Here at last!

We arrived here in Buenos Aires yesterday (Monday 1st Feb) after two fairly uneventful flights on Air France.  The Hotel Tanguero is a small, boutique hotel in the area known as the micro centre i.e. right in the heart of the city. After unpacking it was time for a drink to re-hydrate ourselves after the long flight and so we picked a cafe recommended by our transfer guide and had a couple of rather expensive beers.  It was then time for lunch and we headed for a Lonely Planet recommendation Broccolino (in fact one of their top 5), where in the world's steak capital we opted for two half portions of vegetarian pastas  We were pleased to find that a bottle of Sauuvignon Blanc was around £8.  So having fortified ourselves we thought we'd start to aclimatise ourselves with the area and had a lovely walk through the Plaza de Mayo and the pedestrianised shopping Calle Florida.  The evening meal on night 85 or 1 (depending on whether you're counting up or down) was more traditional than lunch and we opted for another LP recommendation La Estancia. The signs were good when we entered with huge BBQ areas on both sides of the entrance where you could see whole animals strung up over an open fire.  After complimentary empandas (similar to small Cornish pasties) we settled on a steak for RM and a half portion of suckling pig for HJ.  Both were absolutely huge and arrived with a simple salad of peppers, tomatoes and onions. Nightcaps were a half bottle of what we thought would be the same wine as we'd had in the restaurant but RM described it as 'early Egyptian' (Mr and Mrs B will fully understand this remark).  Some of you are probably starting to think this blog is starting to resemble a buenos aires summer eating fest: do not worry, culture starts tomorrow.  RM.

PS from HJ: you will be pleased to hear that the weather is sunny and warm but with a light breeze.