Much to explore

The best way we have found to see a city, rather than walking great distances, is a get on get off bus. By accident we find someone selling tickets, not where the bus stops it turns out, we do have to walk quite a distance. Our trip takes longer than it should because our bus broke down early on. We stay on for two hours which is about two thirds of the way. The commentary is better than most covering not just the land marks but also a detailed history of different areas. That said, not much mention is made of the original inhabitants and how the European settlers dealt with them. Equally the time of Eva Peron is mentioned only in passing.

What is striking is the number of parks, gardens, small pockets of green spaces and children's playgrounds. Today is Sunday and everywhere there are markets. Some in the gardens others in the street. The products from what I can see are very much what you would expect to buy from any market at home. It isn't surprising so many people out and about it's a lovely Summer's day.

I'm also struck by the quality of the street art. Everywhere buildings and walls are covered with paintings. In some places paintings depict something of the history of an area and in other places maybe just decorative. There are, like most well-established old capital cities, large monuments everywhere. Not sure about the statue with two bulls on the top, the palms on either side are a nice touch. We saw a wide array of architecture from European style, early 1930s to very modern.

The tour is really interesting with so much to see. It highlighted the cultural elements of the city including opera, music and theater, as well as the history of the tango. You realize just how much you don't know about a place.

Dinner is very much more low key than last night, a hamburger place. I just can't face a fancy restaurant for dinner, I'm tired and feeling the effects of jet lag. It was very much a hamburger place which surprisingly had paintings on the wall, not what I expected. We have hamburgers of course, far too many hand-cut chips which are very nice but there are a lot of them. The wine on offer once either a small can from the fridge or a bottle, unsurprisingly. We went for the bottle even though it was more than I wanted. It was an excellent Malbec so a good choice.もっと詳しく