Category Archives: Travel

Overview of Buenos Aires, Argentina

February 21, 2013 jd

httpv://youtu.be/YovnHi7Jeeg

We’re back in Buenos Aires. We took a ferry directly from Montevideo, Uruguay to Buenos Aires. It was supposed to arrive by 11 pm, but because of the delay in boarding and other factors it was an hour and half late. The biggest delay in boarding is that you have to go through immigration and you baggage has to be screened. There must of been over a hundred people boarding.

I get a lot of static from custom officials when I show them my Argentine citizenship ID but can’t speak Spanish. Well, what do you expect? I left Buenos Aires when I was six and no one spoke Spanish then. (I have dual citizenships, both American and Argentinean).

We’ve gotten our bus tickets to head north towards Iguazú. In case you think Greyhound in the United States, forget it. The buses for long distance travel here are luxurious. We booked first class which includes seats that recline enough to sleep well, blankets, food, wine and other amenities. The buses are double decks and we’re right on top first row seats.

Yesterday we took a tour bus and saw some of the City that we had not seen in our previous visits here. The YouTube video shows some of our sights. The pictures are not great, but it’s hard to take good pictures on a moving bus. Today we have lunch with friends and tonight we leave at seven to head north to our first stop Esteros del Ibera a wetland preserve. It has an abundance of bird and wildlife, so it should be really interesting.

We’ll be out of internet connection for about three days so will post when we can.

Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

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Travel

Two Days in Montevideo, Urguay

February 20, 2013 jd 2 Comments

httpv://youtu.be/q5eiSlfwBBc

Montevideo, Uruguay

We spent three days in Montevideo. Arriving by bus from Colonia, we took a taxi to what we thought was our hotel… NOT, then another taxi to a better location, thank goodness!!

Unfortunately for us, the next two days were Saturday and Sunday, which in an Catholic town means pretty much everything is shut down. We walked the pedestrian walk through the old town, as you can see from the pictures.

We were told that the best place to eat is the Mercato del Puerto, a huge metal structure with many eating establishments and craft shops. Although we didn’t get there in time the first day as they close at 5 PM, we were back on the second and it was a wonderful Parilla (grill) experience. One street was filled with fresh fruit and vegetable markets, and the fruit is excellent, just picked. John too a picture of his favorite ghoul made out of gourds and various other things. John found a local sketch artist who drew a picture of me (when I was 30 years younger) but you know John likes younger women so it pleased him to no end.

After walking to the old town we discovered a Tourist Bus, exploring the whole city, and how huge it is:1.3 million people, when the whole country is only 4 million. We took many pictures of sights along the way, although we didn’t get off as it was the last bus of the day. We saw the famous white sands beaches and thousands of beach worshipers. However the beach near us was rocky (see video). But then the wind picked up and that night we had a storm, luckily we made it to the Hostel before that.

The next day we found an Artesian market and made a few purchases, then a stroll through a Pre-Colombian art exhibit that covered African, and South American art. It also contained the relics of a huge turtle like thing with a huge spiked tail that was quite noteworthy.

On our way out the last evening, John took a picture of a naval ship with an interesting backdrop of storm clouds.

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Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

Travel

Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

February 17, 2013 jd

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.ight as well start lunch with a great salad

By Judy J. Pinegar

February 16, 2013

John and I needed to see the rest of the town, so we walked around until we found a court of local artisans, and bought some very inexpensive souvenirs. Then we went to the main drag, Avenue General Flores, and deciding we were hungry, we had a fantastic “Ensalada Completa”, see picture. Then off to a Thrifty car rental place, but in this town it was to rent small motorcycles, golf carts and bicycles!! You see them everywhere along with a few cars, but really not much motorized traffic at all, most people walking (by the way we are getting very fit from the stairs and the walking!).

Getting an electric golf cart, we were off to explore the town and surrounding area! The golf cart can go anywhere on the streets for three hours, but then you run out of juice, so they really emphasized getting back in time. First through old town (cobblestone streets, and the golf cart does not have very good springs!) We viewed a museum (pictures not allowed), and took pictures of the lighthouse built in 1845, and ruins of a convent built in 1694 and destroyed by fire in 1704.

Then a picture of the “Calle de los Suspiros” which means the ‘Street of Sighs,” the place where ladies of the night carried on their trade. What a life and the look of the street was not good, imagine it 200 years ago! I think there were a quite a few sighs. Next stop was the bus station as tomorrow we are going to Montevideo, Uruguay, the capital of the country.

