Tourist Stuff…

The main icon of Buenos Aires is the Oblisco. I thought they were just copying the Washington Monument… whether they are or not, it is not as big as ours, so that makes our better right? Just kidding… it is really pretty cool and located at the center of the main area of the city in the middle of what is the Time Square of Buenos Aires. Located on the borders of Richoleta, Port Madero, and Micro Central it has everyone passing by. You can really feel the pulse of the city! The historical Plaza de Mayo is in the middle of the government center of the city, located right next to Micro Centro (the financial center of BA). Situated in the middle of historical buildings, the government buildings, the Cathedral Metropolitana, all a very good place to do some tourist stuff. Casa Rosada is a building where Evita, Peron gave speeches from the balcony. We did not get to do a tour of this building but they are offered. While we were there a protest was actually going on… Do we know who the protesters were? No. Do we know what they were protesting? No. But they were. And we respect them for that! (For those of you who think I am a complete idiot this is an inside joke from the movie Zoolander). The Cathedral Metropolitana is one of the most beautiful churches that I have ever been in. It really is huge, well maintained, and is muy bonita. There are many worship areas for each of the saints that have amazing original artwork from centuries ago. This catherdral is a great foot forward from the 90% catholic Argentinean population. San Ignacisio de Loyola is the oldest church in Buenos Aires. The Front fascade and archway in the interior was about to collapse, so the city erected scaffolding to keep the church from falling apart, but only after the priests protested in the streets. We walked in and out on our tour, but this was worth seeing in the San Telmo leg of our adventure. Another historical church in Buenos Aires we visited was Ignasio de San Francisco. There are so many in Buenos Aires. It was worth a quick look. Big, lots of history and very beautiful. San Telmo, Antique Shops and Plaza Dorrega was the next leg of the tourist bonanza. We followed Defensa Street through the historical heart of Buenos Aires - San Telmo. This used to be the area of town where the wealthy lived until a wave of diseases came through killed many and caused 80 percent of the population to abandon their homes. Poor immigrants moved into this part of town it became run down. It seems like a few people took the belongings that were left behind by the wealthy and started antique shops. I don’t know if that is true but every store along Defensa is either a vintage clothing store or an antique shop filled with tons of stuff. There were whole warehouses filled with Antique shops. The cobblestone streets reminded us of European cities along with the little cafes and pizza shops selling Empenadas, Pastries, and Coffees. Plaza Dorrego is a beautiful, outdoor plaza in the heart of San Telmo where we stopped for some snacks and a glass of Malbec. Surrounding this plaza were Vendors with handicrafts. Denay bought a beautiful suede belt with a stone buckle for $10. Tango performers performed a Live Tango show for donations. After a long day of sightseeing, we were ready to eat so we headed to “El Cuartito La Buena Pizza.” It received rave reviews from locals and in one persons’ words, he regarded this as The Best Pizza in the world. It has been open since 1934 and Was really good. Greg had the Atomic with red spicy peppers, olives and sausage. Spicy food is not very popular in Argentina so Greg was happy to find some spice.