I slept like crazy last night. Or like the dead. Or like a log. I have no idea why there are so many bad metaphors for it, but there you have it: I slept well, and a lot.
Anyhow, I guess I must have needed the sleep. I had very vivid and bizarre dreams (I was living in some sort of artist-y loft space with a big group of people, and we were redecorating...)
Ann had appointments today, so I was on my own from (a rather late) breakfast until late afternoon. I started out by walking through a pseudo-mall called Design Buenos Aires that specializes in home decor, furniture and handicrafts. I was really impressed by a Chinese carriage that I thought would make a nice companion piece to our fez cabinet. Unfortunately I didn't have 12,000 pesos with me...
After that I found my way to the famous Cementerio de la Recoleta (Recoleta Cemetary), which is amazing and beautiful and eerie and unique. I took a lot of photos, which you can see on my flickr account. It had rained earlier in the morning and the light was perfect for cemetary wandering: bright, yet somber.
I then had some trouble finding my next location, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Museum of Arts) and somehow took a bridge that made me pass right next to it. Luckily this put me right by the famous sculpture Floralis Genérica, which you can see in this lovely photo that I took:



The musuem itself was a bit strange. There was no huge and imposing entrance line mobbed with tourists, and no huge museum shop beckoning me. I was asked by a security guard to check my bag, and when I decided a few minutes later that I couldn't really do that (since my bag = my purse) and stepped out of that line, I was able to walk right in to the European galleries, which were amazingly quiet and gorgeous. It was more dimly lit than in North American museums, and the relative calm of it was exactly what I needed. I lingered through the Modiglianis, gaxed at some little known Picassos for quite awhile, and watched a group of kids wander through with some sort of schoolteacher. I kept wondering if I'd stumbled in through some side entrance and the crowds were elsewhere.

I ended up near a contemporary Korean art exhibit called "Peppermint Candy" which was amazing. I couldn't read any of the labels and they didn't have an English guide to the exhibit, but I think that actually added to my enjoyment. Steve would have loved it too, so I bought the exhibit book (which does have English translation). You can see some of the photos I took inside the galleries on my flickr site.

I was starving by this time (it was around 3:30 pm) and so I went to the closest place to get a bite, which was some sort of Maserati/Ferrari themed cafe. Weird. The pizza wasn't all that good, but the service was great and I enjoyed my sugar-cane-fueled Coca-cola.

I met up with Ann and Donatella around 4:30 at the hotel so that we could go and tour the workshop of the amazing silversmith Juan Carlos Pallarols (check out his website, even though they're still 'burnishing our Englih Site'). Through Donatella and another translating assistant, he told us amazing stories about meeting dignitaries like the Princess of Holland and the Prince of Japan, as well as the pope (who apparently uses a mirror from Juan Carlos to shave!). He showed us all around his workshop, including tools handed down through the past three generations (he is the sixth generation of silversmith in his family, and he is teaching his son and grandson). He is currently working on an altarpiece, and even let us hammer a piece of silver using one of his molds. He was such a lovely and sweet man, as were his assistants, who were patient with us while we toured around (and I took lots of photos). They even gave us sips of yerba mate (not exactly my cup of tea, heh-heh) from one of the gorgeous gourds he had made. What an incredible experience.

We wandered around San Telmo for a bit after that, then went out "early" (9 pm reservation) for dinner at what's reputed to be the best place in town to get fish. We had a lovely dinner and then were supposed to meet up with Donatella to go clubbing, but she didn't want to leave until 1 (apparently clubs aren't really even open until 2 am or so...), so stopped back at the hotel. We're both so absolutely spent that we were relieved when things fell through, so Ann got to have a Skype call with Andy, and I was able to postpostpost to this blog.

I realize that clubbing until 5 am is part of the BA experience, but I can't get excited about it at all. I'd much rather drink Malbec with dinner and then chill out...

Buenas noches!