Welcome To Buenos Aires - Day 20

NOTE: We have posted several pictures from last evenings World Cruise Event, along with a couple of pictures from our visit to Buenos Aires.

We wanted to note an observation about yesterday’s visit to Montevideo, Uruguay. We enjoyed this port of call significantly more than we did when we visited there for the very first time in 2007. Many fellow passengers who we spoke with last evening and all day today felt the same way. We think part of the reason for this is because we had much more of an opportunity to see a larger area of the city this time around given the excursion that we went on relative to where we went last time around. This is a reminder to us not to come to firm conclusions about anywhere one visits around the world for the very first time because there are so many factors which can influence ones view of a port of call from the overall shore excursion to even the weather.

We had a wonderful time last evening at the World Cruise event. The World Cruise event was called Pampas Pomp. There were two seating’s for this event. We were in the main (early) seating. The event began with a forty-five minute pre dinner cocktails in the Palm Court, which is the same room, used for the welcome aboard, Crystal society and the farewell reception. After the cocktail reception, were taken to an area around the Neptune indoor pool. We had assigned tables and assigned places at the table. We sat with friends John and Linda along with another World Cruse couple and our table was hosted by one of the officers.

The program was just superb and included wonderful music, singing and dancing. In addition to the dancers and singers from Crystal some local dancers were brought on the board the ship from Argentina. One couple danced to the Tango and another couple danced to the drums and to the strings with the balls that bang. It was the best show we have seen. What is also amazing is that a good deal of the music was written by the Crystal Orchestra and how the entire team can pull together such a wonderful event in very short order and perform it as if they have been doing this every night for months. These are truly seasoned professionals.

The food was superb. We started with Argentinean King Crab Cocktail and it was delicious. This was followed by Chicken Empanada on chopped lettuce, accompanied by avocado, fresh corn and cherry tomato and tossed with Salsa Pico de Crystal. Wow. J Next up was the entrée, which included Grilled Filet Mignon Short Ribs and Beef Sausage, and Garlic, Mashed Potatoes and Oven Roasted Vegetables. Are you still hungry? The dessert was Postres de Campana which was Chocolate-Hazelnut Tres Leches and Homemade Banana-Mascarpone Ice Cream.

The dinner also included a white wine of Sauvignon Blanc, Mulderbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa 2007 and a red wine of Malbec, Altos Las Hormigas, Mendoza, Argentina 2009. Yes the red wine was from 2009 and was superb.

Keith did change up a couple of the menu items and had Swordfish and Mixed Berries in lieu of the entrée and dessert noted above but Anne Marie had the items on the menu. The food was outstanding.

Oh and the service. One would not believe the wonderful service throughout the evening. All of the waiters from the two specialty restaurants along with many waiters from the main dining room work this event along with all of the Lido Deck Stewards, many sommeliers along with so many others who are instrumental including the Maitre d’s from the main dining room and the specialty restaurants and the head waiters from the specialty restaurants and many other members of the dining and hotel staff. When it was time for dinner to begin, the passengers assigned to a table were escorted from the reception over to the venue, where a picture is taken, and then each person is escorted over to their assigned table. There were numerous members of the staff who were assigned to each and every table and attended to every aspect of the meal. Between each course there was fabulous entertainment.

The pool was covered with a stage and the room was all decorated. We can’t tell you how elaborate the entranceway to the venue was and the inside of the room. You would think you were at a night club in Buenos Aires.

This is the fifth time we have been to such an event as two are done on each world cruise and last evening was the very best one we have attended. Kudos to the entire Crystal Team for making this a night that will last for our lifetime.

Today we arrived to Buenos Aires. This is our third visit to Buenos Aires by cruise and Keith has also visited here before on business. Since we have previously done several morning, afternoon and evening shore excursions in the wonderful port of call we decided not to take an excursion. Crystal did offer a complimentary excursion for all passengers with an overview of Buenos Aires but we skipped this one since we have seen all of the stops on the tour on more than one occasion.

