Page 36 - WDT INTERACTIVE

We always fit in guided tours wherever we go to get Palace, home to Juan and Eva Peron. It was also the
the most out of our travels. Knowing that jetlag would place of Eva’s death and the beginning of her post-life
take its toll on us the first day in the city, we decided to travels (more on this macabre journey ahead). The
take the Buenos Aires Tourist Bus for an overview. It palace was razed in 1958 making way for a new library
was a long walk from our apartment to the bus stop, building fittingly described as a style of architecture
but along the way, we passed some major attractions called Brutalism. The library offers free guided tours
around Recoleta, including the National Library Buenos every Wednesday at 3 p.m.
Aires located in an upscale, quiet neighborhood about Directly behind the library, we entered a series of
four blocks away. large parks full of statues, monuments, museums and
We turned the corner into a landscaped plaza art galleries, some of the most important art spaces
and were dumbfounded by a massive cantilevered and historical sites of the city. Unfortunately, the
concrete structure. It reminded us of the upside down museums were closed due to G20. Our tour bus stop
iconic pyramid-shaped Geisel Library at the University was on the main street next to the imposing neoclas-
of California San Diego. We didn’t realize it at the time, sical building that serves as the law school for Buenos
but the plaza and the library were important sites in Aires University.
Argentina’s history. Next to it is Plaza de las Naciones Unidas or the
The library sits on the site of the former Unzue United Nations Park whose centerpiece is Floralis

36 WDT MAGAZINE WINTER 2018