Palermo

Before describing what we did today, we want to pause for a moment to reflect upon the preciousness of life. We are greatly saddened by the tragic loss of life in Southeast Asia from the tsunami. Our hearts go out to victims and their families ...


We spent the greater part of the day in the Palermo district. We took the metro underground to Palermo. Our first stop was the zoo. Unfortunately, it started raining once we arrived! Oh well. We walked around and saw several of the animals including elephants, Bengali tigers, lions, zebras, monkeys, Himalayian camels, llamas, exotic birds, and a few others. The reptilian exhibit mainly featured all types of snakes. Some of the windows had fake animals! Who would have thought? The aquarium had a few small penguins and sharks. It wasn't all that eventful. Overall, however, it's a pretty nice zoo. I guess we're revving the engines for parenthood!

Afterwards, we went across the street to a restaurant for lunch. I don't remember the name, and it's a good thing for them. They get thumbs down from us. The food wasn't good, the service bad (the waitress started taking our order, and in the middle went to another table and picked up their plates and glasses). Anyway, after finishing up, we walked back across the street to the Jardin Botanica (Botanical Gardens). There are plenty of beautiful trees and plants there, plus some nice statues. Unfortunately, they don't have flowers. I would say this is Buenos Aires' version of Jardin du Luxenbourg.

Then, we took a taxi to the Malba Coleccion Constantini museum. It's a small but stylish museum of modern art featuring the art work of South American modernists. There is a sculpture of a human figure overhanging the escalator ascending from the lobby area.

The best floor is the 2nd one; this is where the action is! It features Frida Kahlo's "Self Portrait with Monkey and Parrot", the perfect follow-up from our trip to the zoo! The other artists who caught my attention were Alejandro Xul Solar (from Buenos Aires, cubist of sorts), Alfredo Guttero (Buenos Aires), Rafael Barradas (Montevideo), Roberto Matta (Santiago, surrealist), and especially Antonio Berni (Buenos Aires). His large painting called "Manifestacion" is very powerful with vivid depictions of the faces of the working class. I also liked his abstract paintings especially "La Gran Tentacion". Diana liked "Los Viudos" by Fernando Botero (from Medellin, Columbia), and so do I, and she liked Berni's pieces as well. See, more evidence that we're blissfully in love! ... The 3rd floor isn't that that impressive, but I liked the works from Pablo Suarez (Buenos Aires) and Antonio Segui (Cordoba, Argentina).

While reading in the museum book shop, we met a father and son from Virginia. They had taken a trip into the Amazon and were staying in B.A. before heading to Bariloche and Chile. His name is Cliff Krowne, a condensed-matter physicist. He recommended we check out the Jewish Museum (off Cordoba St) and Shoa Museum (on Montevideo) before leaving B.A.

Finally, we walked a few blocks to Persicco ice cream parlor. Thanks to Dawn for the recommendation. It was difficult figuring out what to order, since the signs weren't visible over the ice cream containers, but it's absolutely delicious helados.

We headed back to the hotel. We're thinking about checking out a couple more museums tomorrow and maybe a Tango show at night.