January 6-8 was spent in Buenos Aires, the capital of the Argentina Republic. The first afternoon, since we were unable to locate the restaurant recommended, we happened upon a lovely little restaurant called El Salmon II. We had a delightful, extremely reasonably priced meal with a wonderful waiter, who did not speak any English but who we were able to communicate with just fine with our limited Spanish. The afternoon was spent walking and exploring the shopping areas of Florida Ave. and the Gallerias Pacifico. That evening we did find a different restaurant recommendation, Tancat. When we could not communicate with our waiter, he asked the hostess to assist. A very romantic meal with Argentinean wine and wonderful ambiance.

The next day was a half day bus tour of the city which included sites of the Northern neighborhood, Palermo, the Obelisco, the enormous Floralis Generica which is a sculpture of aluminum and steel petals nearly 66 feet tall weighing18 tons designed to open in the morning and close in the evening by architect Eduardo Catalano, the Colon Theatre, the “Pink House” (Government Building), La Recoleta, La Boca which was the original center for Italian immigrants, and Puerto Madero (the modern port area). Unfortunately the month of January is holiday for the Colon Opera house, also holiday for the soccer season as it is considered too hot. We got off at the Puerto Madero area and decided to find a place for lunch. Stopped at Xcaret and had gnocci and spinach crepes. We walked across the suspension bridge, Puente de la Mujer, which did not seem to have much suspension. Then past the sailboat (Frigate Sarmiento- sailed 1 million nautical miles from 1899-1961) that is a museum on our way back to the hotel. Since we had such a spectacular dinner the night before, we returned to the same restaurant.

Then it was Sunday, and while we had planned to go to the Plaza Alvear for the weekend market and music festivities, it unfortunately rained most of the day. So we had a day of rest and good thing as we were out very late that night. We went to the dinner and Tango show at Senior Tango. It was a marvelous evening and the food was also exceptional. We had the steaks that Argentina is known for. Here is a picture of the stars of the show! NOT! We could have been the stars if Norm actually danced, and Jeanine says if Arnold can tango, so can her Dad, but Cindy had no luck with him. Anyway, we were not allowed to take pictures during the performance, so none to show.