known), B had vastly miscalculated how much she would need to be able to pay for diner. (We didn't want to take out any more than was completely necessary incase we got mugged!) This is obviously is rather embarrassing! We weren't a couple of pesos short either! B then had to get a taxi, to the hostel, which was very hard to explain (lots of pointing to the map and mispronouncing street names!). En route, she then realized that she had no idea of the name of the restaurant or the address, so made the taxi driver wait while she ran in and retrieved some more money! Very embarrassing! And costly! Were quite tired after this episode and our long walks earlier in the day so just went to bed as soon as we got in!
WEDNESDAY
Decided to explore Palermo, (Wooo! No subway required!) Which is a very affluent neighborhood with plenty of parks and green spaces! Walked passed the botanical gardens, the Japanese gardens, and the Evita museum (all of which were too costly to get into!) and found ourselves at the modern art museum. Deciding we needed to do something cultural we paid the quid entrance fee. Very random. But at least it was something different!
We then walked (a very very long way!) down to Las Canitas, the poshest area. Posh, apart from the incredible amount of dog poo all over the pavements! You see dog walkers with at least 8 dogs on one lead, and it is clear that they do not scoop that poop! It's a navigational nightmare! The restaurants in Las Canitas are meant to be among the best in the city, so we decided we would try to get a cheap lunch deal to experience it! Found a nice little place with a set menu. Didn't mention anything about an appetizer on the menu so at first were too scared to eat our complimentary bruschetta for fear of being charged more! Turns out it was included, and was very nice! We had no idea what we had ordered for our main meal, short of that it included potato and meat! In the end, it turned out to be what can only be described as cottage pie! Was very good, although could have done with some Lea and Perrins, or HP sauce - the British touch!
Had our free coffee - espresso with a splash of milk (and a packet of sugar!) - and walked back to the hostel, where we chilled out, read, and then got ready for our Palermo bar crawl!
We miss you guys lots and lots and lots! We are having a great time and have just over two weeks left!
More from Buenos Aires to come……
B&T
xxx
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