Monday February 27, 2012
Breakfast was in the hotel’s dining room. The buffet was
included in the room’s price. Some members
of the group were eating when we arrived around 8 a.m. After breakfast, we were
ready for more exploring, so checked out and put the luggage in storage until
we were bused to the airport at 2 p.m.
We saw a few members of our group, sitting in the lobby, but still had more than two hours before needing to be ready for the bus. So we headed west on Avenida Del Libertador to United Nations Square to photograph to steel flower, then found a western route to zig zag back to the hotel and stop for a frappe at a Havanna café half a block from our hotel.
I took over 55 photos today which filled the memory card. We were back to the hotel with 15 minutes to spare having logged about 12 to 15 km today.
The bus arrived at 2 p.m. to take the group to the airport terminal. It only took 30 minutes to get to the international airport. We waited in long lines for about an hour, to check-in and clear Argentine Customs and proceed through security and wait another 90 minutes to board the plane. We are sad the vacation is over, but glad to be going home. The plane leaves Buenos Aires on time for Santiago. We will fly over the Andes Mountains en route. In Santiago, we all get off the plane through the airport into Chilean Customs and Immigration and back on to the same plane for the 10 hour 30 minute flight to Toronto. We manage to get a few hours of sleep on the plane. When we arrive in Toronto and we go to Canadian Customs and Immigration, get our bags, clear security and find the gate for the plane home. The wait for the flight home was about 45 minutes before boarding the plane. Then the plane was an hour late leaving Toronto, due a maintenance problem. The flight took about two hours and 20 minutes. After collecting the luggage, we took a cab home. We were safely home just 27 hours after leaving our hotel in Buenos Aires.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
We enjoyed our last breakfast in the ship’s dining room. There were only about 15 people at 7:30 a.m. on
this Sunday morning. We were back to our
room and checked out before 8 a.m. and went to our meeting place for
disembarkation in Buenos Aires. Since
there was time before we left the ship, I gave Larr my carry-on bag then I
walked up the 8 flights of stairs to Deck 11’s track, took some pictures and
walked 1 1/4 miles. There was a 15 km wind, but it was about 17C
and sunny, promising a day’s high of 25C.
Since my watch broke the night before, I stayed too long walking and our
hostess came to get me since everyone in our group was ready to go. She took
the elevator down 8 decks and must have had some stops since we arrived at our
meeting room together. There were many
groups in different areas of the ship waiting for their turn to disembark. Our group of 42 disembarked to one of the
shuttle buses taking passengers to the Puerto de Buenos Aires Customs Terminal
to collect our luggage, pass through Customs and Immigration and on to our tour
bus. It was a short 20
minute drive to the hotel to drop off the luggage and then start the 3 ½ hour
city tour. Our hotel was near the corner of Reconquista and Paraguay in the Centro
barrio (neighbourhood) in Buenos Aires. Our first stop was San Martin Square, in
honour of Don José de San Martin,
an Argentine
general and hero, who lead the people of the southern colonies of Spanish South America in their successful
independence struggle from 1812 to July 9, 1816 when Argentina proclaimed
independence.
In early May 1810, the Spanish population of Buenos Aires became aware that Napoleon Bonaparte had defeated and replaced their king. They did not want to be ruled by Napoleon’s brother, Joseph, so on May 25, 1810, in what later was called the ‘May Revolution’, the citizens formed a junta which started their struggle for independence from Spain ending on 9th July 1816.
On our
way to the Palermo barrio, we saw the Tower Clock, from the Argentine British
community, commemorating the 1810 May Revolution centennial; the embassies of
Portugal and Greece; mounted police; and wide avenues that were 10 to 14 lanes
wide with two boulevards. We drove thorough the parks of the area. Then turning
back and visiting the Recoleta Cemetery, with its walkways between mausoleums including
that of Eva Perron. Since it was Sunday,
there were stalls of goods of many kinds along the pathways through the park to
the cemetery. Here, a plot for a mausoleum starts at US$250,000.
We stopped for about half an hour to wander the park and cemetery then, back on the bus and back to Avenida Santa Fe and on to Avenida 9 de Julio, a fourteen lane wide street with two boulevards.
Here in the San Nicolas barrio is the Colon Theatre, which is the Opera House, and the Obelisk, at the intersection of Avenida 9 de Julio and Avenida Corrientes. The Obelisk commemorates the fourth centenary of the first establishment of Buenos Aires.
Next, we proceed to Plaza de Mayo for a stop of 20 minutes to see the colonial Town Hall, the pink Government House, the national bank and inside the Metropolitan Cathedral, where the mausoleum of San Martin is located.
Back on the bus we go to the La Boca barrio, where the soccer stadium is located, as well as Caminito, where in a two or three block area are shops, restaurants and Tango couples performing on street corners for tips. Here, we had a 30 minute stop for exploring Caminito. This is part of the city’s oldest port on La Plata River which is no longer used.
Then next to it is Puerto Madero which was Buenos Aires’ port for a short time on La Plata River from 1896 to 1911, when larger ships made it obsolete. It was replaced by the current docks area, Neuvo Peurto. Puerto Madero’s old warehouses have been redeveloped into a private university as well as apartments with main floor restaurants, movie theatres, offices and shops and at the south end there is a floating Casino.
