Day One – January 27, 2015

Night View of Buenos Aires borrowed from the Internet

This is the first day of the trip. I  had to get up at 4:30 AM this morning to catch an early flight into Miami. I will have to transfer from Delta Airlines to an Argentinian Airline called LAN.  Because the weather is unpredictable this time of year I booked an early flight into Miami.  I will have at least an 8 hour wait before departing for Argentina at 7:30 PM. The nine hour flight to Buenos Aires should get us there very early in the morning, probably exhausted.  The photo above is the obelisk or “Obelisco” in the center of Avenue 9 De Julio. Sorry but this is not my photo, unfortunately.  I hope to post my photos and some videos for the rest of this blog and maybe I can replace this one if I get a chance. Today my friend and I arrived in Buenos Aires ready to start an interesting 6 day tour of the city and environs.  We landed in Buenos Aires in the middle of a rain storm which made the city wet and the sky above, gloomy. The problems started immediately after departing the plane.  The first incident involved the no show of the transportion vehicle.  We were unaware of the  12  hour pre-arrival phone call we had to make.  It took a bit of work to resolve the transportation problem but it was solved when a second driver arrived wandering in the crowd with his little hand written sign.  So, off  we sauntered behind the rotund but quick walking driver into the pouring rain. He seemed a nice of enough fellow  but our communication attempts were abysmal. He spoke  very little English and we  spoke little Spanish.  We arrived at the hotel after a long ride through the busy streets of Buenos Aires. At the hotel ,unfortunately, we had  some problems also. This time there were issues with the bedrooms.  The rooms seemed nice enough, though small in girth with high ceilings. It’s very modern furniture beligh ;the history of this hotel which in its nadir, hosted the crème de la crème of the city in the early 20th century. The name “Savoy Hotel” harkens back to glamorous times of by-gone days. The elegance of the stairway, and lobbies reek of craftsmanship and and ambience. I suggest going online and Googling the “Savoy Hotel Buenos Aires”.. Dispite all the high praise there were problems.  My friends room safe was missing a door and my rooms’ TV remote control.  had corroded batteries in it.  They fixed the problems promptly and efficiently but made me wonder a bit. After getting our rooms, we crashed. We had flown about 9 hours out of Miami Airport and arrived quite early in the morning.  After meeting to decide how to spend the rest of the day, we decided to the visit a dramatically beautiful book

El Ateneo Book Store in Converted Theatre

store created in a space which was formerly a stage and music theatre. The bookstore is called the El Ateneo Grand Splendid Bookstore. We looking for a restaurant later in an area called the Recoleta area.  The rainy skies cleared  by evening. I took this photos with my camera photo of the 3/4 moon and a street light.   The center piece the area is the Dazzier Tower Recolta. We were not able to go into the place at the late hour as the street lights came on. It was a pretty evening so we headed back to the hotel; when the worst thing happened.  My friend was pick-pocketed. We stopped at an ice cream store for a cup of ice cream.  To young girls sat at a table behind us.  My friend, who stowed her camera in her knapsack  realized the knapsack had be unzipped and the contents removed just after the left the store.  In seconds they had undone the zippers and lifted her camera from her bag. What a shocker!!!