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Long lay over in Washington DC. Private tour courtesy of good friend at Smithsonian American Art Museum

Day 1

Hotel Mariposita Wonderful small hotel combined with dance studio just north of San Telmo.

Interior view of Hotel Mariposita

Visited Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. Gallery is in a lovely old building that’s a bit musty and frayed around the edges. Small but nice collection of European artists. The second floor is devoted to (mostly) Argentine artists and is stunning. Two I was most taken with were from Uruguay: Rafael Barradas and Pedro Figari.

Walked around and had dinner in Puerto Madero (after stopping for very traditional local pizza).

Pizza in San Telmo

Day 2

Wandered across. High point was Manzana de las Luces and window shopping in San Telmo. Napped and wend to Buenos Aires International Jazz Festival. Dinner and show at Te Matare Ramirez.

Mid-Day Madness

Courtyard in Manzana de las Luces

Courtyard in Manzana de las Luces

Street Art

Day 3

Late start.

Coffee at local coffee chain, Havanna.

More antique shopping in San Telmo. Lots more.

Courtyard in San Telmo

Big walk to and around Puerto Madero.

Canal in Puerto Madero (in the daylight)

Woman's Bridge

Went to Madero Tango.

Day 4

Walking and shopping in San Telmo. Madness on a Sunday.

Street Art

Went to MALBA. Magnificent.

Félix González-Torres

Alejandro Xul Solar

Walked back through the embassies to the famous cemetery in Recoleto.

Cemetery in Recoleto

Dinner at small very authentic restaurant called 1810. Ate fabulous empenadas and Locro.

Drank Otro Mundo beer at very hip bar called Mundo Bizarro. Might be my new favorite beer.

Day 5

Visited a friends paper shop called Papelera del Artesano. Handmade paper and boxes.

Papalera del Artesano

Juan Carlos

Ate at local restaurant called “The Oldest.”

More tango lessons.

Ate at a local bar / restaurant which was very disappointing. Oh well.

Street Art

Day 6

Woke to a massive rainstorm.

Flew on LAN to Mendoza. Mendoza is unexpected and stunning in every way.

Staying at Bohemia Hotel. Charming, reasonable. perfect English spoken and convenient to everything.

Lots of walking. Two brilliant meals, the best, and one of the best ever, was at La Sal.

Day 7

Spent the day with Ampora Wine Tours. Highly recommend.

Andeluna owned by the scion to the Frito Lay fortune. Beautiful building. The views of the Andes are stunning (as is true of all the wineries we visited). Wines very very nice.

Bodega Lurton is owned by a famous Bordeaux family. The building was the least interesting of the three but the Gran Lurton Cabernet 2005 was very nice.

Everything about 0.Fournier was beyond compare. The buildings are some of the finest architecture I’ve seen anywhere. The lunch was a top ten meal. The wine was lovely, particularly the Torrentes.

O. Fournier Wine Cellar

Restaurant at O. Fournier Winery

Day 8

Walked around Parque San Martin. One of the loveliest urban parks I’ve ever seen.

Parque San Martin

Lunch at a very local Empanadas place.

Empanadas in Mendoza

Returned to Buenos Aires to 1551 Palermo, a wonderful boutique hotel that looks like complete crap on the outside and like wonderland inside. Good location. Wonderful wine bar around the corner. Palermo shopping district four blocks away. I’d stay again in a heartbeat.

Hotel 1551

Lots of walking around.

Day 9

More walking around BA. Dinner with friends. Best steak ever (sounds dopey but it’s true).

Street Art

Day 10

Last day. Tried to visit the famous Hippodrome, but it was closed. Everything we tried to visit was closed. Weird. So we spent the afternoon in a delightful spa (trying to find the name).

Headed to the airport and home.

Tags: HotelMariposita, Manzana de las Luces, Puerto Madero, Buenoss Aires International Jazz Festival, Te Matare Ramirez, Pedro Figar, Rafael Barradas

I’ve been buying and reading “buff books” my entire life. When I was a kid, my fascination was cars, and in those days I bought and read Motor Trend, Car and Driver, Road and Track, Car Craft and Hot Rod magazines. I by reading, I mean every word, every picture, every ad . . . everything.

Later my passions moved to photography with the same predilections in tow.

At other times it was outdoor gear, motorcycles, electronics, and on and on. Yes I’m in therapy and no I don’t chose to modify my behavior when it comes to reading everything there is to read.

All of this leads me to an observation. The very best moment for magazine readers surely has to be turning that first page. At that moment, the magazine is virgin territory. Headlines and the cover photo tease and flatter with promises of great rides, cool gear, and heroic bikes. Like any journey, it’s all expectations. You think you know what’s in there, but you won’t know until you look.

I treasure that moment. I love that feeling. So I never read the articles the first time through. I just turn the pages and take it all in. It will never be like this again. I look at the pictures, take in the headlines, and generally enjoy just basking in what it is the editors have put together.

In the main, the magazines are actually very similar. They all go to the same press launches, they all do the same comparisons, they all get sent the same press releases. The difference of course are in the writing, the point of view, and the articles that don’t rely on the march of the seasons, the vendors, and the advertisers. But at that moment, just before you open the cover, none of it matters. It’s just you and the mag.