Buenos Aires

Thursday, March 16, 2017

A full day touring Buenos Aires.  We started at the Plaza de Mayo, the central square of the city.  In this view, the building with the tower is the City Council Building, the old white building is the old City Hall, and the very French building to the right is the new City Hall:

  

On the other side of the Plaza is the Presidential Palace, with the famous Eva Peron balcony:

Looking down one of the main streets leading off of the Plaza you can see a giant obelisk which was erected in 1936 to celebrate 400 years since the founding of the city:

 On a third side of the Plaza is the façade of the Metropolitan Cathedral.  The Cathedral was started in the 16^th century, but the surprising neo-Classical façade was built in the 19^th century: 

The interior is beautiful: 

And there is a massive gold-plated silver altar:

  

We arrived to find a very unusual sight for the inside of a church: the changing of the guard at a side chapel which contains the tomb of Jose de San Martin:

  

Jose de San Martin was the “Liberator” of Argentina, Chile and Peru, and his tomb is quite special:

 Another very unusual part of the Cathedral is the side chapel with the tomb of Antonio Cardinal Quarracino.  In 1992 there was a bombing here of the Israeli embassy with a number of deaths, and then in 1994 the JCC was bombed, again with many deaths.  The crimes have never been solved, although suspicion has fallen on Iran and Hezbollah.  Cardinal Quarracino felt the need to memorialize those who died, and created this pure silver frame (the name Argentina is derived from argent, silver), in a side chapel in the cathedral.  Inside the frame are pieces from the ruins caused by the bombs.  On the frame are symbols from Jewish practice.  

Cardinal Quarracino’s tomb is in the same chapel:

  

We drove around the city and took some walks.  Here’s the entrance to the BOCA Stadium:

We wandered a funky arts district:

And we walked along a canal which has many shops and restaurants and great views of part of downtown:

 We learned that since the establishment of a democracy and the end of the dictatorship, demonstrations of various sorts have been increasing in frequency, and often these days are quite disruptive to the functioning of the city.  Well, we ran into just that.  A demonstration for greater pay for nurses and teachers made it impossible for our bus to get to our lunch restaurant, so we walked through the demonstration to get there.  It was quite rowdy.  A large flatbed truck had blocked a major street, there was blaring music, and marchers with signs, chanting, etc.  Here’s a short clip:

We finally arrived at Café Tortoni, a long-standing hangout for starving artists who paid in artworks.  Some of them have gone on to become famous, and supposedly the art and sculpture in the restaurant is very valuable.  Here’s the café:

  

And here’s some of the art and sculpture:

  

Finally, after a late lunch, we spent some time shopping in the lovely shops.  The leather goods are especially beautiful.  Tonight we’ll go to “the best tango show in South America”.  We’ll see—report to come.