Buenos Aires, Argentina - Part 2

The last full day in Buenos Aires started with a steak lunch at Las Lilas.  Steak is what Argentina is known for and this was the best we had till this point - very tasty.  Argentinians cook their steak longer than we like and the cuts of meat are different than what we’re used to.  However, the steak at Las Lilas was quite delicious!  We also enjoyed some sweat breads with some red wine.  Las Lilas is located along the water where we stumbled upon this old boat. It was the ARA Uruguay, built in England.  It's the largest ship afloat of its age, commissioned in September 1874, and had made many expeditions to Antarctica.

After lunch we took a cab to Calle Murillo, also known as leather heaven!  The street has store after store of leather shops and is very inexpensive.  We bought a leather jacket for Kate, a leather briefcase and belt for Chris, and a few wallets!  

We then went to the La Recoleta Cemetery which is actually a beautiful place to walk around on a nice, sunny day.  Evita Peron is buried there as well as countless others. 

This is where Evita Peron is buried.

Rows and rows of tombs

 

We ended the day at a dinner and tango show that our travel agent set up for us.  We were somewhat familiar with tango but this show really showed us all the variations of the dance.  It was a very exciting, entertaining, and impressive show.  Definitely a highlight of the trip and we were able to chat with fellow English speakers from New Zealand.  The pictures don’t do it justice. 

Following Buenos Aires, we jumped on a short plane ride to Mendoza, Argentina’s famous wine region.

On our way to the airport we spotted this truck filled with what appears to be beef.

Buenos Aires, Argentina - Part 1

Argentina has been at the top of our “places to visit” list for quite some time.   It’s a county known for their tango dance, wine, and red meat – all things that we are fans of!  The timing of our trip worked out perfectly: Argentina elected a new president about two months before we arrived and had already implemented some changes.  One specific change that greatly improved our trip was changing the official government mandated exchange rate to be the same as the street/market exchange rate (which was a considerably better exchange rate).  This meant we could benefit from the best available rate safely and legally.  The people of Argentina that we talked to during our trip are all very optimistic about their new leader and we hope to see this beautiful country with plentiful resources prosper with their new president.  Anyways, onto our trip!

As with all long flights (11 hours direct from NYC), we took the overnight flight and arrived in Buenos Aires early in the morning on December 26, 2015.  Luckily, our hotel had a room ready for us so we could take a quick nap before walking around the city.  We went shopping for some warm-weather clothes as it was very hot outside, and we grabbed a bite to eat at El MirasolCampo & Mar.  We enjoyed some seafood and refreshing wine while sitting on the patio overlooking the water.  It was at this restaurant that we had the best empanadas, crab empanadas!

While walking around the city we encountered some street dancers dancing the tango! As tourists, we ate it up!

Our first full day in Buenos Aires started with a group tour of the city.  We like doing these types of tours on our first day in a new city because we can get a feel for the city and ask the tour guide questions about what to see while we’re in town.  On the tour we saw the Floralis Generica a structure in the shape of a flower which opens during the day and closes at night.

We also stopped in the Plaza de Mayo where the president’s house, also known as The Pink House, is located.  The plaza has a long political history and even while we were there, the plaza was filled with protest signs and graffiti. (Honestly, graffiti was everywhere in Argentina.)

The president's house (A.K.A. the pink house)

It may not look like it, but this is a church!  It's the National Cathedral.

General Jose' de San Martin's Mausoleum inside the cathedral

Then we walked around the famous street Caminito in the neighborhood of La Boca.  This was a very colorful, touristy street full of souvenir shops but otherwise not a noteworthy stop. 

At the conclusion of our tour we were dropped off at another touristy area with a flea-market shopping vibe but wondered into a steakhouse called La Brigada Parrilla.  We were greeted by an English speaking waiter and delicious food.  

That afternoon we visited the Eva Peron museum to learn more about Argentina’s most memorable first lady.  The museum was very interesting but definitely very one-sided.  She accomplished a lot in a short period of time but was a controversial figure and we would’ve liked to have learned the full picture.  She must’ve made quite an impression because she’s on the currency! 

More on Buenos Aires in our next blog post!

Kate's Birthday Celebrations

So what else happened this summer you may ask? Kate turned.... well the number isn't important, Kate had a birthday!  And we had a three-day long celebration. 

First for the actual birthday - Thursday, July 12th - Kate planned an all-girls celebration in the West Village.  Rooftop drinks, Sushi Samba, and cocktails at the speakeasy Little Branch.  When Chris surprised us all by emerging from work before dinner, he of course joined the girls-night out!

