Montevideo

I am keen to exlpore the city , so after a shower we walk towards the historical centre. There are so many places of interest in this beautiful place and as soon as we step out the door the buildings on route attract our attention. Its really quite sad that so many of the wonderful buildings are left empty and with ony a small amount of money could be restored to there former glory. Glorious parks line the route and the city has a real ambience and hustle without feeling to hectic . We stop for a few minutes watching two guys playing chess in the street, they are mesmerising to watch and they play with a timer ,smashing there chess pieces down in a matter of seconds then smashing the clock with the same speed to keep within their time, they could honestly be proffesionals. As we continue our walk there is a huge building that dominates the skyline in front of us, this is the entrance to the plaza independencia. Artigas is a hero of Uruguay having defeted the English and giving Uruguay its indpendence his statue dominates the square astride his horse and behind this is where he is buried. We enter the crypt which is underground and has a real eeriness about it , two statues of guards are either side of the urn dressed in military attire and as i go to take a photo i am impressed with how life like they look......then he blinks.. i let out a gasp of fright and it takes him all his time not to laugh, but proffesionally remains perfectly still. Our next port of call is the theatre Solis, which was built 200 years ago for entertainment for the Europeans that had now inhabited the city. We ot for he guided tour here as its so beautiful we want to know a little more. Today is Womans Day and the philarmonic ochestra are laying here tonight, the tickets are free and have all gone, but we are treated as when we enter the presidents box they are rehearsing for tonights performance . The theatre has a program that allows people from the surrounding small towns (who would never be able to afford to come here ) to come here and experience a day at the theatre, they pay for their travel and even throw in lunch before they watch the evenings performance. All ticket prices in the theatre are the same as they dont want just the rich people having the best seats which reminds me of Ed sheeranspolicy at his concerts and is a fantastic idea. We contine exploring the endless museums and walk all the way to the river before stopping for a bite of lunch in a restaurant close by. We decide to treat ourselves and order a steak, which isnt cheap, but i am desperate to have one cooked how i like it Medium Rare . Although we have eaten a few steaks here they have generally been well done, and when it arrives it doesnt even touch the sides. It literally melts in my mouth and is worth every penny. We explore a little more before heading back to the hotel to pack. on the street is a mime artist, who really catures my eye and i stand mesmerised by her for several minutes , as i place a few coins in her ot she comes to life and softly beckons me over placing a small piece of paper in my hand when i open it up it has a spanish quote in it which translates to " the diffuculy common people have prepares them for extrordinary destinations " ........how true xRead more