Buenos Aires Day 2

We had a nice lazy morning today. We finally got up and had breakfast upstairs at the Executive Lounge (So nice that Theresa is Platinum at Hilton!), and finally got out of here about 10ish. We took a cab, oops, uh, a "taxi" to Cemetario de la Recoleta. Yes, that would be a graveyard. We flew 6000 miles to visit a grave yard. But, it was amazing!! (See Pix) It is truly a City of the Dead. Some vaults were above, and some below ground. There were stairs that descended into the ground, often blocked by locked gates or "doors". It resembled a cellar entrance, which is a little creepy when you think about it…you die and there are stairs down? Uhm… Several Presidents were interred there. So too was Eva (Evita) Peron. Each vault was architecturally unique, and reflected diverse taste, style, and frankly finances. Granite buildings from the mid-1800’s in pristine condition, marble showing wear after 80 years, and concrete crumbling and falling off of Romanesque brick substructure after a mere 20-40 years.
Afterwards, we went to the Museo Evita. It actually did a pretty good job presenting her life and the accomplishments of her life. Sure, it was one sided, and she was controversial, so one shouldn’t consider it "complete". But, she spent much of her life standing up for the poor and for lower classes. We learned a lot and developed respect for both Eva and Juan Peron.
We took the subway (Subte) back to Avenida de Mayo for lunch at Café Tortoni, highly recommended by Fodor’s, Frommers, and 1000 Places to See Before You Die (and end up at the cemetario). The food was pretty tasty, and the cervesa was bueno. The ambiance was something else too. They offer Tango dancing lessons, but we missed that, I guess. The service was, as predicted, very slow. Oh well.

Addendum: Dinner

We went to Cabana Las Lilas, another recommendation by 1000 Places and F&F. First, they came with plates full of bread. There were 5 varieties of bread on the table BEFORE they showed up with a tray full of not less than 5-7 more. I think I cut my hand on one of them--it was some hard, puffy, cracker, fully the size of a sheet of paper. There were many "sauces" which we were not sure what they were, nor on what to put them. Being the polished Americans that we are, I tried most permutations and combinations. I think the mushroom pate on crackers was the best. Certainly not the dry 1.5" sphere of dryness. Theresa had medallions, and it was two nearly 8 oz medallions of choice meat. Wow! I had a "Club Steak" which was stunning to the eye, and aptly named. It looked like a club, with a bone the length of my forearm, and a slab of meat on one end, and a ribbon of meat along the bone. We wish we had brought the camera, you wouldn't believe it! Theresa could not finish her meal, and I was not able to finish both (which is saying something!). We are stuffed with local beef (this place raises, breeds, and well, serves their own beef).