Which Continent am I in?

I do know the answer to the question posed in the title of this post. I am in South America. Zooming in, I am in Argentina. Zooming in again, I am in Buenos Aires. And that is what leads to the question.

So excited! With blistered toes.

If you've been to Buenos Aires before, you may understand what I mean. If you haven't, let me explain. When you walk around Buenos Aires, the architecture feels like you could be in Vienna or Paris or Athens. True, all the signs are in Spanish, so maybe it feels more like Madrid. But my point is that the facades and shapes of many buildings feel like they were ripped out of Europe.

Love the rounded end

In fact, one of the nicknames of Buenos Aires is "The Paris of South America." I have thoughts. On the one hand, I get it. Buenos Aires has some very wide avenues, much like Paris. There are perpendicular streets, but also ones coming in at a diagonal, much like Paris. And the architecture has a very similar aesthetic to Paris. Buenos Aires also enjoys its cafes, again, like Paris.

Love the triangle shape

But Paris is not the only city with these characteristics? Why don't we call Buenos Aires the Belgrade of South America? Why Paris specifically? And there are a lot of cities called the Paris of (fill in the blank.) Is this just our Western Europe bias? Or is Paris the only city that comes to mind when comparisons are being made.

Love the intricate stone work. (So much love!)

Our first two days in Buenos Aires, we were in the historic district near the Plaza de Mayo. This is a square in the city around which likes the Casa Rosada (which is where the President works, but not where the President lives), the National Bank of Argentina, and the Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires.

Monument in the Plaza de Mayo

The Casa Rosada

The National Bank of Argentina

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires

We went out exploring in the day and again in the night. The city is quite beautiful.

Oh, is the building feeling blue?

Dark windows

Lit windows

The following day was rainy, but we visited the Museo Moderno, the Museum of Modern Art. I didn't take any photographs of the art, but I found it very interesting. One of the pieces was a small desk with an old tower computer under it which is running. The screen shows an early version of Microsoft Word in which work has been typed out. There is also a printer and a long scroll of printer paper hanging down from the printer with various things printed on it, including what is showing on the monitor. I was wondering, does the museum have to forever maintain this very old computer and its monitor? It wouldn't matter if the printer doesn't work anymore, but the monitor needs to. Do they turn it off at night or does it just stay on eternally? Won't that monitor one day break down? I just couldn't fathom the maintenance logistics of this particular piece.

Obelisco (obelisk)

The Teatro Colon

Other discoveries we made included the BSAS Booth. I am sure some of you know what I mean by the TKTS booth in Times Square. Here, just a few blocks from the Teatro Colon, you can find the BSAS booth. It's the exact same idea. You stand in line and get discounted tickets to the shows going on that night in Buenos Aires. I don't know why it is BSAS. But I never knew why the one in New York is TKTS. I assumed it was short for tickets, but I could be wrong. My best guess here is that BSAS is short for Buenos Aires, because the word for tickets is boletos, which has only one S and no A in it.

Says Tickets in English, but still not TKTS

While I said there is a lot here which reminds me of Europe (and apparently New York City), understand that there is also a lot which is not like Europe or anywhere else I've been. There are different species of birds.

What are these green birds that hang out with pigeons?

There are protests involving the rights of animals.

I'm guessing that McCain processes chickens in ways of which these people don't approve

There are varieties of coffee I haven't seen before.

I like KitKat! Still don't like coffee.

There are street signs that are unfamiliar.

What would your guess have been?

I did find out what that one means. It is school crossing. I guess the thing the girl is carrying is a book maybe. Not sure what's she's doing with her legs.

We stopped in a bookstore and it was fun to see how some classics have their titles translates, but some can just stay the way they are.

Perfect when your title was just numbers anyway

Like my friend in the picture at the top of the post, I give Buenos Aires a rousing hooray. Two toes up!