Then we took off along the beach road. Colonia del Sacramento is on a river, but near the sea. The water is extremely muddy, from the runoff from miles of farmland, didn’t look good to me for a swim, but lots of people were swimming. At the end of a long ride was an old bull fighting ring, in much disrepair. On the way back we visited a museum of sunken ships pirates and recovered treasure (however there were only pictures of the bullion, not a sighting of real gold). But the museum was fun, although hot and stuffy, you got to walk through an old galleon model with all the noises and models of the seamen and pirates at work. Kids would love it.

In the afternoon, as my neck had been hurting since the airplane trip, we hired a great masseuse (Susana Stevens, in case you are ever in Colonia), an hour for 500 Uruguayan pesos, or about $25 US. I feel ever so much better, and we had her come back to do John the next morning before we caught the bus to Montevideo.

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Travel

Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

February 15, 2013 jd

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Boarding barca (boat) from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay.

By Judy Pinegar

Feb 13 &14, 2013

After a frustrating morning trying to make reservations in the north eastern part of Argentina, we decided to go to Uruguay. So a Subte ride downtown and a visit to the Barcobus (Ferry) Terminal and we had two tickets to travel on the ferry to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay.

On the way back we visited the park of San Martin, a beautiful park with wild trees and an equestrian monument in bronze on a base of polished granite that does honor to General Jose de San Martin and four major milestones related to South American independence.

The next day, Feb 14 we boarded the barca (ferry) named the Eladia Isabel to Uruguay and three very smooth hours later we were there. There was entertainment, food and beverages and views of islands and container ships. We found a much improved terminal on the Uruguayan side from our last visit, and a short taxi ride got us to the nice hotel.

It was located in a area we remembered from our last visit, and we were hoping the same restaurant down the calle (street) was open… it was and we had a wonderful meal of rack of lamb and a wonderful salad with fresh fruit (see pictures).

Colonia del Sacramento was founded in 1680 by the Portuguese. What still remains, stone houses, streets of cobblestones (sometimes slanted toward the middle so the rain can drain down), old walls that were formerly a fortress in the old part of town are enchanting. And the whole town is filled with trees, just like our Sacramento, California.

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Uruguay: The World’s Longest Carnival

Travel

Buenos Aires, – Casa Rosada (Think White House for Argentina)

February 14, 2013 jd

casa-rosada

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Casa Rosada

By Judy Pinegar

Feb 12, 2013

With the Subte working a little better we rode to the Plaza De Mayo, a national park. right in front of the Casa Rosada (The Pink House) which used to be both the residence and office of the Argentine President. Now it is just an office, mostly for diplomatic purposes, and on weekends and holidays we found it is now open for tours. We has also discovered that Monday and today were a national holiday “Carnival”, although we saw nothing that looked like a party where we were.

Amazingly different this time… when we were last here, maybe 4 years ago, there was a huge military presence (like an armed guard every 6 feet) all around the park which itself was also in great disrepair, and the Casa Rosada was barricaded off entirely, except for a small museum around to the side. This time the park was beautiful, although very crowded with pigeons, a lot of the barricades were down, and you could walk right up to the Casa Rosada, and we discovered, even take a tour!

It was fantastic, over an hour long in Spanish and English covering three floors. Among our favorites were Eva Peron’s room, the famous portico from which Argentine presidents speak to the people in the plaza, and of course the similar Presidential office (like the Oval Office in the White House).

There was one long hall with pictures of famous Argentine people including actors, musicians and soccer players which had all the other tourist ooing and ahing, but John and I didn’t know anyone! There were two different rooms made up for the President to make major speeches, one was very ornate, with a lot of gold leaf on all the decorative wood pieces. All in all a very beautiful building and a fascinating tour.

The current president is Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner, now on her second term, although we here grumbling that many Argentines no longer like her. She is supposed to be out after this term, but we also hear she is trying to change the constitution to allow another term. She is the wife of the former president who also had two terms, but has since passed away.

For more information and pictures of all the rooms in the house (including the ones in we were not allowed to take pictures) go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_Rosada

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Take a ride back into history in Buenos Aires

Travel

From New York to Argentina- Buenos Aires

February 13, 2013 jd

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Looking out the window at Lagurdia Airport after the "Blizzard" in New York.

By Judy Pinegar

What a trip… wake up at 9 AM in New York, outside temperature low 30’s… 6 inches of snow on the ground, taxi to the airport, wait 2 hours, flight to Houston, Texas, 4 hours, wait in Houston airport 4 hours, 10 hour flight to Argentina, arrive at 10:20 AM in Buenos Aires, 23 hours later (including a time change), outside temperature 84 degrees! Boy am I hot.. take off that winter stuff.

