Night Shots

 

On a night hotter than most, we ventured out to see a friend in a jazz quartet in Retiro, in the craziest bar i have ever been to.  In amongst the train tracks in a huge warehouse shed, is the home and workspace of an artist who, on weekends, opens his space as a bar.  From the mosquitos, to wiping my chair down with the toilet paper provided on the table, to the absence of a fan on a 30 degree evening, to seeing a huge turkey in the shed nextdoor, it was a very interesting experience.  Afterwards we walked through the barrio of Recoleta where i took a couple of shots of a beautiful old light in a square on Alvear, and we went to a great old place for some pizza.

Stencil and Building

Day 2: Nice Building

Every Tuesday i have Spanish classes about a 15 minute walk from my work, and i always pass by some lovely old buildings.  This one is on Avenida Santa Fe, just in front of Alto Palermo Shopping, a fancy shopping centre that is home to such western beauties as Calvin Klein and Starbucks (it´s a big deal here!). These buildings often have beautiful entrances and those old cage-style elevators, which i hope to get some pictures of at some stage.

Camera Shame

I hate to admit it but i suffer from camera shame.  I never realised it before but since being in Argentina it has crept up on me, and when the time comes to whip out my little digital camera, i look around me and if there are a few people i usually just keep walking straight past my photo opportunity.  In Buenos Aires people have a habit of staring, whether you are simply passing by or doing something peculiar.  It is a city of gawkers and unless you are in a touristy area you will not see people taking photos anywhere.

So to help combat this little problem that i have, i am going to attempt to take one photo per day, of something interesting that i walk past on my travels.  Let´s see how we go...

My first photo is of a tiled wall that i walk past most days, and i always think about how much i like the print.  It´s the wall of someone´s apartment, and a very plain looking apartment at that, but nevertheless i like the texture and colour of the print.

Congreso

The neighbourhood of Congreso takes it´s name from the building of Congress that is a focal point in this very old area of the city.  The grand avenue Avenida de Mayo is the heart of Congreso and it´s design was inspired by the avenues of Madrid, Barcelona and Paris and was constucted in 1894.  Walking it´s tree-lined streets today gives you a glimpse into the grand and splendid past that Buenos Aires once knew, and there are many buildings that will help to transport you back there.  These are some architectural features that i just love.

 

 

 

 

 

These days Congreso is a neighbourhood with a lot of character, mixing these beautiful architectural details from the past with a grittier reality.  There are many hotels, both upper and lower scale, and ofcourse many protests that occur infront of the congress building.  Avenida de Mayo links the Casada Rosada (the presidential palace) with the building of Congress, and many protests begin at one of these points and fill the streets inbetween.  I think the mix of all these elements gives you a great representation of what Buenos Aires is today: a rich past, a problematic present and a lot of attitude.

 

 

 

 

Pizzeria Kentucky

You can´t get much more traditional with pizzerias in Buenos Aires than Kentucky, besides maybe Guerrin, but that´s another post.  My preferred way to eat is sitting on the stools in the bar, where you can buy pizza by the slice and a tumbler of red wine costs you 4 pesos.  The signature pizza here is the fugazzeta rellena, which is basically as much cheese and onion as you can fit both on top and inside the pizza.  I know it sounds like a grease injection, and it is!  But so good...

 

 

 

This type of pizza restaurant is by no means cheap, and to sit down in the restaurant and order and large pizza and a litre of cerveza will cost you.  But ordering by the slice and sitting on a stool in the front bar, where you can watch the guys making the pizzas, is a great option.  This is where you will find the taxistas (taxi drivers) taking a break from their 12 hour shifts and sharing some laughs, or a group of old men that have been regulars for the last 15 years.  Pizza is a food group here all by itself.

Summer in the City

Well it´s officially verano again.  So far it has not been like the summer we had last year which was pretty much oh-my-god-i-am-going-to-die every day, but today someone certainly decided to crank up the intensity of the heat.  Because Buenos Aires is a city without beaches, every summer the government constructs these kind of fake beaches on the river bank, where people can go to at least get a sense of what it is like to be at the beach in the summer.  They also set up umbrellas and chairs in the parks where people go to tan (they love a good tanning session in the park here).  In this park there was actually a tiny shower set up so that you could get all hot and sweaty and then at least feel the sensation of water against your body and cool off slightly.  Something to do?  Yes.  Even better than the real thing?  Not a chance.

Metropolis

Right out of the 1927 German film Metropolis is this building in downtown Buenos Aires on the corner of Belgrano and Peru.  The buidling is called Otto Wulf and was completed in 1914, 13 years before the film was made.  On the third level there are 8 huge sculpted figures that stand between the windows and are 5 metres tall.  These 8 figures each represent the different arts of blacksmithing, Carpentry, masonry, forjary, architecture, sculpture and the last two figures represent the head of the project and the architect himself, Morten F. Rönnow.  Every time i walk past this building i find myself in awe of these powerful figures and am glad to able to witness some of the beautiful architecture that this city has to offer.