June 30, 2010

San Telmo Part 1 - My Trip to Buenos Aires

San Telmo

Feira de San Telmo is an antique fair hosted in San Telmo's Plaza Dorrego every Sunday. It starts at 10am. Buenos Aires is filled with antiques and art, that's why it has the best auction offices like Christie's and Sotheby's.

During the weekends, Buenos Aires streets are desert. Its hard to find someone, you only see a few tourists. Buenos Aires has a high floating population which hits almost 15 million people during the week days and 4 million during the weekends. Lots of Argentines from satelite cities come to Buenos Aires to work during the week and go back home to their families on the weekends. Therefore, the streets are empty and desert during the weekends. Restrain yourself to a touristic araea shuch as San Telmo Fair.

The must see places in San Telmo are:



1. Museo Historico Nacional: If you want to know a little about the Argentine history, visit this place.





2. Centro Cultural Torquato Tasso: This is a nice cultural center which has a great nightlife with Tango and music shows. The center has tango and milonga classes for free. Check out their site for the prices and schedule.

3. Espacio Ecletico: Since 2001, this center hosts a variety of arts: theater, music, dance, cinema, visual arts, for examplo. In August, its is the address of a famous fair called Feria de Libros de Fotos de Autor, which brings together lost of photographers.

4. La Trastienda Club is one of the most demanded night houses for nacional and internacional shows. This is a really happy choice. If you like music, you will have fun!

Group Agarrate Catalina

George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic

5. Maldita Milonga is a GREAT night option on Mondays and Wednesdays. You need to get there at 9pm to have a fun tango class and then the show starts at 11pm. I listened to an interesting Tango band called Orquestra Tipica El Afronte. Professional and not-so-professional Tango dancers join the dance floor for a good sweaty night. I would say that this is a great informal show for who wants to see Argentines dancing and having fun. The entrace is $20,00 pesos.


                        

San Telmo´s Street Band - My trip to: Buenos Aires

June 29, 2010

Louis Vuitton Soccer monogram duffel bag - by Fashion Columnist Daniela Lanna


Ever since Kanye West line of footwear/ sneakers for luxury brand Louis Vuitton debuted several interesting pieces of Louis Vuitton have been popping up.

One of those was the Louis Vuitton Soccer monogram duffel bag, released in Fall/Winter 09/10.

As we are all in the mood for soccer (at least here in Brazil!), I thought it was worth it to post this fantastic LV bag!!!

The bag depicts the soccer ball shape on the exterior and is the perfect to match you world cup’10 look.




Louis Vuitton Soccer monogram duffel bag: Football was never so fashionable!

June 28, 2010

New Film and Photography Guest Columnist Alex Ingram

Hello my name is Alex, creator of the blog, Tux & Tie.
When I got an e-mail from Marcela asking me to become a guest blogger for The Art Reference I was incredibly enthusiastic! It is amazing to see that my blog has viewers worldwide and I appreciate each and every one of you that takes the time to check out my site! I have been asked to contribute a weekly posting for The Art Reference and I thought what better to display then the new weekly video project I have just started documenting my internship at TrailerPark and ArtMachine in Hollywood, CA.

If you are a fan of the American film industry I am sure you know that nearly everything we produce in entertainment comes straight out of Hollywood. I am currently working for a company that handles a great deal of L.A.'s movie trailers, photography, design etc. This video gives a look at what I see on my day to day of the internship.

Check it out, leave feedback, and I hope to respond to any questions and comments.
Ciao!
Alex

                        http://vimeo.com/12895990 from Alex Ingram on Vimeo.


* This post was written by our new film and photography Guest Columnist Alex Ingram.
Welcome Alex!!


June 27, 2010

Icecream - Helados


Buenos Aires is filled with Helaterias. The famous ones are: Freddo, Modena, Chungo, Monte Olivia, Munchi´s, Persicco, Saverio and Un Altra Volta.

Must taste flavours are:
1. Dulche de lecche cucuruccino
2. Quinotos al uisque (fruit cream + whisky)
3. Frutos del bosque
4. Passion fruit mousse
5. Queso mascarpone (mascarpone cheese)
6. Mascarpone + rasberry

They are the best ice-creams I have ever tasted. As the argentinians say "Los helados son muy ricos!"
I had a different flavour everyday.




June 26, 2010

La Boca - My Trip to: Buenos Aires

La Boca




La Boca is one of the 48 neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. Its known to be the first neighborhood of the city once founded by San Pedro de Mendoza in 1536. The conventional explanation is that the neighborhood sits at the mouth ("boca" in Spanish) of the Riachuelo. It was a seaport area populated by mainly Italian, Spanish, German, French, Arab and Basque immigrants.




The must see in La Boca are:
 
1. El Caminito: One of the most visited 100 squared feet of Argentina.

2. La Bombonera: Museum and stadio tickets are U$9,00 (11am/5pm).

3. Calle Magallanes: There are lots of studios in this street. The Centro Cultural de los Artistas in on the 861, where you can also have a privileged view of Caminito. This is a good tip for an artful walk in La Boca!


4. Fundacion Proa: Just in the begining of Caminito you will see the Fundacion Proa which is a great cultural center for contemporary art. It is worth a visit!




5. Museo de Cera : You can see La Boca's history in it. (See picture on the side)

6. Museum Maguncia is based on Gutemberg's paper impression and print. This is a nice tip for artists who like visual art design and love papers!

