An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
Ahh, woke up around 10! We got ourselves together then went upstairs to check out the breakfast buffet, which looked like it had been assembled by Balduccis!! As we were still full from last night, we contented ourselves with the nova, some eggs, fresh fruit and various fresh pastries, all in a grand mirrored ballroom (the regular room is being renovated, this being their low season) which, we later learned, is being used tonight for a state dinner the President of Argentina is hosting for the Prime Minister of Canada.
We then set off to tour the Centro and shopping district of Buenos Aires. Again, what a funny city — the buildings of Paris with the shopping and crowds of New York!! The weather was warm and humid, but not too. We strolled up the main shopping streets (which are closed to cars), and visited the newest shopping mall — a four-story old train station with huge skylights and big painted murals in the ceilings. After swimming amongst the endless sea of humanity we made our way to Tomo Uno for lunch, but not before appreciating, as we had yesterday, how many beautiful women (of all ages, too) there seem to be in Buenos Aires; definitely more so than anywhere else we’ve visited.
Lunch was top-notch: we shared a chicken liver pate, followed by a salad with little fried won-tons. Wendy had an appetizer of salad with cocettes of chicken liver wrapped in philo pastry, and Milton had zuchini stuffed with chopped vegetables and cheese, both being memorably flavorable. We couldn’t decide on which pasta to get, so we succeeded in getting a 1/2 order of each, along with perfectly-done lamb medallions with sauteed vegetables. Dessert was some good fruit and a pear sorbet.
We then ambled back to the Palace, stopping along the way to buy stamps (even though all they had were ones with some ugly, unidentifiable bird on them) and to finally get some ice cream from the vaunted Freddo. The cones were quite good (chocolate & coconut, and mint/chip & coffee) in a gelato-sort of way (note: by having to ask for a translation of each flavor from employees who don’t speak english, one can get many sample tastes). We made a quick agua stop at the local gleaming Disco grocery store, where even the check-out girls were pretty and sweet, in contrast to the unattractive ones who always seem to be too busy yelling at each other to help customers at our neighborhood D’Agostinos back home.
Back in the suite, Milton read the paper lying on the couch in the living room (missing only our cat Max) while Wendy went for her pedicure. We then spent the evening luxuriating here amongst our fresh flowers, beautiful linens, and the four 2-line techno-phones, from which one can control the tvs, air conditioning, etc. Much appreciated after some of last weeks’ places that had no phones and beds whose mattresses were on a 45-degree angle.