Sorry for the delay, but with the whole photobucket killing all the photos , then me having work (insurance) exams and them having to prep for my sommelier exam, this sort of fell aside.And I did pass
Anyways, Buenos Aires Day 2.After the first day of being in the Holiday Inn (needed points to keep my account going), I then moved to the Sheraton Libertador. I was going to take the bus, but the day prior I had actually walked to where it was and figured I could do it easily enough.So off I went luggage and all. Took me just under 15mins. Luckily I wasn’t hauling around more than a bottle of wine, so no biggie.Anyways, here is the room. Right across from the train/bus terminal that I would be taking to Mendonza on Friday. How’s the room and the view? Here it is.
Daytime
Nighttime
Not too shabby and the room is pretty big.I did some more walking around but didn’t actually do a tour. I had wanted to go to a wine bar later in the evening, but when trying to buy the subway pass, I got the gouged tourist pricing. Not wanting to play that “game”, I decided to pass and instead just stay in the hotel and read for an upcoming workinsurance exam. Anyways, I pretty much just wandered around Recoleta.
While it’s nice and I get the attraction, I can’t say I’m massive fan. I was planning on doing a tour the next day though so didn’t really plan to do too much since I wanted to avoid back tracking.While I did take photos, and walked around a mall, near the mall, I swear I walked by the guy that plays Jamie Lannister on Game of Thrones. He looked like he was on holiday and had a tour guide. I did a double take, but he walked into a church (I’d walked out about 30 seconds earlier) and didn’t want to go double check ala creeper to see if it was him. While I did wait around outside for about 2-3mins after, I felt it was a bit stalkerish to keep waiting. I guess I’ll never know! Anyways, some photos of my afternoon. The next day was pretty much a write off since it was a holiday. Also the weather was crappy and the tour was cancelled. Yay. I also wasn’t feeling 100%, so decided to take it easy. Still a waste of a day all in all. So now onto my last day in BA.
Here are a few random photos I took around of BA
The tomb of Jose de San Martin. Liberator of the Southern South American Colonies from the Spanish.
Neat buliding
Don't mess with her
Coin Op elevator...
Dragons are real
...?! The story is that it was a gift from Canada. Seems a bit out of place though... ah well...
Mafalda
Yes you can pose. Yes I did. No I'm not uploading that photo.
Since the tour I’d wanted to do wasn’t done the day prior, I spent my last real day doing both tours. AM was the traditional area (and a bit of San Telmo) and the PM was around Recoleta.
While I did walk around San Telmo on my 1st day, this time we skirted it. Some photos of the free tour in the AM.
I did think it was a lady eating a hamburger from far away originally...
As close as I got to Iguazu Falls. They have a mini version in BA.
Pink House
All in all, I would recommend either of the free tours (
Buenos Aires Free Walking Tour - BAFreeTour). Both guides were witty and came across as genuine honest. They didn’t try to sugarcoat things by trying to say that BA was some type of Utopia. They were upfront about the government, but did stop just short of giving their choice of political party except to say that “changes are needed”. No pictures of the afternoon tour. Nothing worthwhile photowise, really. One thing both guides were pretty open about the Falkland Islands war.
Interesting to hear the Argentine perspective (I majored in Spanish Studies in university and although our profs tried to be neutral about it, they were slightly biased and in favour of the British, as am I) however the reality is that if the residents are to remain part of the UK, let them vote on it, which happened recently.
What business does Argentina have to say otherwise? The latter is my opinion. In any case, it wasn’t my place (or time) to get political.
The tours are based on tips/pay what you can.
Anyways, I had to get back to the hotel to check out as I was leaving that evening for Mendoza on the sleeper bus. It’s a double decker bus.