We awake this morning and decide to check out the central
city. We had a quick look yesterday but
we wanted to have a better look today.
On our way into town we stop into the City Museum which was set in a
very nice remodernised 1800’s home, have a look and continue on our way. We didn’t have to pay a dime for entry as no
one was on the front desk which was a bit of a bonus. One part of the building that was quite cool
was the pharmacy on the ground floor, which was still trading in its original
condition (maintained of course). By the
looks of the amount of people in the store it is no wonder they are still
trading. There were scales in the shop
so I decided to weigh myself, and I have lost 8kg, effectively 10%. Must have been those few days in Quito,
Ecuador when I couldn’t stop from either end!
We then arrive in the Plaza de Mayo.
We decide to walk down the main avenue towards Congress Palace, which in
the end was quite a substantial walk.
This walk was made longer by the fact there was a protest happening that
was blocking the road and part of the footpath (later in the week we found out
that protesting was a common theme in Buenos Aires as we saw one each day, none
however was as big as this). We made it
to Congress, had a look around and then left, unfortunately we were unable to
go inside. We walked to a cafe and had
some empanadas and a coffee, as the coffee culture in Buenos Aires is quite
huge, most probably because they stay out until all hours of the night and need
the caffeine fix!
After our coffee and empanada break, we walk down a street
which is B.A’ version of Broadway, there are theatres everywhere! This walk down the street was leading us to
the most impressive theatre, Theatre Colon.
It is a massive theatre and was the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere
until the Sydney Opera House opened its doors.
We walk in to take a tour and realise it is very expensive for
foreigners (cheap for locals). We decide
against this and walk out. One of our
hostel managers mentioned to us that there are free shows on Sundays and you
just need to walk up and get a ticket on the Friday to gain entry. We thought this would be the best way to see
the place. The reason the show is free
is because it is essentially a practise session for a group, maybe a University
group or something like that. A free
show and great way to see the building so why not?
We continue our walk by heading down Ave Florida, which is the
main shopping street in the city. This
is a long pedestrian only street and has no empty shops and there are vendors
everywhere trying to sell tours of the city, tango nights and dinners. On this street is a very fancy shopping mall
called Galerias Pacifico with art on the ceilings. At the end of Ave Florida is Plaza San
Martin, which is just a park with a lot of greenery and trees. We then head back into the city centre, down
Ave Florida (trying to find a small Argentinean foam rugby ball but every sport
shop is focused on football!) and walk a block of buildings called the Block of
Enlightenment. Unfortunately the tours
are only in Spanish so we decide to skip this and head back to the Plaza de
Mayo to have a look for the Cathedral.
This proved to be difficult.
Usually we can see the main Cathedral from a mile away but this
Cathedral was hidden. It was getting
dark and cold so we decided to head back to the hostel and try another
day. We cooked dinner at the hostel
tonight and then caught up on our blogs.
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