Chronic Negress

Before leaving DC from National Airport, I parked myself in the Admirals Club to await  my flight to Miami. The Negress is happy to report that the Club has the Sea Glass 2007 Sauvignon Blanc I was first introduced to at the MIT Sloan dinner (for that post, click here). I had a couple of glasses and then the Club was closing so down to the gate I went. Our flight to Miami was supposed to leave on time, but was delayed by an hour with a crew change. Having cocktails in first class helped ease the delay and I did my bit by switching seats twice to accommodate people travelling together. Once on the ground in Miami, I had to journey to the, er, “neighboring” concourse to make my connection to Buenos Aires. The crabby foot (plantar fasciitis still hasn’t abated) had me hobbling through a maze a grey corridors with blue carpets and many signs apologizing for the renovation. I was still a good 1,000 yards away when some guy with a wheelchair took pity on me and took me to the gate. This airport badly needs a train system. I settled into my aisle bulkhead seat and unwrapped my quilted blanket and cloth-covered pillow to enjoy that international business class experience. Well, Let’s just say American Airlines has a long way to go to catch Continental and Qantas. No amenities except for a loaner pair of Bose noise-cancelling headphones (note to Santa: me want). Pretty decent Gavi di Gavi Italian white wine marred by the presence of ice crystals. Good seats and video system that allowed me to recline and watch “Mamma Mia,” which I enjoyed every bit as much as the stage production (Worth noting:  Neither the film or the stage version has anything to do with a reality and that’s lovely considering how that’s going right now). There were no blankets and pillows in the “main cabin” aka steerage at all. A lot of apologies were issued and the flight was kept toasty warm to make up for it. I sweated some but no matter. I arrived in Buenos Aires and really started sweating on the ground since it was nearly 80 degrees and I was wearing a sweater. I arrived at the Alvear Palace and tried not to drool openly as I checked in. No pics I take can do this justice so just check out the site. There’s butler service, turn down service, little roses embroidered on the terry cloth slippers and a spa which my feet will check out tomorrow. Now it’s time for the bar and then dinner. I did breeze through the Recoleto open air market, which features handcrafts and a lot of mate serving vessels. Here’s how it looks on the day after:

The market is on Sunday. This was taken the day after.

There are also dogs, kids, lovers, musicians and leather goods. Across from the market site is park with three 250 year old trees. Those need a picture.  After my pedicure, I’ll walk over and do that.