Buenos Aires: Exploring a wonderful city

The tango show Friday night was just amazing. Sadly Bobbi was in the hotel trying to persuade all the goo out of her head so it won’t pop when we fly home—can’t wait to bring her back and see it again. The place was a dinner-and-a-show affair, so the tango performance was sort of like dinner theater. Clearly there was a thread going throughout the various solo singing, tango numbers and band-only interludes, and I didn’t understand it (note to self: study Spanish before coming back!), but it was awesome. Very physical dancing, and girls with meat on their bones—nice to see! Wonderful music too (from a fabulous band)—very dramatic. Saturday morning greeted us with sorta sunny skies, and Bobbi was feeling better, so off we went. Got some nice gift-shopping in on Calle (BA-pronounciation: “Kai-sjay”) Florida, then further up a nice early and gianter-than-expected lunch at a great old, wood-and-brass encrusted place called The Richmond. We opted not to go around the corner to the ABC, an old German place where, in the mid 1950s (my Dad reports), serious-looking men with scars on their faces would come in to eat and the waiters would greet them with a resounding click of the heels. Eichman used to frequent the place then as well, he says. From there it was a long stroll to San Telmo, which is a very cool part of town with neat old buildings—some virtually abondoned, some very nicely restored—and it’s clearly the arty and boutiquey part of town. We stumbled up Estados Unidos and found the old San Telmo Mercardo, from 1897, which is still a market but now has antiques dealers all over, as well as the food vendors—butchers, vegetable sellers, and the like. Definitely worth a visit! A few blocks up and we found what we were looking for—Nonna Bianca, “Helado Artesanal”, or as we say it, DAMN yummy ice cream! Bobbi had the dulce de leche with walnuts and rum, and I kept it real with straight dulce de leche. Oh man, it was...just exactly what we needed after walking halfway across the city. After that I discovered a beautiful leather coat—they ain’t lying when they say this is the place for excellent leather!-- then it was into a cab and back to the hotel is pack up and check out. Got all that squared away, then back out into the city, and back up to San Telmo (it’s a night flight, so we got time! Yay!) for some more looking around the ‘hood. Wandered into an outdoor flea market and found some more fun items we needed to have, such as the scarf Bobbi bought from the little old lady who knitted it--then strolled the streets some more and down past Eva Peron Park to the waterfront area. It’s actually the old locks-and-docks section, where block after block of beautiful old warehouse buildings have been restored to house many restaurants, the Universidad Catholica, and so forth. Our excellent driver from yesterday, Julio, had recommended a Cuban Restaurant to us along these blocks—a place called Tocororo—and it was great. Got a table on the waterfront side, had some of the best Mojitos ever, some ceviche, some coconut shrimps, and a smattering of many different kinds of Cuban cuisine. Pablo our waiter was great, and very very interested in our iPhones. The sun was setting however so it was farewell Pablo, farewell Tocororo, then back to the hotel for the switch to the airport car and say farewell Buenos Aires. Got ourselves checked in and all set, then settled in for the overnight flight to Miami. I unglued my eyes as we passed Cuba, then braced myself for the guaranteed-not-fun of clearing customs and immigration, and connecting, in Miami. The experience was all true to form, but now we’re on the flight for Chicago and preparing for the lovefest with the puppies and the kitties, and for my sister’s arrival this afternoon from London, and for seeing my Dad, and all is good.

It’s been not only a productive trip, but just such a wonderful experience. To all the very nice people we met all over the world who each really went out of their way to help us feel comfortable and to help us experience their cultures and cuisines, we cannot thank you enough, we can’t wait to see you again soon, and we hope you’ll let us return the favor in Chicago some time!

Fun facts
Days away: 21
Number of different lodgings: 11
Miles travelled: about 40,000, each
Best hotel: St. Regis, Beijjing (so so comfy, plus they didn’t kick us out when I tried to burn the place down with my electrical shenanigans)
Wurst hotel: Four Points By Sheraton, Koln
Best airline: It’s a tie (JAL and British Airways)
Number of times travelled through Heathrow: 3
We ate: Indian food in Hong Kong, Cuban food in Buenos Aires, Italian food in Tokyo, and French food in Germany
Best overall cuisine: Barcelona
Best meat (and we ate a LOT of it, everywhere): Entrecote, in Paris
Best ice cream: Buenos Aires
Best driver: Mr. Yin (Beijing)—but Julio in Buenos Aires is a VERY close 2nd
Most pleasant surprise: Buenos Aires—this is an amazing city which we VERY much look forward to exploring many, many more times; we must be Porteños at heart!
Least pleasant surprise: the fly in my flan on the Iberia flight from London to Barcelona
Weirdest television experience: Ladies World Cup Soccer coverage on Al Jazeera; also, tourism commericals for Mauritius, Maldives, Qatar, Dubai, and Croatia in Paris
Best technology ambassador: the iPhone—security screeners especially were all excitied about it, and then very nice to us; also the HD monitor on my rig in Tiananmen Square—even the army guys and police were looking over my shoulder at the images.

That’s it, until next time!