The Flower

(Katherine) Today we decided to continue exploring our neighborhood and took off on foot towards the parks. We first came across a modern art museum, the Palais de Glace, which we were able to wander through for free (score!) We kept walking and discovered a University which we think is the Law School for BA University. We snuck in and wandered around for a bit and pretended to be students. The classrooms all looked pretty small and a little run down. The ages of the people in the building seemed to vary from 20-40, so we didn't stand out too much as we walked the halls.


Outside the school we made a wonderful discover – the Floralis Generica. The overall look of the gigantic piece reminded me of The Bean in Chicago. It is located in the Plaza Naciones Unidas, and was built in 2002 by Argentinian architect Eduardo Catalano as a gift to the city. Apparently, the petals of the flower open every morning at 8am to reveal it's metal pistons, and then close up again each night at sunset. We will definitely plan to head back for a sunset closing.

We then made our way through the Plaza Mitre area (the Nob Hill of BA!) to a sports bar called Loco X Futbol (Crazy for Soccer.) We wanted to do some recon for Saturday, when both Argentina and the US play in World Cup games (we play against England.) After a very challenging conversation, I was able to reserve us tables for the US game, and we're planning to watch the Argentina game from a plaza.

We gathered more groceries, picked up our laundry, and decided to catch the tail end of happy hour at a bar around the corner called Grand Bar Danzón, which is described in the tour books as the place where the Sex and the City gals would hang out in BA. They were right – the place is gorgeous, upscale, and it was PACKED. It reminded me a lot of the Matrix in SF. We now know this is the one place that people truly frequent right after work for happy hour. We only managed to get in one martini for happy hour, but we plan to return in the very near future for another!