Downtown Buenos Aires

We had a lot of fun exploring downtown BA, mostly on foot, but the girls also got their first taste of a subway. This was just a couple of days after our flight down from the States, and everything was new –– the sights of a new city, the smells of bread baking and coffee wafting through the cafe doors, the sounds of musicians playing everything from tango (of course!) to jazz. And the girls also got their first experience of protests – this was just prior to Argentina’s Labor Day, and there was a definite police presence with protests gearing up, and even lots of riot fencing waiting if needed.

Our hotel was on 9 de Julio, the largest avenue in the world – with the two girls in tow, it always took us two light cycles to get all the way across! Our first day, we walked 8.5 miles around the center of the city – we visited the obelisk, walked down to Puerto Madero and saw the famous Puente de la Mujer, saw the Casa Rosada (‘Pink House’ – the Argentinian president’s executive mansion and office), and the beautiful Catedral Metropolitana, which is actually one of the churches in which the current Catholic pope, Pope Francis, said mass as Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

The girls got their first ride on a subway the next day, visiting the Recoleta cemetery as well as wandering around the area of Recoleta and buying jewelry from street vendors.