I got off the colectivo about a block from the Casa Rosada, so I decided to walk past it and see if I could get some better pictures. I noticed that there were some tourists inside the perimeter fence and that the gate was ajar, so I asked the guard if I could go in to take pictures. Once I went through the gate, I realized that the front door was open and people were going in, so I decided to go have a look--turns out it's open for tours even on the weekend.
I was surprised to see a chapel with a huge crucifix right off the main entryway--not something you would see in a main US government building.
A tour was starting just as I walked in, but I have to admit I didn't pay much attention since the group was so huge and I couldn't hear the guide very well.
The Casa Rosada is apparently yellow inside...
Ceiling detail:
After a while, the tour guide handed us off to a guard to go upstairs:
The upstairs rooms had the most ornate inlaid-wood floors I had ever seen. I almost felt bad walking on them.
This room is important, although I'm not quite sure why. I think state business is conducted here.
The cabinet ministers meet here. Note the CFLs in the chandelier. The only incandescent lightbulbs I've seen so far in Argentina have been in an old subway car.
Check out the guard's boots (spurs and all):
Room near the end of the tour with lots of statues. That sun looks a little too cute to be on an official bust.
Jake got to the Plaza de Mayo right as my Casa Rosada tour was ending, and we walked down to San Telmo. It's really cool how all the neighborhoods I've visited in Buenos Aires have a distinctive "flavor" to them. San Telmo was a really rich part of town back in colonial times, but when the yellow fever hit, most rich families moved to higher ground. It has only been relatively recently that San Telmo has started to get nice again, in part because it has so much tourism value. It is full of old, low buildings and cobbled streets.
Entering the Mercado San Telmo (the non-open-air one). It's about half antiques and half fruit and vegetable stalls.
Chandeliers for sale:
There are all sorts of antiques available--books, chandeliers, jewelry, telephones, furniture, seltzer bottles, and lots of old photos. I bought a few photos, including a rural scene dated 1926 and a group of people in nice clothes standing on what appears to be a glacier. I tried to ask the woman selling them where she got them, but I think she thought I was asking where they were taken.
Tango on the street near the open-air market in Plaza Dorrego:
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