We love Buenos Aires. It is a beautiful city with wonderful people. This may surprise many of you but Argentina is indeed the eighth largest country in the world in terms of its physical size of 1 million square miles. While it is physically large, its population only total approximately 40 million people. Most of the people of Argentina can trace their roots and heritage to Europe. There are between 250,000 and 300,000 Jewish people living in Argentina. Argentina has 70 Billion dollars in exports and its economy is much stronger today than it was between 2001 and 2002 when its economic situation was analogous to falling off a cliff.

Buenos Aires was first settled in the 1500s and was initially controlled by Spain. It wasn’t until 1816 when independence was achieved. Towards the middle of the 19th century, Buenos Aires became Argentina’s Capital.

Today, when we think of the history of this area, many people think of its recent past when it was ruled by General Peron and his wife Evita.

With the devaluation of the Peso several years ago tourism has increased to popular destinations in Argentina such as Buenos Aires. At the same time there has been a significant increase in the number of cruise ships sailing between Buenos Aires and Valparaiso Chili offering passengers the opportunity to see many of the ports of call on this ever increasing popular itinerary where passengers can sail around Cape Horn and on the extended cruises sail off Antarctica.

Buenos Aires is a beautiful city and as one strolls its streets it has the feel and look of being in a major city in Europe.

There are many beautiful buildings to see. This includes the Casa Rosada or better known as the “President’s Pink House”. This house became popular as Evita Person used to give speeches to large masses of the residents of this city from of the balconies of this building. Another famous area within a short walk from here is the Cabildo, which is also known as the “Town Hall”. It was here that the independence effort began. Another famous area is the Metropolitan Cathedral which contains the tomb of the famous Argentine liberator, Jose de San Martin, are housed.

Near this area is there are wonderful restaurants, boutiques, and art galleries.

An area that attracts many tourists is the Recoleta Cemetery. In many ways this cemetery is like an ancient city with its rather ornate and elaborate mausoleums. One of these mausoleums contains the body of Evita Peron. We visited this cemetery in 2005.

Since we set the clocks back one hour last evening I woke up extra early this morning. I worked out mostly by myself until John arrived about twenty minutes before I finished. I worked out for ninety minutes on the Elliptical Machine and then lifted weights. Keith watched part of the movie Evita during his workout. For a portion of the workout it was quite spectacular outside with thunder and lightening. I know one passenger who normally swims around eighty laps each morning at the outside pool and he took a break.

After my workout he stopped by the Lido Café, which was fairly quiet. I spoke with Rey (Ray) for a while who is one of the Lido Deck Stewards. We viewed a beautiful sunrise this morning a little while before we enjoyed breakfast in our room.

We took the first shuttle bus from the cruise ship terminal over to the drop off point near Florida Avenue. Initially, we were on a mission to find a Paddle Tennis Racket and a Black Belt and we did accomplish the mission. We went into four or five different sports shops until we made the decision on a racket. We found a nice men’s store. Although the belt was too long they shortened it for us. We wanted to note how helpful each and every person was in all of the stores we visited. Anne Marie’s Spanish helped save the day as well since the three employees who worked in the store where we ended up purchasing the Paddle Tennis Racket spoke very little English.

Afterwards, we visited some of the famous sites of this beautiful city. We continued to see enhancements since our last visit in 2007.

We returned to the ship in the afternoon and enjoyed a nice lunch on the ship. We each walked in the afternoon.

The Main Dining Room had open seating and after looking at the menu we decided we would dine at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant.

On our last two visits to Buenos Aires we went to see the Tango performed at night. This time we plan to see the Argentine Folkloric Gaucho Extravaganza on board

There is something very special and romantic about being in this city and our last visit in 2007 was on Valentine’s Day. So, with that in mind here is today’s thought of the day.

TODAY’S THOUGHT OF THE DAY……

Life is a journey and it is love that makes that journey worthwhile.

Keith and Anne Marie