A Rose by Any Other Name

Wednesday, 12/23/2009

Today we visit the Rosedal, a flower garden in the middle of one of the biggest parks in Bs As, called 3 de Febrero, part of the Bosque de Palermo. The park was originally laid out at the end of the 19th century from land expropriated from the governor of the state, Juan Manuel de Rosas, overthrown on that date a few years earlier. De Rosas had, himself, overthrown the previous governor only a quarter century earlier.

We Norteamericanos have it easy. We all know what happened in 1492 and on the 4th of July. Beyond those dates, we don't even have to remember the birthdates of any presidents, as we have glommed them together into Presidents' Day. But here in Argentina, besides 1492, you have streets, parks, and memorials to the 3rd of February, the 9th of July, the May Revolution, and so forth.

The Rosedal has formal rose gardens, informal gardens of various trees and shrubs, statuary, gazebos, and an adjacent lake where you can row. Even as late as the first days of summer, the roses are spectacular. It is a calm refuge in the middle of a frenetic city.

Gabriel and Sylvia picked us up across the street, in front of the American embassy, to take us to lunch. We went to a restaurant on the riverfront called Happenings, where we had another delicious meat dinner. The highlight of many of our meals together is when we raise a toast to each other and to our respective families. It seems that neither couple can say enough to compliment the other or the children of the other couple. Today, Marcos was added to the conversation, giving his well-wishes to the chicos.

Gabriel dropped us off at the newest art museum in the city, Museo Fortabat, in the Puerto Madero area. Housed in an impressive, modern building is the collection of the very rich Fortabat family. The collection is primarily Argentinian artists, with several pieces of ancient Mediterranean art. The collection demonstrates that there were Argentinian participants in the impressionist, expressionist, art nouveau, cubist, and other international movements in art.

To wait out the rush hour, we sat in a Freddo heladeria and ate ice cream at a table next to the water in the Puerto Madero. Freddo is probably the most common ice cream parlor in the city. The porteños take pride in the fact that ice cream here is artisanal and not mass-produced.

We took the bus back to the Patio Bullrich and went to the movies. We saw a French film with Spanish subtitles; talk about being at a disadvantage. It was nothing great, but it was fun to do something local. With the Wednesday discount, it was $15.00 (about US$4.00). Afterwards we ate pasta in the food court; so far we're not so impressed with the Italian-style food.

As we entered our apartment building at 11:00, we wondered why everything was so dark. The whole block, we were informed, was without electricity. So we went back to the mall to wait out the situation. Finally, at about midnight things were back to normal, and we went to our place.