"What's new Buenos Aires...."

Hi everyone, Ryan here. Yup, apparently I have to do some of the blog too, so be kind to me, I not nearly as talented a writer as Jess.

Did Jess mention how fabulous this hotel is?? Oh my God, this is a level of service we didn't know existed. We almost don't want to leave our room or the hotel. Last night when we returned from dinner and walked through the lobby Jess let out one of those gay gasps that could only mean one thing...a celeb in our midst. Who was sitting there in front of us but Robert Deniro in the lobby bar. We pretended to be too cool to care, of course. Upon returning to the room we found this wonderful welcome home, good night gift. Macaroons as good as the ones we had at La Duree in Paris.


This was the card sitting beside the macaroons. We proceeded to place the card in the minibar. We'll let you know how it turns out.













Well, that lasted long, didn't it? It's Jess... Ryan is tired. Apparently "this blogging thing is hard." I'll give him credit, the connection takes forever to upload a picture. Anyway, here was the rest of our day. We went on a three hour tour (... a three hour tour) with a tour guide named Diego (the picture is of him and Ry). It was actually fascinating going through the city. A lot to be learned. Of course, the highlight of the tour for Ryan was visiting Evita Peron's grave... not because he knows who she is but because Madonna played her in the movie. Her story is fascinating however. If you're into history, look her up. Nothing like a movie star marrying into politics.





















So if you have seen the movie Evita (the one playing in the hotel DVD player right now... should I be happy? I mean, it's a break from Celine Dion's new DVD...) and you recognize the balcony she spoke from, you'll see it behind Ryan. Directly behind him. I haven't seen the movie, nor do I care to. Turns out I should have payed closer attention. I thought it was the one on the left. Nope, it's the one that he's blocking. Funny for me, annoying for him (but funny wins, right?)


Ry also wanted me to post this picture. This is the moselium of the man (as far as the Argentine are concerned) who 'invented' Salsa Golf... a 50/50 mix of ketchup and mayonnaise. If my partner was ever going to join a religion, it would be the one that this man started.

















Oooh... check this out. Forget Jess, I now go by 'Mrs. ("Name removed" because Ryans patient's can find him here)' (only funny for those of you that know my partner's name is Ryan ("Name removed" and my name is Jesse Magee). It reminded us of flying into Prague last year and walking out of the airport to find our driver holding a sign that said 'Mr. and Mrs. "Name removed" ' Talk about a photo opportunity missed!







Here we are at La Recoleta Cemetary where Evita is buried (oh, and the salsa golf inventor). I think horizontal stripes are really working for me. What do you think?










And of course, here is me being inappropriate as our tour guide walks up to find us. Whoops. More tomorrow.

We're Here!

After 24 hours of travel, we are finally in our hotel room in Buenos Aires. We didn't end up missing any flights, or having any of our connections canceled... but it's not all good news. They did a last minute aircraft swap and we were forced to wedge ourselves into THESE on the plane we were assigned:
No glamour seats! Unbelievable... the humanity of it all! I'm kidding here of course. The seats were fine and it wouldn't have mattered a whole lot anyway. I think I was awake long enough to eat half of what was on my plate before sleeping the rest of the way. We flew through the storm we were talking about earlier and it was turbulence like I have never experienced. You know it's bad when the flight attendants have been instructed to remain in their seats, buckled up for three full hours. Crazy. We did a quick stop in Santiago, Chile, and then landed in Argentina to find out the airport workers were on strike. There was one luggage team unloading every plane that touched down. About an hour later, the conveyor belt started burping out luggage and luckily our two bags were some of the first.

We arrived at the Alvear Palace Hotel in Buenos Aires. Wow, wow, wow. As far as service goes, it is above and beyond anything we have stayed at before. It started by welcoming us to our room which was equipped with fresh fruit, fresh cut roses, and Hermes products in the bathroom. Here are some pictures:
We also just finished having our La Prairie 'jet-lag recovery' massage in the spa downstairs. Once that was over, we came upstairs and ordered up a bottle of wine... a bottle that cost about $20. Look at what we got:
That's all for now. Time to go explore.

