Our next stop was the Metropolitan Cathedral.
The boys looked at the Greek inspired pediment on the outside and tried to figure out the scripture story that is portrayed...which is Joseph's reunion with his family in Egypt.
Inside of the cathedral are the remains of General Jose de San Martin.
He is considered to be an Argentine hero as one of the
liberators of Argentina from Spanish South America.
The boys sat in the pews and wrote down things that were the same about our church and things that were different. I liked that Nolan noted how much more "golden" this church was.
Our next stop was the Cabildo. Also known as the government council building that was used in colonial times. Today it is a museum. The boys were busy counting archways as 6 were removed from one side in 1889 and 6 were removed from the other side in 1931 to make room for the streets.
View of the City Hall.
Our next stop was the Teatro Colón. It is the main opera house in Buenos Aires and has some of the best acoustics in the world. To get there, we had to walk across 9 de Julio Avenue, which is the widest street in the world. Elliot did a quick count while crossing and was amazed by it's 20 lanes of traffic!
I have seen (via the blog) my parents take all of the missionaries heading home here and I was really excited to see it. However, when we arrived, they said that the lights would be off during the tours today, which made it seem a lot less appealing to pay all of the money for the tour.
I knew my chances of ever returning were slim, so I still wanted to go. My mom went with me on the tour while Spencer and Brianna hung out with the boys. We had an awesome tour guide, and as it turned out...the lights were not off and we saw everything.
It was amazing. I was really sad Spencer wasn't with us.
The Teatro Colón has quite the history as it was being built and the detail was incredible.
During 2005-2010 it underwent major refurbishment and it so beautiful.
I liked this description I read about it...
The theater's sumptuous building materials—three kinds of Italian marble, French stained glass, and Venetian mosaics—were imported from Europe to create large-scale lavishness. The seven-tier main theater is breathtaking in size, and has a grand central chandelier with 700 lights to illuminate the 3,000 mere mortals in its red-velvet seats. Nothing can prepare you for the thrill of seeing an opera or ballet here.
Our last stop during our adventure downtown was the mall, Galerías Pacífico. Not only is it one of the most successful shopping malls in Argentina, but it is also a National Historic Monument due to its architecture and murals. From shopping, to railway offices, to an unattractive use by the military junta, to the mall it is today, it has been through some changes over the years.
We left the mall via Florida Street. The boys caught glimpses of the tango dancers in the street before we hopped in the taxis to go home.
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