After getting out at the Cathedral Subte station, we walked to the Palacio de Municipal or city hall.

July 26 began at the Plaza de Mayo, named after the May 1810 Revolution that marked the beginning of Argentina’s independence from Spain.  We passed two guards at the entrance to the Palacio de Municipal, then came to the plaza itself. It was full of placards — perhaps erected by the regime of Cristina Kirchner, the current president — about the Islas Malvinas and the wrongdoing of the British who defeated Argentina in the Falklands War 30 years ago.

The Bicentennial Museum is built over the ruins of the old Aduano or counting-house.

We passed the Cathedral  (like a Roman Temple), and visited the Bicentennial Museum.  It sketched 200 years of Argentinian history, including the unstable politics of the 20th century.  Juan Perón died after returning from exile in 1973.  The dictatorship that followed waged a “dirty war” (1976-83) against dissent.  In 2002, Eduardo Duhalde became Argentina’s fifth president in 14 days.  He lasted 16 months.  Not a pretty picture.

Crosses on the Plaza de Mayo honor those who died in the Falkland Islands (or Islas Malvinas).

After our visit to the museum, we had lunch at the famous Gran Café Tortoni, with its busts of the intellectual leaders of Buenos Aires.  Bridget and I bought  postage stamps (four expensive stamps per card, each with Néstor Kirchner’s image, obscuring our handwritten messages).  Then we visited the opera house, the Teatro Colón.  In the evening, we dined with Carl’s classmate, Martín, at El Rey de Vino restaurant.  And the next day, we visited Puerto Madero.