Buenos Aires | Day Three

Our third day started out with thunderstorms and rain as early as 6 am and was relentless. We started the day by purchasing an umbrella, which is now another word we learned in Spanish! After getting an umbrella and walking to the bank, our pants and shoes became soaking wet even if our heads were dry. We decided to go to the Museo de Bellas Artes - the perfect way to spend a rainy morning. We were a bit early, so we enjoyed some cafe con leche and croissants at a cafe not too far away, with a window view of the wet streets. It was a good choice, full of locals quietly reading their newspapers and leisurely drinking their espressos. 

The museum had a wonderful collection and was even complimentary admission. We spent about an hour and a half in the museum admiring the Monets, Manets, Degas, Goya's, Rodin sculptures, and being absolutely blown away by the Rembrandt. I adore his use of black paint around the figure in the portrait. And I love how translucent their skin looks and how softly the darkness fades to light on their glowing skin. 

From there we walked to the Recoleta Cemetery to admire the gorgeous tombs and the cats that roam the grounds. One cat followed us for a few minutes while we weaved in and out of the rows, like a maze. By this time, we were also hungry, and luckily there was a food truck just outside of the cemetery for tourists like us. We each got a choripan (chorizo sausage on a sandwich) and we asked the guy what he liked on it, which was grilled peppers. So of course, we ate those on a wet bench while kicking off pigeons and it was totally worth it. 

Above is what we believed to be coffin wagons for transporting them throughout the extensive grounds.

After we were finished exploring the  beauty of this ornate resting place, we walked along a large avenue in Recoleta with a lot of shopping and gorgeously Parisian buildings. We stopped inside El Ateneo, an old opera house and tango stage turned into a book store and cafe. It was definitely a pretty sight. 

Although this opera house was not as grand as Teatro Colon from the day before, it was still well kept, beautiful, and fun to be not just a historical building, but to be a store as well. Guests read books while sitting in chairs in the old opera boxes. The stage was turned into a cafe that was full with the quiet chatter of guests. 

For dinner, we went to another parrilla, meat buffet, somewhere less fancy and family owned. We arrived at 8:30 pm, just when their own family came to eat before the dinner rush. We ordered two bottles of wine, a platter of mixed meats to try for two, and a salad for something to eat other than bread and meat! My favorite cuts were the tenderloin and the flank steak. The tenderloin was so juicy, and the flank was nice and charred, perfect with the house made chimichurri sauce. There were also some delicious picada to start, like a sun dried pepper and vinegar topping for bread, and a onion and tomato salsa for crackers. 

It was a delicious, and the platter for two can really feed four. We took our time, staying there until just before 11:00 pm. It wasn't really until 10:30 pm that the locals started to arrive for dinner, even with their young children! The dinner lifestyle is so much different here!