12/20/2016, PostCruise Day 2, Buenos Aires
We went to this lovely French bakery at the corner from our hotel for
breakfast.
The bakery is called Le Pain Quotidien (The Daily Bread).
Vincent ordered the Petit Déjeuner - coffee, orange juice, croissant, and a bread basket with jams.
The orange juice was freshly squeezed, very refreshing.
Coffee came in a bowl, and it was only half-full.
In less than 10 seconds, the coffee was consumed.
Vincent had to ask for a refill, and it was an additional charge of 55 ARS (USD$3.50).
Mei-Ching ordered a Vegetarian Croque Monsieur. They do not serve the regular Croque Monsieur.
The Vegetarian Croque Monsieur came with spinach instead of ham.
Coffee (in a bowl) at 55 ARS was ordered separately.
Mei-Ching's Vegetarian Croque Monsieur.
The bread basket in the picture was part of Vincent's breakfast, but we shared.
After breakfast, a taxi dropped us right outside Teatro Colón.
The street in front of the theater is the 18-lane July 9 Avenue.
The obelisk is just 2 blocks south from the theater.
The majestic Teatro Colón.
The grand staircase of the theater, where society ladies like to be seen.
The white marble is from Carrara, Italy,
the yellow marble is from Siena, Italy,
and the pink marble is from Portugal.
Our young theater guide, she did a very good job.
An audition was going on in this hall.
A warm baritone voice was singing the "Di Provenza" from "La Traviata"
where the father pleaded with the son to go home to Provence with him.
We got a kick out of happening upon a beautiful voice singing a lovely aria.
The stage. Crews were working on setting it up.
No performance tonight.
Some of the box seats.
After touring the theater, we wanted to cross the busy July 9 Avenue to go to Florida street.
We needed to cross it in 2 to 3 stages.
After crossing the July 9 Avenue, we walked along the Tucuman street.
We saw a few ethnic eateries on this street.
The whole area was very bustling.
Out of the corner of our eyes, we saw fried rice, noodle and rice noodle (炒米粉).
We went in to take a look, and saw a Taiwan map poster on the wall at the far end behind the cashiers.
Many varieties of dishes on offer to accommodate local tastes.
We guess that customers pack what they want into a box and then pay by weight.
A man and a young girl each manning a cash register.
See the Taiwan map poster on the wall?
We gave the man and the girl a thumbs up, said "Taiwan" with a smile.
After about 5 blocks on Tucuman, we reached the intersection with Florida street.
We turned to the 700+ block of the Florida street.
A very bustling street corner.
Our destination was the Galerias Pacifico, at #753 Florida street.
Entering the Galleria from Florida street.
Under the fresco ceilings was a tall X'mas tree.
A very large food court in the lower level of the mall.
We had a very tasty Argentine grill (pork rib and squid) at a food court in Lisbon in 2009,
so we were hoping to find something like that here.
On the bottom row, the 5th one from left is the only pork rib, but the picture looked too big a portion,
so we ordered the 3rd from left on the top row, a Shish Kebab of chicken and beef.
The grill master did not have a kebab ready to go, so we had to wait for a long time for a kebab to be grilled.
It came with 2 choices of sides and a soda.
The plate was small, about 8-inch, so the picture looked more food than the actual plate.
But it was good enough for us to have a taste, and they were good.
We took a taxi to the arts museum, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA).
A room in the museum.
A work from Rembrandt was displayed prominently.
A very beautiful painting by an artist from Hungary.
Works from Latin American artists were displayed upstairs.