The last two days in Buenos Aires were a combination of things. Sightseeing one day and then spending the afternoon with German the other.
After a speedy gym sesh overlooking the Palermo rooftops, we went to find El Ateneo Grand Splendid. A theatre that has been converted into a huge bookshop.
This place was easily the coolest example of a retrofit I have ever seen. What struck us was the quality of the renovation of the existing theatre while making the place into a really well planned bookstore. The only pity was that all the books were in Spanish, otherwise we would have stayed all day.
From here we headed North to the Recoleta Cemetery through streets lined with buildings twice the height of little old Palermo.
Before it was enveloped by urban sprawl, the Recoleta Cemetery was a site out of town above the city where the rich and influential families of Buenos Aires buried their dead.
I say bury, but walking through the cemetery you quickly realise that these are tombs. Some seemed to have multiple levels below ground and almost all had sarcophagi laid on show.
The styles and scales vary over the years, and no doubt within the exclusivity of the cemetery there is a constant fight for the best positions next to families of greatest influence.
We doubled back on ourselves to visit the Xul Solar Museum. The artist's career was prolific with a capital 'P'. He spent time in Europe and was influenced/inspired by the Cubist movement.
His thinking was fearless and utopian, which is what I suppose most artists of that era aspired to achieve. The construction of the museum itself was overseen by his wife and a close friend of Solar's, according to the artist’s original designs. It is a shame that he never saw the place finished, as the overlapping spaces and clever use of basic materials makes it a testament to his work and life.
The next day was a catchup with German, an old workmate from London who has spent the last year travelling and then re-establishing himself in Buenos Aires. He's done a huge trip through Asia lasting 7 months and we were blown away by the stories or near-misses and happy accidents. He showed us around the city picking out places we would never have spotted.
The day out about town with German was a great way to end our time in Buenos Aires. Who knows maybe we'll come back one day.