Belgrano

The main event today was leaving the hotel and moving onto the Sirena, our cruise ship. But we had a few hours between, so our group split up. The Trodds, Bonnie, Brian and I went to the Teatro Colon to try to get a tour of this world famous opera house. As it was Sat. there was a show for children at 11:00 a.m. sadly, no tour.

The Teatro Colon is a magnificent building from the time in the 1800s when BA was considered a world cultural centre. It covers an entire city block and would fit in nicely in Paris or London. It is the premier venue in a city that takes performing arts very seriously.

We reset our plans and walked the downtown, particularly the shopping streets. A few near misses, but Brian came away unscathed (i.e. I did not buy anything.). We also walked through San Martin park which is a lovely green space in an upscale residential neighbourhood. It has, of course, a massive statute to San Martin. Looking around at the apartments here and you can imagine that you are in Paris. Beautiful white 3 story buildings with intricate wrought iron balconies. But don’t try to walk while looking up! All of us are dismayed by the condition of the sidewalks. Originally surfaced with tiles, many now have large holes and broken tiles. An accident waiting to happen and a not-so-subtle reminder of the economic collapse that Argentina is recovering from.

Wendy, Bonnie and I made a quick trip to a lovely boutique that sold designer clothes and beautiful arts and crafts type jewelry; all very unusual. Brian now was 2 for 2, much to his relief.

The trip to board the ship was exceptionally smooth and after a delicious lunch in the buffet, we unpacked and relaxed. This is a small ship of 600 passengers. It is quite new and beautifully appointed.

After a drink in the forward lounge, Brian and I went back to tonight’s Tango lesson with Lucia and Gerry. All went well until we tried to get a cab back. In all, 4 taxis stopped but could not understand “Cruise terminal”. After much pantomiming, Christine returned to the dance studio and got our instructor to translate. Ironically, after we returned to the ship, Christine found a map in her purse with the dock marked on it that we could have shown our driver.

All in all a good day made even better on learning that the temperature in Toronto is -6 C!Read more