Bad Day. Went one for five!

I had big plans for today, but mostly struck out.

I wanted to go to a museum of Argentina's water system, housed in a beautiful old building, but didn't realize it closed at 1:00 pm. Strike One!

So instead I took a bus (1.25 pesos, about 40 cents) to Once, an old Jewish neighborhood. There, I wandered around for a while, stopping at a Jewish bookstore, and seeing young Orthodox mothers with their children wandering the streets.

I decided to go to the Carlos Gardel museum.

He is the most famous Argentinian Tango singer. He was huge in the 20's and 30's, and then died young in a plane crash. He made movies in American and Argentino, and was a heartthrob in numerous continents.

Mementos of Gardel are everywhere in BA. Buildings...

with lyrics of his famous songs painted on their sides...

The museum was small and very noncommercial. They had nothing for sale. No Tshirts or CD's. Very refreshing.

even the bathroom

and the laundry room...

I can't imagine how big he would have been had he not died young in a plane crash....

Nearby was a shop selling only tango shoes. I was tempted, I have to admit....

especially by these babies....

also some very hot women's shoes 

After the Gardel museum, went to Abasto, a big shopping center that used to be a food market. That's how I got fooled into going there...I thought it was still a food market.

But it was lovely, and I had a coffee and ice cream, while I watched the crowds. It houses one of the only two Kosher McDonalds in the world. The other is in Israel, I believe.

Started getting hungry, and picked an interesting restaurant from a guidebook. Walked there, but it was also closed (for the summer). Strike Two!

So I kept walking towards another museum, Xul Solar, an artist's home. Arrived there to find...what...it too was closed for the summer (remember that February here is the equivalent of our August). Strike Three!

Passed a small park, and saw an apartment building that seemed to have an interesting sculpture on it's roof. Wow, I thought, as I zoomed in with my camera...

...only to discover the sculpture was actually communication antennas....

Is that strike four?

As I wandered, I saw another museum across the street.

Although I had never heard of it, it certainly looked interesting.

But then the guard told me that it was a private museum, closed to the public. However, she did let me sneak a peek into the lovely interior courtyard.

That's strike five, I believe.

Fortunately, at this point things turned around.

As I walked along beautiful Avenida Santa Fe, I saw lovely shops and buildings, such as this bank...

I had read about the most beautiful bookstore in the world, El Ateneo, located in an old theatre. I was not disappointed!

All I could say was "wow!"

I met Linda at our apartment, and we joined some new friends, Jim Rosenthal, and David and Barbara Jablon, for a nice dinner at a lovely restaurant in Recoleta, L'Ecole.

Home for bed after a another full day!