Rooftop bubbles and cupcakes

Blowing out the candle on Brittain's West Village rooftop

Brittany, Mel, and Kate with tiny little crabs

Brittany, Brittain, Kate, Mel

Ending the night at Little Branch: Kate, Mel, Gabby, Brittany, Brittain

The next night the celebration was a romantic dinner for the two of us at Dovetail.  It was delicious!  Highly recommended. Kate snapped a little picture of one of her truffle-filled dishes.

Saturday, was the main celebration, a champagne and neon-colored themed birthday celebration on our rooftop. It was so relaxing and great to catch up with friends over champagne and macaroons. As the night passed on we headed to one of Kate's favorite neighborhood spots, Slightly Oliver's, for cocktails and dinner. So glad everyone made it out!  We didn't get too many pictures because we were too busy having fun!

Kate and our favorite champagne that we brought over from Paris

Chris enjoying the view before the party got started

Ending the night at Slightly Oliver's: Liz, Courtney, Kate, Melissa, Jess

Summer 2012 Recap: Visitors, Weddings, Broadway

As the leaves are changing, the weather is cooling, and football is gearing up, I've realized we haven't posted all summer!  Here's a brief recap of our summer (and maybe a little bit of a recap for spring!).

Visitors:
In April, Chris' Aunt Pat came to NYC for a work trip, decided to extend her trip, invite her daughter, Sandy, and spend some time with us! We toured downtown and went to see the Lion King the musical.  The show was great and the costumes were amazing - definitely recommended if you're a fan of Disney's version of the Lion King.

Sandy, Chris, and Pat in South Street Seaport

We are so lucky that many of our friends and family come to NY for work, it gives us an excuse to meet up!  Kate's sister Sarah continues to travel to NY for work.  And this summer, our friend Les from LA also traveled to NY for work.  We took advantage and met up for dinner and drinks. (We missed you Lauren!)

Kate, Chris, Les, Fred

Our friend Katie also made it to NY for work.  This just happened to be the same week of the Tony Awards, which is filmed on the Upper West Side. Since Kate and Katie are big Broadway fans, we made sure to check out the red carpet.  We didn't really get any pictures but we did have some great celebrity sightings.

This summer, Kate's childhood friend Jennifer dropped in for sushi during her summer trip to Connecticut. CT is a short train ride away from NYC and we were thrilled to meet up with her!  BTW: if you're ever looking for sushi in NY, try Momoya in Chelsea - it's our favorite!

Jennifer and Kate... and our delicious sushi rolls!

Theatre:
We also took in a Broadway show this summer.  Chris is a fan of the TV show The Big Bang Theory so when we heard that Jim Parsons (who plays Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory) was appearing in Harvey we knew we had to check it out.  It was so funny; we really enjoyed it!  Plus, it was in the most beautiful, iconic theatre - Studio 54.

Weddings:
In May we knew two lovely couples who tied the knot!  Kate traveled to Iowa for her cousin Tyler's wedding to Tara.  It was a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding and a great excuse for Kate to visit her family.

Tara and Tyler

Kate's grandparents: Jane and Chuck

For memorial day weekend, Chris' ex-roommate of three years, Cesar, married our sweet friend Courtney in Vail, CO.  We traveled with our good friends Fred and Liz out to CO and back for a four-day weekend of celebration. Chris was a groomsmen which made the weekend extra special.  It was a blast to say the least and we couldn't be happier for Cesar and Courtney!

The beautiful drive from Denver to Vail

Courtney and Cesar

Fred and Liz

 

Kate and Chris at the rehearsal dinner

Speaking of weddings, we've continued to plan our upcoming wedding.  We've booked both a band and a photographer - two of the more important decisions in the wedding-planning process!  Kate had a difficult time choosing a photographer so we decided to have two engagement shoots to test them out.  We highly recommend this because after the shoot and seeing the photos, it was very clear who was the best fit for us!  Here's two of our favorite pictures from the photographer we hired: Guy Heart. If you're friends with us on Facebook, you've probably already seen the rest!

Ameri-versary:
A few of our friends were not born in the U.S. and so the day they obtained their U.S. citizenship is quite special to them.  Celebrating the U.S. on the 4th of July is simply not enough; we often celebrate the day they became an American!  Our friend Anu (originally from the U.K.), had such a celebration this summer - a BBQ on her apartment's outdoor deck.

Anu serving delicious BBQ

Chris, Fred, Bharani, Brandon

We can't fit our whole summer into one blog post so there's more to come: Kate's three-day birthday celebration, exploring some of NY's history, and traveling to Maine to celebrate our anniversary.  But, we'll leave you with a few pictures of our spring and summer in the city.  You'll see we spend most of our time taking in the parks.

The view from a friend's family BBQ on Long Island

Central Park

Central Park

Riverside Park

Cool old cab parked outside of our apartment

Entertainment while we wait for the subway