Ever since before I moved here, Cecilia and I have been talking about going to La Plata, the capital of the Province of Buenos Aires, and today we finally made it. Lina and I went to have lunch with Ceci one day last week and we decided then that this would be the day.
It’s only just over an hour away, and it was a lovely bright, sunny day. It was even quite warm, another sign of spring being just around the corner.
La Plata is famous for its beautiful cathedral, which is at one end of the main square, Plaza Moreno. At the the other end is the provincial government building, which is the subject of my sketch below. (Sorry, I forgot to crop it before sending it to my computer!)
We headed into the cathedral first, and it was stunning. Huge, soaring arches and truly beautiful stained glass windows. The light coming through the windows took away from some of the vibrancy of the colours, but I included the photos anyway to give you an idea. Apparently it is the biggest cathedral in South America and the only one built of brick. It’s not old — I think it was built in the 1930s. I actually sat down inside and did a quick pencil sketch of some of the pillars, and I might finish that one of these days and put it in a future post.
They had some tables set up outside the cathedral and we sat down, not realizing it was a cafe until we were presented with menus! As it was after noon, we decided the sun was over the yard arm and we all had a nice glass of white wine in the sun.
Ceci and Lina went for a walk while I did my sketch, with a view to finding a place for lunch. They didn’t find anything they fancied, but we discovered the cafe at the cathedral was also inside and served food, so we had a nice leisurely lunch there.
Today in Argentina was the Dia de los Niños, so there was lots going on in the square for children, as you’ll see from the photos. I believe it is now officially called the Dia de les Niñes, which is apparently an attempt to make the language more gender neutral — just as I’ve got a handle on the masculine and feminine adjectives they throw this at me!
We tried to find the museum of antique cars, but after driving around for half an hour following the instructions of the GPS, we never did find it, so we just headed home. I think it was around 5 pm when Cecilia dropped me off after a lovely day. Thanks Ceci!
