After almost two years of waiting, we are off to Antarctica. Madeleine drives us to the airport, and our flight leaves on time. We managed to get quite a bit of gear into one checked bag each. A major storm in Texas delays our arrival in Houston … one minute we were flying through blue skies with puffy white clouds underneath, the next minute the sky was dark and the rain was pouring. We waited more than 30 minutes to deplane because no one could go in or out because of the storm. We finally deplaned and raced for our connection to Buenos Aires, go on board, and then we waited about 90 minutes to depart because of the storm. Once we got through the storm, the flight was fine, we managed to sleep, Premium z plus was definitely worth it for an overnight flight. We got our reserved taxi and headed into town. The outskirts of the city look very much like any other city near the airport, some single family homes, some high rise apartments, and some commercial buildings. Out hotel is the one used by National Geographic, rather fancier than we would normally choose, on reclaimed land in what used to the the river, near a wetlands.
After we check in, we head to the tourist center to get a transit card, and then to the Catedral station, only to find that 5ere was no way for us to add value with out credit cards and we did not bring Argentine pesos. Luckily the metro accepted Visa cards, so off we went. The Subte (the metro) was clean and air-conditioned, really nice as the temperature in Buenos Aires was about in the low 80s. We had a lovely lunch at Comte Corredor, which has a Michelin star, and renowned for their steaks. We split a huge kale salad, fries, and a flatiron steak … the only one that was in English, and it was plenty for two people. I never did figure out what ojo de bifa meant (eye of steak maybe?) but we enjoyed our lunch, which finished with a lovely flan. We headed toward the Museo Nacional des Artes Decoratives, sited in a huge home of a wealthy family from the late 19th-early 20th century, mostly done in French style. The family had an incredible art collection, from the time when Argentina was one of the wealthiest economies in the world, thanks to amazing natural resources and agriculture. After the museum, we headed back to the hotel to check in with the National Geographic folks, and had a very light dinner of empanadas and another flan and of course, Malbec which is everywhere. We managed to stay up until 9:00pm to stave off jet lag and we’re successful!
No comments:
Post a Comment