October 27, 2019 by hwilkie@mhwcom.com

Rosario

Cecilia’s sister Adriana lives in Rosario, a city a couple of hours north of Buenos Aires. Since it was on our way home, we stopped off for an overnight visit.

This is the front door of the Cathedral.

We had lunch in a restaurant owned by world famous football star Lionel Messi. He wasn’t there, of course, as he plays football in Europe. But I couldn’t resist posing with his photo to send to my nephew’s young son, who is football crazy and knows all about Messi!

But there’s no doubt that the number one landmark in Rosario is a huge monument that takes up a city block, dedicated to the national flag of Argentina, which was designed and first flown here by General Manuel Belgrano. It’s usually just referred to as The Monument.

The monument from the front.

The flags along the edge of the square have no image of the sun in the centre. These are recognized as a national symbol, but more informal. They must always be flown at a lower level than the official ceremonial flag.

View from the top of the monument, with the Rio Parana in the background

A detail on the wall of the square, showing Belgrano waving the flag for the first time.

Seen from the top of the tower, this is a beautiful view of a beautiful flag. The blue and white stripes represent the sky, or the heavens, which is said to be where the fight for independence from Spain began. The Sun of May in the centre represents the May Revolution, the high point of the war for independence.

At the other end from the tower is the memorial to the unknown warrior, topped by an eternal flame.

When we were at the top of the tower, a spontaneous concert of the Argentine folk music called chamamé broke out. The charmingly surprising thing was that the musicians wouldn’t take any money, saying the music was a gift from the heart.

We tried very hard to find a milonga so that I could dance tango on vacation, but it’s really a Buenos Aires thing. This poster for a class was the nearest thing we found!

And since we went there to visit Adriana, I thought it appropriate to add this charming photo of the two sisters walking hand-in-hand along the street.

This was my second visit to Rosario. It is a delightful city, and I look forward to going again.

February 1, 2017 by hwilkie@mhwcom.com

A few sketches

I’ve been very bad about keeping up my blog this time. If you’re one of those who have been checking back to see what I’ve been doing, I apologize.

The fact is, I really have been working more this time than last, which means I don’t get around to see as many things. I tend to be out more at night with friends.

Anyway, I thought I’d post some photos of my sketches here, and I’ll try to sort out my other photos and post some of them soon.

This is the English Tower, so called because it was donated to Buenos Aires by the English while they were over here building railways and such like.

This is a lovely cafe inside a museum. I went there with a bunch of women from InterNations and found it so beautiful I just had to go back and sketch. You sit in the cafe and look through the arches into a lovely courtyard garden. I may go back again and sketch it from a different angle.

I paid a visit to the Botanical Gardens last weekend. It’s a beautiful place, full of not only plants and trees, but also some lovely statuary. The problem was it was hotter than hell, and the only seat I could find in the shade was opposite this big weird cactus plant!

Last Sunday Cecilia and I went to visit Costanera Sur, a lovely conservation area between a very posh barrio called Puerto Madero and the Rio de la Plata. It took us three hours to walk around it, and we were so shattered we went to one of the expensive restaurants in the area and drank a bottle of Malbec. Oh yes, and we had some food to go with it!

This is a view of the river from one of the sheltered lookout points. It was hot here too!

One day I went with Cecilia and a friend of hers to a huge park area in Palermo called 3 de Febrero. This particular lake is called Lago Regata, and I was fun watching dogs chasing the swans — without getting too close of course! It was hot here too!

This is the Monument to the Flag in Rosario, which I wrote about before. What a colossal monument, and very impressive.

This eternal flame burns over the tomb of the unknown soldier at the Monument to the Flag.

This was another hot day, when I sat on the edge of a planter and sketched part of 9 de Julio Avenue, apparently the widest avenue in South America. As usual, my sense of proportion failed me, as the Obelisco is much much taller than it looks here. But as is my usual excuse in these cases, a sketch is just an impression and this is enough to evoke the memory for me.

The magnificent entrance to Recoleta Cemetery. I haven’t sketched inside it this time, but I may do that another day.

That’s it for now. I’ll post some more sketches before I go back to Toronto after I’ve built up a bit more of a collection.

January 14, 2017 by hwilkie@mhwcom.com

A Few Days in Rosario

Cecilia’s sister Adriana lives in Rosario, and they invited me to spend a few days there with them last weekend and the beginning of this week. I didn’t know anything about Rosario and wasn’t sure what to expect, but I enjoyed it very much.

Rosario has three claims to fame: Che Guevara was born there, Lionel Messi (international football star) was born there, and — much more importantly — the national flag of Argentina was first raised there in 1812.

El Monumento al Bandera

The massive Monumento al Bandera is a major feature of the city, and extremely impressive. It’s built in the shape of a ship, and it takes up a full city block. I particularly loved how it looked at night. It’s illuminated in blue, with stripes down all four sides of the tower, giving it the impression of the flag itself. Here are a few photos of the monument.

Front of the monument from behind

To give an idea of the scale. I did feel small!

Lights reflect the colours and shape of the flag itself.

Eternal flame over the tomb of the unknown soldier

Statue of Belgrano, who created the flag and raised it for the first time

Cornerstone of the monument

Bar El Cairo

Cecilia took me to this lovely old cafe/bar, which was originally a small theatre. There was a famous caricaturist and writer called Roberto Fontanarossa who frequented Ciaro back in the forties (I think) and there’s a lot of homage to him here. One of the pictures is of the table he always sat at, and now it’s reserved for artists and actors.