The day started a little rainy so we put our boots and rain jackets on and went out to explore the city. The first thing in the itinerary for the day was to get another free walking tour starting at 10:30 am at Teatro Colon. We had some time to grab breakfast and decided to eat nearby the meeting point. We walked around and ended up at Metro Cafe on Avenida 9 de Julio. The café had a whole table full of pastries so of course we decided to stay there (we are suckers for sweets).
The two gentlemen working at the cafe were beyond sweet and nice (and patient with all my friend's broken Spanish!) All of us decided to try almost every single pastry on the table! We grabbed a plate and Neil, Kate, Bianca, and Mia started pointing at what they wanted and filled their plates full of media lunas, palmeritas, pastel de manzana, churros con dulce de leche, galletas con mermelada... If it was on that table.. We had it!!! And it was delicious!!!! In addition some ordered coffee and tea, and breakfast sandwiches that were really yummy... The best one being the coffee with dulce de leche and walnuts... Yummyyy
By the end of our meal the man behind the counter, Leo, invited us to go back there and take a photo:
They even advised us on where to go visit and what to do in Buenos Aires... So kind! We loved them!! When it was time to pay we got our bill and NONE of the pastries were on it (I think they lost count of how much we ordered) so I told them there was an error and both of them said not to worry about it... Their treat!!!! That made us like them even more (haha) so at the end we made sure to cover the pastries fees in their tip! I think we all fell a little more in love with Argentinians! As a Latina I had this idea of Argentinians being a little arrogant but so far in our couple of days in the country I have only encountered very nice Argentinians!
After a breakfast of champions we went to the free walking tour and met Mariano, the guide.
The tour lasted over three hours and we covered so much that I can't even remember the details (haha) and made me wish I had brought a pen and paper like the old lady on the tour that seemed to be recording every word that came out of Mariano's mouth!
We started the walk by looking at the opera house and then walked to many plazas along the way to the recoleta cemetery.
We then stopped in Plaza San Martin, in honor of Jose Martin who started the movement of liberation of South America.
We strolled the richest part of Buenos Aires and saw some of the mansions left from the Spanish and Italian era. Nowadays all the mansions have been turned into embassies (the French one being the most beautiful) and hotels like the four seasons:
The tour ended in Cementerio Recoleta where Evita is buried. The cemetery is beautiful and massive, the tombs are decorated with sculptures of all kinds. We strolled for about half an hour until we found Evita and then got out of there... We were hungry!!
After lunch we found the best place ever... A pastry shop with EVERYTHING DULCE DE LECHE!!!! Yum yum yum!!!!
At night we had our new group meeting! Seven of us stayed on and we have 9 new members and a new CEO!!! The meeting was short and sweet and our new CEO seems to be amazing... I liked him even more after he said "I am here for you and I'll break my back to make this trip unforgettable!!" He seems very genuine and experienced... Can't wait for the next 17 days!!!
For dinner we had a reservation at a very fancy restaurant... Tarquino!
The restaurant is beautifully decorated and looked very posh!
The basket of breads was delightful!
We started with a "pizza" started which turned out to be a deconstructed version that didn't even come close to a pizza it tasted between cheese mousse and fondue... They should sent their Chef to Italy to learn what a pizza really is! (It didn't even come close to a deconstructed version!)
Then we all ordered our main... I had the ravioli dish without the Rabbit... Such a rip off! I got FOUR miserable ravioli for the same price of 3 ravioli and 2 big medallions of Rabbit!!! :-/
There were good but not worth $5.50 PER RAVIOLI!!!
Service was terrible...if they are trying to be a high end restaurant charging very high prices then the service should be flawless! We waited half an hour for two mojitos!! When the first one arrived it was a gin and tonic! Then we waited another 20 mins for the worst mojitos ever... The ONE piece of mint in them was black and they used the wrong kind of rum and it was just horrible we had to send them back and we stuck to water.
Some had ordered a bottle of wine and the glasses were empty all the time and for long periods that it made us stand up, grab the bottle and serve ourselves!
By the end of the meal we were all disappointed with the restaurant since it was supposed to be a very good one and the service and food didn't really match our expectations (not the price!)
After our meal we decided to go to a speakeasy bar... Frank's!
In order to get it we had to knock on a black door (with no sign) and only say the password: JEAN ARP for the bouncer to let us in.
It was funny because it was 6 of us and in Buenos Aires you have to look very nicely to get in and Bianca was wearing sneakers which is a big no-no so all the "dressed up" ones stood in front and covered her so they would let us in.
The bouncer gave us an ok and proceeded to tell me to dial a number on the phone in the phone boot for the door to open to get into the bar... SO COOL!!!!
Once inside the bar was really nice, we met up with some people from the group, had a couple of drinks and called it a day! Lots of fun!!
No comments:
Post a Comment