At The Airport

Well, we're sitting in the AirCanada lounge at Vancouver International Airport. We spent the morning making some quick purchases (new fat clothes) and running some final errands. Things were going really smoothly until Mr. Organization (above) overheard something about a snowstorm in Toronto (where we'll be connecting from, leaving for Santiago, Chile at midnight). Apparently the weather system that was supposed to hit the city on Saturday night is making an early arrival. This could mean missing our connecting flight, or a canceled flight which would completely throw off 'the itinerary.' Well, that is how Ryan chooses to see it.

I on the other hand, choose to view the situation as a unique opportunity to sample every type of free liquor the AirCanada lounge offers its patrons. Amarula? Don't mind if I do! Cointreau? I'll never say no! Like I always say, if life hands you lemons, make some Mike's hard lemonade.

By the way... we're trying to figure out the new camera. Sorry this picture on this post is so big. We'll see if we can shrink the future ones so that you're not getting a 3" x 6" of every pore on our faces.

Up, Up, And Away!

Hello people! Welcome back to our travel blog. It is the day before we leave for Argentina where we'll be staying for about two weeks. Today just happened to coincide with the release of Celine Dion's 'A New Day' DVD. Lord, help me. Ever tried to ensure that you've packed everything while 'My Heart Will Go On' is making hairline fractures in the walls?

As usual, Ryan has been busy planning. It's taken us awhile but we've managed to find a happy medium between his "10:23 - 10:25 - Bathroom Break" style of travel and my "why is it so bright... holy crap, it's noon!" style of travel. We've definitely got a busy itinerary (private city tour of Buenos Aires, icetreking in Patagonia, hiking the jungles of Iguazu Falls, and two days of wine tours in Mendoza) but I've managed to sneak in some chill time for us.

So, get this. Thanks to the practice Visa accumulating Aeroplan points, we're flying business class. More than enough reason to be happy. Well, when we looked online we realized that we'll be flying sitting on... or should I say lying on... these:
Can you believe that? If you would like a full tour and a play-by-play of how to recline the seat into a bed, go to this link (I would hate us too). We'll be flying from here to Toronto, then on to Santiago, Chile. Once we're there we'll finish off the 17.5 hours of flight time when we land in Buenos Aires.

That's where we'll leave it for now. We need to finish packing. I'll give you a better idea of what's going on once we're checked in at the airport tomorrow.

Ryan's Top 5 Wrap Up

Well, here it is, Ryan's wrap up of Italy 2007 (Jess' to follow, we hope, he's kinda blogged out).

Top Cities:

1) Venice-It was my first time here and it was more spectacular in person than any photo could capture. Visually stunning at every turn. Unfortunately your first impressions are as good as it gets as the city is swarming with tourists (just like us!!). After awhile the endless crowds start to get to you. Returning in off peak season would be bliss!! If we could do it again we would have done the whole trip in September when temperatures were more bearable and crowds lighter (slightly!)




2) Rome- This was my second trip to Rome and until now Rome and Paris (four visits) have been competing for my favorite city in the world award (so far). After this visit I would definitely put Paris at the top of my list. Rome is amazing, but for some reason less amazing this time around. Perhaps the excruciating heat dampened my spirits and it also felt the the hotel I chose for our initial leg there, while lovely and modern, was too far out of the way...hiking 20-30 minutes, on foot, to the sites in 38C wears you down...nevermind jetlag from the 9 hour time change on top of it. Having said that there is nothing like touring the Colosseum and ancient ruins in Rome and the shopping on via Condotti is second to none (Hello, massive Prade boutique for men).



3) Cinque Terre (not a city, I know) - Absolutely stunning. Having been told by a number of people that is was there favorite place in the world expectations were high. We took a train from Florence to the Cinque Terre and while the train ride is lovely through Tuscany the train eventually enters a mountain tunnel for a considerable time to emerge clinging to the cliffs of Cinque Terre and the views take your breath away. Each of the 5 towns are gorgeous against the backdrop of the Mediterranean.



4) Florence- My second trip to Florence. Florence was named the top city in the world to visit by "Travel and Leisure" magazine...and I don't know why. It is a lovely town but has never grabbed me. There are tonnes of tourists here and it is a very pretty town but...for some reason I don't love it. People flock to the Uffizi Gallery (supposedly one of Italy's top museum) but I just don't get it. This was my second time through the museum and still I just didn't get the appeal. I guess I am not sophisticated enough. Perhaps the fact that I know absolutely nothing about the bible and the story of Jesus (which seems to be the theme in every painting) didn't help.