There are places to walk, an old frigate turned
into a floating school that is now a museum,
old dock equipment and a pedestrian bridge.
The pedestrian bridge is called the Women’s Bridge to honour the women whose sons, brothers, husbands or fathers disappeared during political troubles in the 1980s and 1990s. These docks are just a short walk from our hotel.
The bus then returned us to the hotel in order to check in. Our guide will return this evening with a bus to transport us to dinner and tango show. We settled into our room which seems huge, compared to our stateroom which was only 176 square feet. Then we headed out to explore the Centro, San Telmo, Monserrat and San Nicolas barrios, starting by going to the pedestrian mall Avenida Florida. It is a long 14 long blocks. Here we found the shopping mall Galleria Pacifico with a food court and had a lunch of tostados and a soft drink. Refreshed, we continued south to the end of Avenida Florida, then west on Avenida San Juan to Avenida 9 de Julio to get a good picture of the Obelisk, but detoured to Congress Square, which was just 15 short blocks from Plaza de Mayo, that we had seen on the bus tour. We zig-zagged back to Avenida 9 de Julio and found the Obelisk then, walked the six short blocks and five long blocks to the hotel for a water break. Then we ventured over a few blocks to San Martin Square and then a block further to take pictures of the English clock tower.
In early May 1810, the Spanish population of Buenos Aires became aware that Napoleon Bonaparte had defeated and replaced their king. They did not want to be ruled by Napoleon’s brother, Joseph, so on May 25, 1810, in what later was called the ‘May Revolution’, the citizens formed a junta which started their struggle for independence from Spain ending on 9th July 1816.
On our
way to the Palermo barrio, we saw the Tower Clock, from the Argentine British
community, commemorating the 1810 May Revolution centennial; the embassies of
Portugal and Greece; mounted police; and wide avenues that were 10 to 14 lanes
wide with two boulevards. We drove thorough the parks of the area. Then turning
back and visiting the Recoleta Cemetery, with its walkways between mausoleums including
that of Eva Perron. Since it was Sunday,
there were stalls of goods of many kinds along the pathways through the park to
the cemetery. Here, a plot for a mausoleum starts at US$250,000.
We stopped for about half an hour to wander the park and cemetery then, back on the bus and back to Avenida Santa Fe and on to Avenida 9 de Julio, a fourteen lane wide street with two boulevards.
Here in the San Nicolas barrio is the Colon Theatre, which is the Opera House, and the Obelisk, at the intersection of Avenida 9 de Julio and Avenida Corrientes. The Obelisk commemorates the fourth centenary of the first establishment of Buenos Aires.
Next, we proceed to Plaza de Mayo for a stop of 20 minutes to see the colonial Town Hall, the pink Government House, the national bank and inside the Metropolitan Cathedral, where the mausoleum of San Martin is located.
Back on the bus we go to the La Boca barrio, where the soccer stadium is located, as well as Caminito, where in a two or three block area are shops, restaurants and Tango couples performing on street corners for tips. Here, we had a 30 minute stop for exploring Caminito. This is part of the city’s oldest port on La Plata River which is no longer used.
Then next to it is Puerto Madero which was Buenos Aires’ port for a short time on La Plata River from 1896 to 1911, when larger ships made it obsolete. It was replaced by the current docks area, Neuvo Peurto. Puerto Madero’s old warehouses have been redeveloped into a private university as well as apartments with main floor restaurants, movie theatres, offices and shops and at the south end there is a floating Casino.
There are places to walk, an old frigate turned
into a floating school that is now a museum,
old dock equipment and a pedestrian bridge.
The pedestrian bridge is called the Women’s Bridge to honour the women whose sons, brothers, husbands or fathers disappeared during political troubles in the 1980s and 1990s. These docks are just a short walk from our hotel.
The bus then returned us to the hotel in order to check in. Our guide will return this evening with a bus to transport us to dinner and tango show. We settled into our room which seems huge, compared to our stateroom which was only 176 square feet. Then we headed out to explore the Centro, San Telmo, Monserrat and San Nicolas barrios, starting by going to the pedestrian mall Avenida Florida. It is a long 14 long blocks. Here we found the shopping mall Galleria Pacifico with a food court and had a lunch of tostados and a soft drink. Refreshed, we continued south to the end of Avenida Florida, then west on Avenida San Juan to Avenida 9 de Julio to get a good picture of the Obelisk, but detoured to Congress Square, which was just 15 short blocks from Plaza de Mayo, that we had seen on the bus tour. We zig-zagged back to Avenida 9 de Julio and found the Obelisk then, walked the six short blocks and five long blocks to the hotel for a water break. Then we ventured over a few blocks to San Martin Square and then a block further to take pictures of the English clock tower.
There are many tall buildings along the main streets, which are apartments either rented or owned. There are very few houses in these barrios. I have taken over 150 photos just today! We walked over 14 km this afternoon. We returned to the hotel to see about Internet connections, but being low on Argentine pesos, decided not to get any Internet time, since we will be home in two days. At 8 p.m., we met the group in the lobby to go to the Esquina Carlos Gardel for dinner and a tango show, with dancers and singers. The evening was enjoyable with lots of red Malbec wine, good food and a wonderful show.
We didn’t get back to the hotel until 12:30 and called it a day.
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