So today I decided to hop onto the sightseeing bus to visit a few neighborhoods in Buenos Aires I hadn't seen yet. When I arrrived at the bus stop, however, it turned out that I had to wait for about two hours because the earlier buses were all full already. So I bought a ticket and went off again to see if I could visit anything nearby in the meantime.
The first thing I came across was the cathedral. I'd seen the building from the outside before, but this time I went inside, too. As usual, the cathedral is really grand and magnificently decorated:
There was one thing that I've only seen in South American churches. They have richly dressed puppets of various saints - I'm guessing that the richness of the dress is an indicator for the saint's importance. This, for example, is Our Lady of La Paz:
On the same plaza as the cathedral is the Casa Rosada (pink house), the president's palace. Again, I'd seen the palace from the outside, but I discovered today that it's actually possible to visit - they even have free guided tours!
The tours are pretty comprehensive. This, for example, is the press conference room:
This is one of the stairwells:
And the rest of the palace is equally grand, if not grander. They even have grand heaters - notice the decorations on this one!
Then it was finally time for the bus tour. My plan was to hop off at the neighorhoods I hadn't seen so far, take a quick look and hop on the next bus. However, at the first of "my" stops there was a huge queue of people waiting to get on the bus - and there was only room for two or three of them. So I figured I better stay on the bus without getting off to avoid long waiting times. Apart from that, the tour was pretty good. It lasted for more than three hours, and detailed explanations were available via headphones. My head was pretty full with all the new information about buildings, architects, people and events...
The first thing I came across was the cathedral. I'd seen the building from the outside before, but this time I went inside, too. As usual, the cathedral is really grand and magnificently decorated:
There was one thing that I've only seen in South American churches. They have richly dressed puppets of various saints - I'm guessing that the richness of the dress is an indicator for the saint's importance. This, for example, is Our Lady of La Paz:
On the same plaza as the cathedral is the Casa Rosada (pink house), the president's palace. Again, I'd seen the palace from the outside, but I discovered today that it's actually possible to visit - they even have free guided tours!
The tours are pretty comprehensive. This, for example, is the press conference room:
This is one of the stairwells:
And the rest of the palace is equally grand, if not grander. They even have grand heaters - notice the decorations on this one!
Then it was finally time for the bus tour. My plan was to hop off at the neighorhoods I hadn't seen so far, take a quick look and hop on the next bus. However, at the first of "my" stops there was a huge queue of people waiting to get on the bus - and there was only room for two or three of them. So I figured I better stay on the bus without getting off to avoid long waiting times. Apart from that, the tour was pretty good. It lasted for more than three hours, and detailed explanations were available via headphones. My head was pretty full with all the new information about buildings, architects, people and events...