You are supposed to
attached a lock here with
your lovers name and
throw the key in the river
but I guess Jess forgot to
go to Home Depot before
trip!! :(


5) Positano- Positano is a gorgeous town clinging to the Amalfi Coast and the views are amazing. The town is geared towards just relaxing in the sun...something I have never been into. They were in the middle of a heat/humidity wave so it was difficult to leave the hotel in the afternoon...thank god we had a Jacuzzi tub on our deck overlooking the sea to relax in. We did have some amazing meals here though plus our cooking class here with Mamma Agata was the highlight of our whole trip.



Top Activities:

1) Mamma Agata's cooking class (Ravello, near Positano)-Absolutely amazing. The class was at Mamma's house which the family had owned for 250 years, 1000 ft above the Mediterranean sea with their private garden below were they grew all the food used in the cooking class (including the chicken!!). The views were amazing and Chiara (mamma's daughter) was the most gracious host and Mamma was just what you would expect of an Italian mother, plump and jolly. They hold weddings on their property and Chiara recommended Jess and I get married there. Who knows??!!??




2) Hiking the Cinque Terre trail-My god it was hard but worth it. The trail was 3 ft across at times 1000 ft up the cliff from the ocean but the views were amazing. We hiked through vineyards, olive groves, lemon groves...lizards hung to the rocks along the trail (and I squealed like a school girl every time I saw one).




3) Borghese gallery (Rome)- the most beautiful sculpture museum. I have never had an appreciation for sculpture but the audio guide was amazing. To see these sculptures that someone had chipped from one piece of marble was amazing.

4) Shopping via Condotti (Rome)- I LOVE TO SHOP!! Actually I do more window shopping than buying. We all know Italy is the fashion centre of the world and via Condotti has every shop you can imagine...at way less that we pay in Canada...Prada, Bulgari, Tods, Dolce and Gabbana, Gucci,....it goes on and on....Zegna....heaven.

5) Murano Island- Murano glass if famous around the world and this is were is comes from...30 min on boat from Venice. Every shop loaded with beautiful glass pieces. Very fun to look at. If only I had $4000 dollars in my pocket we could have gotten the piece we wanted....maybe next time.

Top Meals:

1) La Zucca (Venice)- A vegetarian place. Simple delicious food. Who knew curried carrots could taste so good. The Caprese was to die for.


2) La Tagliata (Positano)-The "no menu..you just taste everything" place. An experience like you probably can't find anywhere else. Six pasta dishes on one plate...how can you not love that.


3) Alfredo Al Campidolgilio (Rome)- The best pasta, they brought it to the table the mixed it all together, butter, cheese, egg noodles (cooked to perfection)...it was like Kraft Dinner X10....I didn't even need Ketchup!!

4) Next2 (Positano)- Funky restaurant, nice decor, amazing food, nice servers, amazing veal.



Top Hotels:

1) Ca Maria Adele(Venice)- Perfect. Beautiful rooms. Service amazing. A small hotel, only 14 rooms. All the rooms unique.




2) Wesin Excelsior (Florence)- Ornate room. Nice bed. Very helpful friendly staff.


3) Sofitel Rome (Rome)- Nice location short walk to main shopping area. Most luxurious bed.

4) Forty Seven (Rome)-Our first Rome hotel. Too far out of the way. Nice large room with balcony.


5) Hotel Magherita (Monterosso, Cinque Terre)- Simple room but best the cinque terre had to offer.



I hope Jess will post his impressions of our trip. Otherwise our next big trip is Argentina in December for my 40th and Jess' 30th birthday celebration. Thank you to everyone who took the time to have a look at our travel blog it was fun to share our experiences with you.

(This is Jess now...)
Here's is my Top 5 Wrap Up:
DITTO.

Well, not really to be honest but I am LOVING the fact that I don't have to blog everyday and I'm going to ride it out as long as I can. The only real difference is the order of our favorite cities, so I'll save you from reading everything twice (that's my excuse anyway).

Until next time...