This weekend has been filled with lots of sight-seeing. Some things I have seen:
Recoleta Cemetary: the stunning cemetary for the rich and famous of Buenos Aires, filled with above-ground masoleums. Evita Peron is buried here. I walked through the Doric columns of the gate (graciously donated by the super-rich Alvear family of BA) and just sucked in my breath. It is like a miniature city inside. I shuffled past the crowd of people around Evita's grave to grab my glimpse of her final resting place in the Duarte family tomb. I also saw the Panteon de los Guerreros del Paraguay, a monument to those who died in the War of the Triple Alliance against Paraguay. Near that was the grave of Angel Firpos, a famous Argentinian boxer who fought Jack Dempsey for the world heavyweight title in 1923. The place was filled with feral cats too!
Museo Nacional De Bellas Artes: Oh wow, I couldn't believe it was free to get in! I kept looking for a place to pay, but they just wanted to store my bag instead. They had a beautiful collection of European art, including the likes of Degas, Monet, Picasso, Renoir, El Greco, Goya, Rubens...the list goes on of well-known names. But, perhaps my favorite part was upstairs, where they housed the Argentine art. Some of their major artists are heavily influenced by their European training. My favorite would have to be Xul Solar, with his brightly-colored surrealistic tempera paintings. I also enjoyed (enjoyed is not the right word for such a piece, perhaps appreciated is more appropriate) Analogy One by Grippo. It is a modern art piece that has a bunch of potatoes in cubby holes connected to electrodes. It is a powerful piece if you know that it was his statement about the torture and crimes committed by the country's past dictatorship.
Floralis Generica: What else does a city need but a 25 meter high aluminum flower? It sounds strange, but the sculpture is pretty magnificent. Even better, it closes at night because of its light sensors. It was a gift to the city by the architect Catalano, as a tribute to all flowers, an overall symbol of the city's "new spring."
Okay, so enough with sounding like a tour guide, but the city, from my first day exploring, absolutely took my breath away. It was so neat to be in a place where you could see Evita's grave, dine in a cafe, and peruse beautiful artwork. More places that I visited to come!
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