Buenos Aires
The capital city of Argentina has a population of over 3 million people and I´m here. An interesting, bulky, culture-filled place.
Buenos Aires is a city full of interesting buildings and I go around the city jotting down the addresses of the ones that makes the most impression on me. I love the older and majestic buildings more than the more modern ones.
Neighborhoods
Some neighborhoods of Buenos Aires proper and the Northern part of its suburbs (or la provincia) are definitely worth seeing. Places like Olivos, Vicente Lopez, La Lucila, San Isidro in Greater BA have beautiful home after beautiful home. Then there are neighborhoods like Belgrano (almost a city) with sidewalk cafes and high rises. Always high rises.
Belgrano
One of the pleasures of being in Buenos Aires is the barrio of Belgrano. This upscale and busy neighborhood, with its tree lined streets, its confiterias and its high rises, is one of the least expensive ways to have fun.
The barrio de Belgrano is practically a city within the city of Buenos Aires. High rise buildings, many apartments. with balconies, lots of businesses, an air of prosperity, of we-can-do-it. Sidewalk cafe time has started in the city. With 28.4 Celsius today, a sidewalk drink is the thing to enjoy while the world walks up and down. The trees in the barrio de Belgrano are fantastic. There is something about this neighborhood that draws me to it, and one attraction is the way the trees make arches. The branches are long, the dark green leaves belonging to one block shake hands in a symbolic way with the the leaves of the opposite block.
Libertador
La Avenida Libertador is one of the most important and famous avenues in Buenos Aires. It has class , beautiful, majestic buildings and museums. I love to walk it and sit at a sidewalk cafe. Just looking at people can lift my spirits. The buildings inspire me to jot down their addresses. They are examples of some of the best architecture I have ever seen.
Buenos Aires has a pretty good museum. It´s called The Museo de Bellas Artes and it´s on exclusive Avenida Libertador. There´s a pretty good Rembrandt in there, as well as other paintings by famous artists. The postcard dept. could be better, but there are some good art books in the bookshop.
Avenida Santa Fe
Avenida Santa Fe is hardly the equivalent of Fifth Avenue in NYC, but walking it is a lot of fun. Businesses all around, some big, some small. And Alto Palermo Shopping, in honor of the neighborhood of Palermo is always crowded. Fast, sometimes furious place.
Almagro
Almagro is the neighborhood where the big shopping mall, Shopping Abasto, is. It´s full of beautiful buildings--buildings that go back to the late 19th century and early 20th. Some of them are run down, but even so, they are fantastic in their decay.
Colectivos
This is one noisy city! The multi-colored colectivos, a really good form of public transportation, make themselves heard. And the yellow and black Buenos Aires taxis--they are not too expensive if you have dollars, but they are expensive if you don´t.
Colectivos, the Mercedes Benz manufactured buses of the city, come in many colors. Some are green and red, blue and white. yellow and black, all sorts of colors. They´re funny looking, old fashioned, as if they had been made 50 years ago. Fun to ride, for all their jerky movements.
Plaza San Martin
Except for Central and Golden Gates Parks, there´s no place I like better than Plaza San Martin in downtown Buenos Aires. It´s right by Estacion Retiro, one of the main train stations. I love to sit on one of the wooden or stone benches and look at the great big tree right in front of me. I love to watch people walk up and down on their way to Calle Florida, where the expensive shops are. Best of all, I enjoy the sense of seclusion in the middle of the big, noisy city.
Art
Near the British Arts Centre, on the 1300 block of Calle Suipacha, there are several nifty art galleries. There´s modern art, local art, and all is quite good. Abstract, pictures of gauchos, the Argentine countryside. This neighborhood is called Barrio Norte, one of the most exclusive in the city. I love walking by them, these galleries. I love to dream what I would do if I had the money to buy these paintings. I would certainly need several homes to house everything.
There are some good antique shops, too. Great big cabinets with polished wood, commodes with marble tops. Dream, dream away.
October 1, 2005:Today is the last day of Art week, which started on September 25th. Many art galleries in the traditional and elegant Barrio Norte stayed open late. Visitors were treated to great local art and a glass or two or champagne. Calle Suipacha has several small art galleries. Painters like Quinquela Martin , Berni, Battle Planas, Pettoruti were admired again by people from all walks of life.
Embassy
The American Embassy in Buenos Aires is a great big thing, a huge building near the Zoo. It is secure as secure it can be. Just across the street there is a beautiful park with green benches where people sit and dream away. I used to do that often.
Cats
Near Plaza Italia, halfway to the downtown area of Buenos Aires, there is a place called Jardin Botanico. These are the botanical gardens of the city. People have been known to dump unwanted cats here. There are hundreds of cats, and most of them very cute. Some are hardened and some little and newer ones want to go home now. They want to go home now.
posted by differentflags @ 1:11 PM
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