Sat/Sun - 3/1 & 2

Over the last 2 days, we've done lots of walking. On Sat. we continued to explore our neighborhood (and continued to get rained on), but not before searching out some lunch. Our routine seems to be little or no breakfast, lunch around 12:30 at one of the cafes or restaurants on our list, and dinner at the apartment. Today we ate our first beef filet (lomo) at the Rodi Bar, a great local restaurant that we were turned on to.

Then we headed down Avenida Alvear - lots of Parisian-looking buildings and upscale stores (Lauren, Cartier, Hermes, etc), which we read in a guide book is one of the 5 most upscale shopping areas in the world. Fortunately there were some less trendy stores too, so David did a little shopping for himself. The dollar is really strong here and prices seem very reasonable.

Ended the evening with dinner at home and our 1st Malbec moment! (Louigi Bosca Reserva , 2005)

After a very lazy Sunday morning,
we left our apartment in search of a

quiet little cafe for lunch and ate jamon & queso (ham & cheese), and spinach empanadas and drank Cafe con Leche.

A wonderful Argentinian way of snacking (although I think the waiter expected us to have a more traditional lunch). Somehow the thought of having "lomo" for lunch so soon after getting up didn't make it.

Heading toward the Retiro (another neighborhood on our list of "must sees") the sun finally came out. In the Plaza San Martin, we photographed the city's most important monument - Libertador General San Martin (the Argentine equivalent to George Washington).

We know this because David and "friend" had a Spanish/English "moment".

The Plaza San Martin park in the Retiro is a warm and welcoming retreat
from the hustle and bustle of BA.

Leaving the park area we headed toward the Microcentro, with a brief pit-stop at the Marriott Hotel (next to the plaza). One street led to another and before we knew it we were in the Microcentro and roaming "the calle Florida" - a street known for it shopping. Blocks and blocks of (not so upscale) shops catering to tourists from the cruise ships.

We made no purchases, though Barbara did look for socks to buy to wear with sneakers (the sidewalks are really slippery when wet and, while not exactly fashionable, may save her from falling should it start to rain again).

It's now late afternoon and we are sipping on Malbec and eating Alfajores (a layer of Dulce de Leche - Negro, or chocolate something sandwiched between 2 chocolate covered cookies) - yum!

We think we are adjusting well, as it's now almost 9 pm (time flies when two are blogging as one :>) Time to do what we really do best...GO TO DINNER! (almost like a "porteno").

That's it for now.

Ciao.

Technical Note: Re: Creating this blog using Google Blogger. While it's easy to get it up and running, it's pretty rudimentary and frustrating to use when trying to insert and layout the pictures without having to reformat the entire post....after each picture!