ElectroLund

The next day, we trekked out on our own, even braved the taxis (which apparently you’re not supposed to do).

Sarah y el Planetario

We went to the planetarium and guessed what the Spanish narration was lecturing.

the Universe in Spanish

Near the planetarium was a gigantic sculpture of a metallic rose complete with working petals.

sculpture, La Flor

At different times of the day, the petals lower or raise. It’s really quite fantastic.

metal petal

The Argentines really love their sculpture and public art. In this district, there were many historical and mythic statues. It gave the city that classic old world feel, a place of long tradition and significance.

sculpture

The phrase, “the dogs of B.A.”, is no exaggeration. There were dogs everywhere. Lots were strays, more were personal pets. Canines are the source of a nice little cottage industry. Take for instance this dog walker:

the dogs of Buenos Aires

Before leaving downtown, we couldn’t pass up the Avenida 9 de Julio, one of the widest thoroughfares in the world. 17 lanes!¹

Avenida de Nueve de Julio (9th of July)

In the middle of the avenue is the Obelisk in the Plaza de la República, sort of a miniature Washington monument.

That night, we went to a restaurant called Filo. It was very hip.

The cuisine was a mixture of Italian and Argentine. The thing is, the Argentines don’t start partying until late, so even dinner really doesn’t kick in full gear until 10pm. By the time we were done eating, the place finally started filling up.

Sar at the Filo (Italian & Argentine)

On our final night, we went to another restaurant called La Chakra, where we ordered the famous Parrilla assortment. It’s a customary dish of various, um, parts of the cow from the very recognizable to the somewhat indistinguishable.

The steaks were fantastic. The tripe not so much. The liver was pungent, but the lung (I think?) very delicate and tasty.

Parrilla at La Chakra

According to Wikipedia², The Spanish word parrilla means a cooking grill or barbecue of the type commonly found in South American countries.

1. more info and nice pictures at Wikipedia [↩]
2. I won’t bother linking to the article. As it turns out, “parrilla is a form of gruesome torture in South America. One can only assume that Argentines have a healthy sense of irony, as they call this dish of meat “parilla” for its vague similarity. Indeed. [↩]

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