Next, in line at the customs in Buenos Aires. John as citizen could go through the short line, but he stays with me, and the rest of the “touristas.” That night we have a hard time finding an open restaurant, this is a Catholic city and it is Sunday.

Feeling much better, the next morning we are off to get reconnected to the city. But it turns out it is a holiday…what holiday we have no idea as of yet. Seems like a lot of the subte (subway) entrances are closed, not like before? Don’t know why? Also inflation has really hit, we had to pay 180 pesos for breakfast that is 36 dollars!!

We walked almost all the way to Plaza del Majio, then up Florida Street usually a huge shopping area but a lot of construction right now in the center of the street. walked into Pacifico the upscale shopping center We were looking for a hat for Judy, but a simple cotton one was 55 US dollars…way to upscale for us.

So we continue walking until we got to Cordoba, then within a few blocks on Maipu off Cordoba took pictures the apartment John used to live in with his mother (when he was born anyway, according to the birth certificate). Several more blocks right on Cordoba and we were at the fancier apartment that John’s father lived at – again according to our handwritten in Spanish birth certificate for John (actually Juan Santiago Mazzolani – I want him to go back to his real name!)

Walking back to the apartment we took a picture of a restaurant sporting an asada or barbecue grill typical of Argentina where they eat a lot of meat, this was an upscale one, we mostly seen them outside a restaurant. Then home to bed.

Over To Argentina – Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Travel

USS Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, New York City

February 12, 2013 jd 1 Comment

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Aircraft carrier USS Intrepid

Today I asked my son John what he wanted to do. He said he wanted to visit the USS Intrepid, Land, Sea and Air Museum.

So after breakfast at the hotel, we went back to our room and I finished putting on the rest of my winter clothes for travel in New York. That consists of thermal underwear for the legs, heavy pants, undershirt, shirt, turtle neck sweater, heavy coat, knit cap. I’ve never seen a city where everyone looks like they’re freezing and they all have red noses. I think Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer was raised here.

So we go down to the lobby on the way to the subway and the carrier and the clerk at the desk said a blizzard was here and we would not be able to fly out tomorrow. I said my smart phone has the weather forecast and it says clear in the morning. He said I haven’t read the paper or watched TV. By the time, the blizzard was here and the snowflakes coming down were smaller than a pea.

At the museum, we learned that the USS Intrepid was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the US Navy. She is the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in August 1943, Intrepid participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, most notably the Battle of Leyte Gulf

Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier, and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier. In her second career, she served mainly in the Atlantic, but also participated in the Vietnam War. Her notable achievements include being the recovery ship for a Mercury and a Gemini space mission. Because of her prominent role in battle, she was nicknamed “the Fighting I”, while her often ill-luck and the time spent in dry dock for repairs earned her the nickname “the Dry I”.

Decommissioned in 1974, in 1982 Intrepid became the foundation of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.

We took the 90 minute tour, focusing on stories of the men who served aboard the Intrepid, their daily lives aboard this city at sea and how similar their on-board community was in comparison with communities today. The tour also includes heroic stories about other men and women who served in the United States Armed Forces.

At one point we were allowed on the actual flight deck with several vintage airplanes, and toured through the commander’s and captain’s working rooms and cabins.

Meanwhile it had started to snow, and despite the fact that the snow was less than an inch high outside and mostly melting into water, we were warned the museum was closing early due to the “blizzard’ outside!!

Indeed by the time we made it back to the hotel all of New York was in a huge panic about the blizzard… warning us that we might not get out tomorrow as the airport might be closed. We almost couldn’t stop laughing at people, and I kept saying, “but I get 4 feet of snow at my house! and they don’t close the roads”

By the way, my smart phone, was right, it was clear the next day.

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Travel

New York Museum of Natural History

February 11, 2013 jd 5 Comments

my-son-in-museum-new-york

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My oldest son John Jr.

The next day we visited the American Museum of Natural History we had been here on our last trip to New York, but this museum could take easily take several FULL days of study.

The first thing we did was to watch “Journey to the Stars” a short film narrated by Whoppi Goldberg about the life and death of stars, like our sun. The movie is shown inside a globe within the four story tall planetarium of the museum – quite a sight in and of itself!

