Month: April 2008

Anniversary Vacation Part One

On April 30, 2008

In holiday, pictures, Sites Worth Visiting, thoughts, trips

This month was Joel and my second wedding anniversary. I can’t believe we’ve been married for two years already! In celebration we decided to take a little vacation down to Buenos Aires, Argentina. We had four beautiful days together and had an amazing time. There is too much to put into one post so I will spread it out over a couple posts.

We left Dulles Airport late Monday night and were seated in business class. I definitely felt like a rock star sitting there with my husband and it enabled us to get some good rest on the ten and half hour flight down there. We arrived Tuesday morning and were greeted by our driver who had been arranged by our hotel to pick us up at the airport. We chose to stay at the Claridge Hotel which is a five star hotel in the center of the city and we were not disappointed. We had a very comfortable room and we spent the first day doing nothing but settling in and ordering room service. Hey, it was an anniversary trip after all. *wink*

The next morning we enjoyed our delicious, complimentary champagne breakfast. I very rarely get up in time to enjoy breakfast but this was not to be missed. We then went out to explore the city.

We started out on Florida Street which was just a block from our hotel. It has a lot of great shopping and is one of the busiest streets in the city.

We made our way past the Obelisk, which is a defining land mark of the city.

Evita!

Look, we really were there.

Here are several more pictures of the streets of B.A.

There are lots of cute, brightly colored buildings like this scattered throughout the city.

We wandered down to the water where we picked up some delicious ice cream and enjoyed the sun and the view.

A nice refreshing treat on a warm, sunny afternoon.

Part of our view of the water.

After we had seen all we wanted to see for the day we headed back to the hotel to enjoy the warm evening air by the pool and send some postcards to people back home.

We’ve got a lot of family!

Writing home.

Later that evening we decided to try one of the things Argentina is most famous for: steak.

We went to a place just around the corner from our hotel called El Establo. It was a traditional, little steak house. The menu had easily two or three dozen different options for the cuts of beef and how it was prepared. Our waiter obviously saw our overwhelmed looks as neither Joel nor I are experts on the different cuts of a cow. Even though he didn’t speak any English he did a great job of helping us pick out which cut we should get. And let me just say he knew exactly what he was talking about. Best. Steak. Ever!

I am not kidding you this may have been the best thing I have ever put in my mouth. I am completely spoiled when it comes to steak now. These cuts of meat made every other steak I’ve ever had look like hamburger, no kidding.

Here we are enjoying our amazing dinner.

After that we headed back to the hotel to get rested up for our next day of adventures which will be part two. Stay tuned!

Sao Paulo and Rio

By Abigail

On April 13, 2008

In pictures, Sites Worth Visiting, thoughts, trips

Just got back from a wonderful multi-day trip to Brazil. Here is a little photo tour of the trip.

Day one I spent walking around the big city of Sao Paulo.

A few little fun facts about Sao Paulo: Sao Paulo is the fifth largest city in the world and has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan.

The weather was perfect. It was high 70’s/low 80’s and sunny.

I also visited the MASP museum which is a modern art museum not far from the hotel where we stay. It had a really interesting collection of modern art mixed with classic pieces. My favorite was the Art Mama and Bread man exhibit. Here is an article about it on p-arte.com.

That evening I went with a couple pilots out to a traditional Brazilian steak house called Paulista Grill.

The restaurant had a delicious spread of different salads and sides to go with your meal. But the real reason to eat there was the meat, which is served directly to your table depending on whether your flag says:

and when it’s on green the meat just keeps coming.

Seriously, soooo good. Honestly, I went to the buffet to get some salads and things at the beginning but most of it ended up pushed to the side and uneaten, the meat was just too good.

The next day was a turn to Rio. We flew over in the morning, spent a few hours at the hotel down town and then flew back to spend one more night in Sao Paulo.

A view from the bus on the way to the hotel.

Gorgeous view of the beach from my room.

Hard work, I know, but someone’s gotta do it.

Day three mostly consisted of me working very hard….on my tan. I also did a little window shopping and then stopped by the grocery store to pick up some lunch.

Mmmm, yummy sandwich and some melon that was a little bit of heaven for your mouth.

Me over looking my view from the balcony in my room.

That evening I headed home. Brazil is by far one of my favorite destinations and hopefully I’ll be able to go back there soon. I know I say it a lot but it never stops being true, I love my life!