On Our Own in Buenos Aires, Part I

Buenos Aires is a great walking city and our hotel was within walking distance of many of the sites to see.  What is difficult is the lack of street names on each corner.  You have to search for them as you walk along.  Also watch carefully as you cross the street because signal lights can be suggestions, not rules.

Those of you familiar with Portland, OR will understand our first destination.  While Powell Books in Oregon brims over with everything you ever wanted to read, El Ateneo Grand Splendid is the grandest setting for books.  This 100-year-old former theater is rated as the most beautiful bookstore in the world. 

 We enjoyed wandering around looking up at the ceiling,

 wishing we could hear a concert in the small theater,

and purchasing a book by Peruvian Nobel winner Mario Vargas Llosa.

The Teatora Colon, completed in 1908, is a grand opera house.  We had to wait for the next tour, so we shared a luscious lunch of a salmon (lox) sandwich and a piece of chocolate cake big enough for a foursome.

Named for Christopher Columbus the Colon Opera House is a small town. 

Three floors below are workshops for costumes and sets and seven floors for the public. These areas are opulent as this was a place to be seen. 

The designs changed during construction so the building is an eclectic mix of European styles.

An upper chamber is decorated with busts of the greatest composers.  As a test, our wonderful guide sang the opening stanzas of the music and we were to name the composer.

The ceiling and frescoes are of French design.

The elite of the city could gather in the Golden Hall with its burnished bronze chandeliers reflecting to infinity.

The Great Hall has seven audience levels ranging from expensive with opulent decor, intermediate with earthy decor ($250 per seat), and “cheap.”   The box seats are for the ultra elite, leading authorities and top political officials.

Below the boxes and behind our guide are sections with black screens.  These are for women, widowed up to three years, because they could not be seen in public.  Not so for widowers.  Rumors say “things” happened in those dark boxes.

The hall’s shape, fabrics, gratings on the floor and the hard surfaces provide excellent acoustics. 

After one performance, Pavarotti was angry.  It seems the outstanding acoustics made it possible to hear his errors.