Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Buenos Aires

Wow. What a great city. Vibrant, beautiful buildings and streets, outdoor cafés and shops. It reminds me of a cross between Paris and Madrid, but with a Latin flavour. Neat.

I arrived at the Caesar Park - a hotel that will be our competition - and went for a quick walk. The new Park Hyatt will be just a block from here, and the streets have a neighborhood feel, yet there are high class stores nudged between modern and traditional European-style apartment buildings. Interesting. As I took a walk, I went down this little hallway called Alvear something or other (no, not the Alvear Palace). It was just a line of small shops built into a part of a building, kind of like a small mall. As I walked down, there were antique shops; a very hip and cute coffee shop; a stamp collector; at the end there was a neat outdoor patio and overlooking it a very small hip wine bar playing Eurolounge music, and another exit hallway - down which were a traditional Argentinian store with woolen rugs, etc and across a modern rustic furniture store in the Argentinian style (ie, simple wooden chairs with strong rope in a neat simple design as backing, etc). Neat place.

The Park Hyatt is literally a former palace, nestled between tree lined streets, expensive stores and apartment buildings. Reminds me of the Plaza in some ways how it is situated, although there is no "central park" across the street.

Can't wait to explore more... but bed for now.

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