Montevideo Day 3

Today is our last day in Montevideo. It's been a whirlwind visit, but it's a great city and I've been surprised by how much I enjoyed the friendly people and sites.

We had some long walks today to see a couple of the last places on our list. After about 45 minutes walk after breakfast was arrived at Universo Pittamiglio. The price for entry was a bit expensive compared to other places we've visited, but we were already here and decided to go in. The first thing that was striking was the red brick building in between two more modern buildings. It looked out of place. We went in and up some stairs. The first room was circular and was used for astrology and some alchemy. It was full of symbols that Humberto Pittamiglio was fond of like mandalas. If you went into the middle of the room and spoke it sounded like surround sound and then from the edge of the room, it sounded normal. It was a pretty cool effect from the architecture.

Our walk through the house continued to a room with the zodiac signs that looked like it was once a formal sitting area. The rooms that joined on to this one is where things for weird. One of the room was a poor man's camera obscura with different mirror tricks to highlight Pittamiglio's obsession with alchemy and magic. Another room has intricate blocked wooden ceilings and some fireplaces that were only there for the symbolism, not for heating the room. There was a bedroom for his mother where she apparently died and another room that the door always has to be kept open. Humberto's bedroom looked out to the sea and had very dark features as well as his initials.

When we left the building we visited the sun tower where Pittamiglio did alchemical experiment and astrological observations. Sadly much of the exterior has been neglected and ia falling apart. I'm sure that the towers were once very grand and beautiful, but it required a fair bit of imagination to see it as Pittamiglio built it. We left the house feeling confused by it, but also thinking it was a very nice house with thoughtful designs, if not strange ones.

We walked about 5-6 km to the Palacio Legislativo for an afternoon tour. When we got there, we were immediately impressed by the size and grandeur of the building. That feeling continued when our tour began and we were brought to the main hall. Despite being under reconstruction, it was still an incredible room. Everything inside was made of Uruguayan marble. There were dozens of colors of marble used to make the room. The marble was shipped from Uruguay to Italy where all the workshops were for the building. It was then shipped back to Uruguay to be constructed. The same was true for all rooms, including paintings. Nothing was made in Uruguay, it was just out together here.

After the main room, we went to a room with colorful walls and red carpets used for formal events. Here we saw the constitution and the declaration of independence. It was cool to see the original documents.

From this central area, the left is where the House of Representatives works and the right is the Senate. Our guide took us to each side. They both had viewing areas for the public to come and listen and observe the meetings. There were beautiful paintings and domes on both sides. The Senate side was slightly smaller than the Representative side. The ceilings were high, chairs looked pretty comfy. Each side has symbols to remind the elected officials why they were there: to serve the people. It was a great tour and a really cool building. My descriptions really don't do it justice.

After the Palacio Legislativo we walked back to the hostel. We had a quick pitstop at a little Indian restaurant and shared a curry. It was ok, and we were still hungry, but didn't want to eat too much if we get dinner on the bus. We had a little bit of time before we had to get some dinner and a bus, so we took the time to look at forward planning for the trip and some admin.

When we left the hostel for the bus, we were pretty hungry and looking forward to our raviolis. Sadly, the food wasn't as good as the first time, and we got a box of cold empanadas and a cheese and ham tart slice. It was better than nothing, but we were looking forward to that ravioli so it was a bit disappointing. After we ate, we tried to get some sleep knowing that the border crossing was in a few hours.Read more