Still in Search of the Best Carne...

Yesterday we got the news about the Cruise Ship which had capsized off the coast of Italy. Which was pretty eery having just been on a cruise ship ourselves. We know the safety drills and have participated in them twice now. The first one (Alaska cruise) was right away when we boarded the ship and very organized. They told us where to go and had us actually go there for the drill. Also we were given instructions on how to put on our life jackets and actually practiced this with crew inspecting our work. The cruise we took on this trip was a little more lax. It was a smaller ship but if my memory serves me correct, we did not have the safety drill until Day 2. Even then it was more casual and seemed not mandatory at all. Well, the bottom line is the disaster on the Concordia sounds like the outcome (people dying) could have been avoided if the crew was more competent. But what do I know sitting here in South America? I am still on some cruise forums and believe me, there is more information on that practically than any news report! I feel really, really badly for anyone who had to endure this chaotic, frightening experience. I think we will stick to smaller boats. At least there wouldn't be  such a stampede on life boats? Enough of my IMHO...

We went to bed last night after realizing that Denver could not pull out any more miracles. Oh well, there's always next year Tim? Or will there be a Tim next year? I have no idea how these things go but I really wanted to see another barn-burner game after last week-I am a fair weather fan of any underdog, that's for sure..

Today, we got up, got our running gear on again to make our way to the "lunch-hopefully best steak in the world" place. On our way, we passed yet another old historic piece of B.A. History; "Manzana de Las Luces" (apple of the lights-don't ask). Are we sick of old historical building pictures yet? (believe me, this will make the slide show shorter..:))

"In this building stands important part of our history. Don't paint on it or hang posters" Guess there are scoundrels here too..

The restaurant was situated right next to the "San Telmo Market". I blogged about this early on here in B.A. We went there on Christmas Day. There were alot of vendors then. Well, since this Sunday is not a holiday, there were probably 10 times that number of vendors and shoppers. I was a bit surprised by this although shouldn't have been. We saw alot more "stuff" to buy. With the exception of a nice piece of artwork displaying Tango Dancers, I just didn't find anything I liked to take home. Even the obligatory T-shirt didn't even get purchased. Although I saw one I liked, I didn't like it enough to buy it without trying it on. Common, you are selling T-shirts and we are too sweaty to try them on? I walked away..

Can you see the blocks and blocks of vendors? As far as the eye can see..

On to lunch. The place was funky to say the least..H describes it as "A Man Cave" style of decoration..actually, it goes all out on the traditional aesthetic: guacho artifacts, soccer memorabilia, tango music and white linen tablecloths.

Too bad we don't drink wine. There was enough for a stadium full of playoff game fans!

There were locals there as well as tourists, crowded even for the afternoon. We ordered steak, I told them "medium rare" because as I mentioned med-rare here means almost well done. Well not for La Brigada! Seems they have the art of steak cooking "Parilla", down pat. I ordered med rare and that is what I got! So off it went back to the kitchen. H's was a perfect rare. The waiter cut the meat with a spoon. And yes, that is how tender it was! I finally got mine to order and we feasted like kings in the middle of this hot afternoon in B.A. We were so full at the end, dessert was not even discussed. We even opted out of the run home-we had done enough today. The Subte won out and we were home in a flash..

Home to football playoffs, Golden Globes (hope this is in English!) and a night of leftovers-not a bad way to end a beautiful Sunday!

BTW-We ran over 50 miles the first 2 weeks of this month. This is an estimation but I am erring on the conservative side. Not bad for being on vacation! This doesn't even take into account all the miles and miles of walking we have done all over this city..:)