A Brief Run Through the Plaza De Mayo

Did you know Buenos Aires is the number one visited city in South America? Even above Rio de Janeiro? I didn't, but Wiki told me so. It's not hard to figure out why, what with the beautiful European architecture, the parks, the museums, the wine, the beef and being the starting point for trips such as Iguazu Falls and Patagonia.

Yesterday, I continued my exploration of Buenos Aires by venturing down to Plaza de Mayo. FM and I were there a couple years ago when we briefly hopped over to BA from Montevideo, Uruguay. But it was a cold, wet, blustery day.

Yesterday was much nicer. Temperatures are already peeking into the 80's. It's going to get warm around here. . . 

At the beginning of Diagnol Norte, facing the Tribunale. This street will lead us directly into the heart of  Plaza de Mayo

Just need to jump across the Avenue of the 9th of July, the largest boulevard in Buenos Aires. And look! There's the Obelisco!

The Cabildo - basically City Hall

Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires

Looking up the Plaza from the River side, the statue in the middle is the Piramide de Mayo

Casa Rosada - Mansion and offices of the President. Can you imagine how close you can get to the front gates?

Bank of the Argentine Nation. Pretty impressive.

And this is the Secretary of Intelligence, note the antenna. SPOOKy. LOL

Looking toward Puerto Madero, that landscape has changed dramatically

Secretary of Defense Building

And then I took the bus home. The right bus. First try. Amazing!

We've been pretty guilty of hanging around the house at night, which is COMPLETELY unlike us. I bought a post-season package from MLB.com so we can watch all the Tigers games (AND NO COMMERCIALS - how odd) on the computer. WIth the games starting at 9 pm and our fave bar clear on the other side of town, it's a bit hard to get FM into bed before 1 AM.  So, I've been cooking and we've been cheering (and drinking lots of wine). 

Will have to cheer harder and louder tonight. 

Size Matters

For the most part, if offered a choice between "big" or "small", I'm going to pick big. I'm greedy like that.

Of course, there is always an exception or two.

But, after thirteen years of traveling, mostly through capital cities, it has become apparent I prefer smaller cities to larger ones. 

I would never trade my eight months in Tokyo, seven months in Beijing, four months in Seoul, or even the the six months we lived in Bogota. Wonderful experiences all. 

However, I much prefer my memories of Rome, Vienna, Phnom Penh, Paris, Kiev, Munich (not a capital, I KNOW), Prague or Montevideo. 

I like walkable, navigable towns. Cities I can really get a feel for, instead of constantly riding around in an underground train from location to location. 

Cities you can "escape" in less than 30 minutes on public transport. 

Cities where each corner becomes a memory, indelibly etched into your soul. 

Largo Argentina, Rome

Even after seven months in Beijing, I can only speak with some authority on small areas of the city. Tokyo as well. Half the time I didn't even know WHERE I was in Tokyo. Although that might have had something to do with the alcohol.

And then there are the really small capitals. Tel Aviv, Nicosia, Skopje, La Paz. Too small almost for city run public transport systems, which really leads to a lot of nosing around. 

But again with the exceptions, though, as I adore Hong Kong and London. 

What makes a city livable to you? Size? Weather? Attractions? 

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

I like easy. Always have. Twist off beer caps rank in my personal top ten of things invented in my lifetime. 

Travel, however, can be hard.  Hard on the body. Hard on the budget. Hard on your feet.  

But after thirteen years on the road, things have become so much easier.  It's difficult to imagine life out in the world in 2000. Skype? Didn't exist. Facebook? A thing of the future. Even MySpace was yet to be invented. We kept in contact the old-fashioned way;  expensive long distance phone calls, postcards and email. 

I remember paying for dial up internet connection by the minute in hotel rooms from Cairo to Korea, Amman to Bulgaria.  No (as in none) internet access in all of Burma. Internet cafes were new and exciting places to meet other travelers. WiFi was a year old in 2000, and not found in every public place and pub.  Nor did we have extremely portable and convenient devices to connect with.  I didn't even have a cell phone until 2004, let alone a smartphone to surf the web. 

Today, if I need a restaurant recommendation in some foreign place, all I need to do is go to TripAdvisor or Yelp. And probably googlemaps. If I get lost on the way? Check my GPS on my iTouch. 

Need to know what to expect when I arrive? I swear there's not a destination left unphotographed, blogged about, and possibly podcasted. Sometimes it feels the joy of discovery has vanished.

Was travel more fun then? Probably not. But it was more surprising. And possibly more interactive. I certainly had no idea what to expect from Chisnau, Moldova or Nouakchott, Mauritania. If there wasn't a Lonely Planet or Fodor's guide, it was up to me and FM to work it out. Today, a few clicks on the web will provides more in-depth knowledge than I actually care to know. And probably a contact or two from InterNations.org.

Even the thought that FM and I's life is unique has been squashed.  As a new Twitter account holder (@rickistout) I've connected with numerous people and couples living the ex-pat life in various countries and blogging about their trips, trials and tribulations.  Most of them doing a better job than I.  

Today, our lives on the road are infinitely easier. And all the picture gazing and blog reading will never substitute for the experience of actually being there yourself. It also doesn't prevent finding your own special experience, whether a great new restaurant, avant-garde boutique or the simple pleasure of talking to the locals and travelers you encounter.

As long as you remember to look up from your smartphone every once in a while.