Cool shops #2

Shoe store Natacha is very nice indeed.  Yesterday I bought some converse-inspired leather shoes; the quality is great and the colour is quite unique.  They have a plethora of leather boots and lovely flats, as well as heels I would never wear but are equally enjoyable just to look at.  Oh la la.

Cool shops #1

I love Papalera Palermo, a huge paper shop in Palermo Soho that sell well, paper (obviously), hand-bound books with scren printed covers, quirky origami animals and objects, beautiful albums, art prints, I could go on...
It is the perfect place to pick up a quick gift for a friend, and they even have printing and origami workshops that you can take which look like a lot of fun and you can pick up some new gift-making techniques in the process! I went there today to buy a small gift for a friend who recently looked after my lovely cats for a weekend, and now I want to buy this Eva Peron limited-edition print...

Sabado lluvioso

Saturday it rained all day, which meant that the streets were practically empty (a rare treat!).  I went shopping, eating and coffee-drinking in Palermo Soho and took some snaps as I went.

 

Cine Lorca

I love old cinemas, and the quirkier, the better.  This is the cinema Lorca located in avenue Corrientes, in the centre of Buenos Aires.  The picture above is taken from my seat, which is almost in the middle of the longest and narrowest cinema I have ever seen!  I doubt you could even see the screen if you were sitting in the back row, and from about where I am sitting, the cinema begins to slope upwards so if you are sitting any further forward you have to look up, and you can´t rest your head on the seat because they are too low.  The walls are wood panelling from the 70s, the seats cream vinyl, the majority of people that go there are old ladies and odd characters.  Fittingly, I saw the new Polanski film Ghostwriter, very Hitchcock-esque and the perfect setting for this film.

Windows

A few weeks ago I went to Santa Fe to visit the family of my boyfriend and also had time to catch up with friends.  Some friends that used to live in Buenos Aires have moved back to the place that they grew up, very close to Santa Fe in a pueblo called Rincon, which in English means corner.  It´s small, basic, very green and quiet, with dirt roads and a very calm vibe.  These friends are about to have their first baby and are in the process of building a lovely house, next to the family home of one of them.  I fell in love with the windows, the light, the glass and the garden (and the family pets which include four cats and four dogs!)

This cat is called Kiwi and has the biggest head I have ever seen!

The ugly-pretty

My new thing is taking an interest in things that are not necessarily inherently attractive, and I have dubbed this the "ugly-pretty".  This city is full of ugly alongside pretty; an 18th Century building next to a 1970s tower of apartments, an old abandoned building with doors and windows that have been cemented in to prevent people occupying the building.

These buildings for example; their form, colours and the architecture interests me, but not because it´s pretty, because it´s almost kind of ugly.  I walk past here every day and I love the way the building looks at different times of the day, according to the light.  Here it´s late afternoon, when the sky has a soft glow and you know that darkness is soon coming.

Another entrance

Another building entrance to a friend´s apartment.  This time the entrance is enormous which makes you feel quite grand, walking down the deep green velvet carpet past the white fireplace.  I love the letters on the doors, the detailing on the walls and the double door entrance.