On the bottom floor of the planetarium the best display is the Willamette Meteorite (so named because it was found in Willamette, Oregon) weighing 15.5 tons! It is made of metalic iron. Thousands of years ago it traveled at 64,000 kilometers per hour and crashed into the earth’s surface. The top surface (see pictures) is covered with large cavities. This is because over the years the rainwater reacted with sulfur within the meteorite, creating sulfuric acid, which then ate away at the iron of the meteorite.

After the movie we wandered through the African Room. where there are panoramas of the various climates, and geographic areas of Africa including the birds, insects reptiles and mammals native to the area. The panorama also included the real animals, some birds and reptiles that have been preserved by taxidermy which make the displays really come to life.

We completed our stay with lunch in the food court, very nice, but not cheep!!

Is This Meteorite a Piece of Mercury?

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Travel

Visit to New York Tenement Museum

February 9, 2013 jd 1 Comment

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Tenement Museum

New York again… this time February 7, 2013… COLD… We did come prepared, thermal underwear, hats, gloves, scarves, and boots, but this is really cold, high of 30 degrees.

Last time we had tried to go on a tour of the Tenement Museum, but couldn’t due to the crowds, although we did see a nice 30 minute movie of the times. This is a 5 story tenement that 10,000 people from 25 countries called home between 1863 and 1935 in the Lower East side of NY at 97 Orchard Street. So this time we made reservations to the tour called “Hard Times”.

This was a tour of the three room apartments of two families of immigrants who survived the economic depressions at 97 Orchard Street between 1863 and 1935. We visited the restored apartment of the German-Jewish Gumpertz family, whose patriarch disappeared during the Panic of 1873 (they think he just ran away from his family) but the mother became a seamstress and move up in the world later in life.

And we also visited the Italian-Catholic Baldizzi family, who lived through the Great Depression and went on to move up to a better area of town. Fascinating stories complete with artifacts and pictures. In the tour, they say one in eight Americans can trace their lineage back to the immigrant tenements in New York.

After this we wandered through Chinatown and Little Italy (right next door to each other), the changes happen rapidly between one and the other within just one block!! It is amazing… like going to a different country by walking!!

We ate a wonderful Italian meal at El Piccolo Buffalo at 141 Mulberry Street – see picture! We recommend it!
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Travel

New York City – Central Park Visit (Before Sandy)

November 26, 2012 jd

httpv://youtu.be/rpucggKjfIc

This time our week long trip in early October 2012 was to New York City, John and I, along with John’s daughter Teresa, and her daughter Leah.

Day One – New York City – Grand Central Park

Traveling from our Queens Hotel to the downtown area via subway, we arrived at the NYC Central Park at the south entrance, and saw the squirrels near the Heckster Playground. We then went walking past the Central Park Carousel (Since 1971, a carousel has operated at this location in Central Park. The current replaced the original that was destroyed in a fire in 1950. Built in 1908, the current carousel was originally on Coney Island and is famous for having the largest hand carved horses of any carousel.) PS: no picture in our video check the link.

We then strolled up the “Literary Walk”, and the Mall Pomenade, one of the few formal features of Central Park, the Promenade is flanked by American elm trees, a favorite of Central Park architects Olmstead and Vaux. There are many statues of literary figures along the Mall, including Shakespeare, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns. Located in the middle of the park, The Mall runs from 66th to 72nd Streets past an old white band shell for concerts.

Following that we visited the Angel of the Waters, also called Bethesda Fountain, rising from the Bethesda Terrace on “The Lake” in Central Park. (The statue references the Gospel of John, which describes an angel blessing the Pool of Bethesda and giving it healing powers.) On our walk in that area we saw at least five (5) weddings!! It was amazing – all different kinds of people and formality!

Walking west, we ended up at the entrance to the park at Merchants Gate, and saw the Maine Monument which commemorates the 260 American sailors who perished when the US battleship Maine exploded in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, then under Spanish rule. It is still unclear what caused the explosion on February 15, 1898, but Spain declared war on the United States by April 1898. The treaty, which ended the war in December 1898, freed Cuba from Spanish dominion, ceded Puerto Rico and Guam and surrendered the Philippines to the United States.

The gilded bronze figures atop the pylon represent Columbia Triumphant leading a seashell chariot of three hippocampi — part horse, part sea-creature that are said to be cast from metal recovered from the guns of the Maine itself. The figures reflect America’s new position as a dominant world force.

Unfortunately we only had one day to spend in the Park, and only covered (briefly) less than a third of its area. We now hear that Hurricane Sandy downed over 800 trees in the park. Sad.

Written by Judy J Pinegar

For all your Real Estate needs call:

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(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE# 00669941

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