Buenos Aires

I sometimes think that perhaps I should feel a larger sense of amazement when exiting the aircraft in a foreign land. I was talking with a coworker with it on the way down south the other night and here's what we agreed:
1. We step into our office and board passengers.
2. We throw some drinks around (and if you're lucky) some food.
3. We read the paper and do some crosswords.
4. We occasionally walk up and down the aisle.
5. We take a nap.
6. We leave the office 8 hours later.
7. Said office doesn't move (at least it doesn't seem to when you don't look out the window).
9. Voila its all over. Sometimes I think that I haven't moved at all and someone just changed the scenery.

But it was nice to see someplace new. I've figured out that I've been on 4 continents this year alone (well 4 1/2 if you count Kuwait as a semi-continental area unto itself. I'm never really sure if its considered Asia or Europe).

It was cloudy and rainy when we got in. I took a nap for a couple of hours and then popped out to tour the city before meeting up for dinner.

We stay near downtown B.A. in an area of renovated piers. The actual downtown is a mishmash of building styles from the belle epoque to art noveau to, well, gaudy and 1950s ugly.



I stopped first at the Casa Rosada to see the balcony where Madonna sang (the guard says its there on the left, but he was awful young and I don't think was there to actually see her).



I walked along Florida Street, the main shopping thoroughfare (some beautiful buildings that they went and ugly-fied on street level and prices that I thought were not all that much of a bargain) and then came to Plaza San Martin (named after the founder of the country. And right at the bottom of the square was this tower - the British clock tower. The name was changed after the Fawklands war in 1982 but apparently everyone still calls it the clock tower.



I hopped on the subway and headed back towards the main square (a 15 minute walk from the hotel) and found a fun march through the square so I stopped to watch.

And then I started hearing the firecrackers and noticed the SWAT team in formation ready to respond and realized that perhaps this wasn't a "happy" march!
So I moved along and walked by this building , which has something to do with the military (either that or the military just decided to use their front lawn as an outdoor museum). I think this was my favorite building that I saw that day....