Danelle and I planned to get up and leave by 8am to get breakfast. We were slow and didn’t get moving till almost 9am. We went by a sit down breakfast place but changed our minds. We circled back around to a bakery that looked interesting during our walk to the first place. One of the employees noticed our English and kindly switched. He apologized for his English, but even with basic words and incorrect grammar, I was grateful for what he knew. We ended up getting what I assume is the Argentine equivalent of donuts and some rolls that he recommended. We thanked him and were on our way.
Back at the house, Danelle and I started in on our yummy treats. We split each one in half to make sure we each got a variety of choices while still leaving a lot of options for the kids. Coty joined us shortly followed by Corvin and Sonora. As we ate, the 4 of them played a special game of Uno where Corvin stacked the deck first to make things “interesting”.
We planned to go to a 3pm free walking tour. We walked to the National Congress about 2 miles from our place where the tour would start and hung out waiting until 3. The were enough people that they had 2 English language tours and one in Spanish. Coty and Corvin went on the Spanish version. It was interesting learning Wikipedia level history about Argentina while being able to look at amazing architecture that was created during that historical period.
We passed one of the original copies of Rodin’s “The Thinker” as well as Palacio Barolo, a very fancy office building with a white dome topped with a lighthouse. The Palacio Barolo is too far inland for the lighthouse to be useful to ships, but is instead part of the building’s theme of Dante’s “Divine Comedy”
The guide spent a lot of time talking about Eva Peron. Reflecting, I believe that Eva was only in the public/political eye for about 6 years before her death. Its impressive that a single person that can effect so much change in a short amount of time. I am impressed by her efforts to bring up her countrypeople. The tour continued down a row of fancy buildings I believe they called government square. Lots of stuff about Italian architects. I remember almost nothing about the tour, but enjoyed looking at all of the buildings and being guided to seeing all of them.
Approaching the final stop of the tour, we passed the cathedral where Pope Francis served before becoming pope. We then spent a while in the plaza in front of the Pink House, the building which houses the office for the Argentine President. We also learned about “the disappeared” who were abducted in the 1970s and 1980s. Most were young men and women who may have been in political opposition to the dictatorship of the time. The Mothers (and Grandmothers) of Plaza de Mayo were not allowed to gather en masse in the square, so they would come out in pairs to go for a walk around the square while dozens of other pairs did the same, not talking to each other, but making their presence known.
When the tour ended, we went to a pizza place next to the Puente de la Mujer pedestrian bridge. The pizza was tasty and came with a nice view of the water and all the people enjoying an Friday afternoon/evening out.
After eating, the girls decided to take an Uber back to the house. Corvin and I wanted to walk. We walked most of the way back before stopping to get a beer together. By the time we got back after the beer, we were both feeling the drinks strongly. We picked up empanadas on the way for the family and it was a chill evening after.