7. Benito Quinquela Martin, a La Boca orphan, is maybe the most famous Argentine painter. His paintings of port scenes show the activity, vigor and roughness of the daily life in portuary La Boca.
La Boca hosts Museo Quinquela Martin which offers to its visitor the best paintings of this artist along with Spilimbergo, Victorica, Lacámera, Sívori and Policastro. The museo is in the top floor of  Escuela Don Pedro de Mendoza (High School) in Calle Pedro de Mendoza, 1835. Its also a good opportunity to check out the Argentine school and its infra-instruction.

Quinquela's painting

                     Here is a good article on how Benito changed La Boca.




Caminito

Caminito is a joyful finding. I went with the city tour buss and they give only 45 minutes in Caminito, which is really fast to walk, get to know the place, buy art, take pics and eat. You just have time for a quick walk on it. If you have time, I would recomend going back and taking your time there.

Camino literally means way or walkway in English and the suffix -ito makes the noun in its diminutive form. So, Caminito means little walkway. For me, Caminito is a touristicly decorated once-upon-a time a slum.

Why is Caminito so colorful?

The immigrants in the Riachuelo worked in the port and used to paint their homes with the leftover paints of the shipyard as nothing else was available and could be afforded.

Here is a good site about Caminito and its history.

Those are the main streets of Caminito





This is restaurant Bachicha. There is a lot of shows and live dancing. Another good suggestion for a meal is Rincon de Lucia (Calle Lamadrid, 699). It is hidden and lots of people dont see it, but it is a great choice. The door is closed. OPEN! Haha. It used to be an old pension. They reconstructed a room the way it used in the old times and use it as a museum today.


Street Art

Caminito and San Telmo are nice places to buy Street Art




Music Stage in a viela

Graffiti Walls


La Bombonera

Lego Replica of La Bombonera

The agency city tour took me to La Bombonera which is a stadium located in the La Boca district of Buenos Aires widely known as La Bombonera (the Chocolate Box) due to its shape. The stadium is owned by Boca Juniors, one of Argentina's most famous football clubs. Out of its capacity of 49,000, there are 37,538 seats, 2780 are boxes and 8,682 standing which are completely filled during classic games with River Plate and Boca Juniors, for example.







The tour buss stoped there and you can buy tickets to visit inside. As there was no game at the moment, I decided to visit the the neighborhood. This is a poor place and not safe to walk around alone. Stay close to La Bombonera and its souvenier shops. There are three nice shops in front of it. Nice place for a Quilmes beer or a coffee. Also, enjoy and take pictures with Maradona and Che. While the guys visited an empty stadium, check the pics I took below:

Maradona estatue in a souvenier shop

Found Che Guevara smoking there

Around Bombonera there are homeless people

Graffiti wall on La Bombonera

La Bombonera shows great wall-paintings

Souvenier shops

La Boca Houses

Argentians have a big crush on the Simpsons.
Check the souvenier T-Shirts:


June 25, 2010

My trip to: Buenos Aires

                   

                  

I have just travelled to Buenos Aires (Argentina) a little while ago and I decided to write the best tour guide with artful tips about this amazing city. If you want to visit Buenos Aires or know a little bit more about it, please, join me in these special posts.

I will devide the suggestions in the argentinian neighborhoods such as: La Boca, Palermo, Puerto Madero, Recoleta, Centro and San Telmo, as well as in topics such as galleries, museums, grafitti artists, fun and funny things about Argentina, for example.


BUENOS AIRES BASICS

Climate: The average annual temperature is 18 Celsius and the most pleasant seasons are spring and fall. The coldest month is July with temperatures between 0 and 8 Celsius. The summer is very humid. In the winter, arround Sao Joao Batista Holiday (06-24), there is the veranito San Juan in which the temperature hits high levels for a week. Seven days of summer (24 Celsius) in the middle of the winter and then the temperature drops really low.

Security: Watch out for your purse, wallet, watch and camera. Do not hang your purse on restaurant chairs or leave it opened. Always keep an allert eye on your goodies, principally in crowded street such as Calle Florida. When visiting La Boca, don´t walk away from the tourist area and go during the day light. If you have any problem, contact the Tourist Assistence at 0800-9993828, 9am-8pm). Buenos Aires has a Tourist Delegacy (comisaria del turista) in Avenida Corrientes 436, telephone 0800-9995000, opened 24hs. Also, in case of emergency, you can count with the police (101) or the ambulance (107).

Another good allert is not to give high notes (50 or 100 pesos) to taxi drivers, for example. There are more fake notes than you imagine. Always check its veracity.

Money: Argentina´s currency is pesos. In 2010, the equivalence is 1 dollar = 3,85 pessos and 1 real = 2,20 pesos. Do not exchange your money in the airport, the best options are money exchange offices or banks. The Banco de la Nacion usually has the best taxes and Calle Florida has lots of options. In case you loose your credit or debit card, call in Buenos Aires to Mastercard (4340-7000), Visa (4379-3333) and American Express (0810-5558000).

Cheap tip: Some stores have the Global Refund (globalrefund.com, 5238-1970). They are identified with a tax refund sticker in the store. You should always look for it, request to fill up the form in the store and keep the receipts and tax refund forms organized and separated to present in the Aduana booth in the airport in your way back.


Transportation: Taxis (yellow and black) are the best way of transportation as they are really cheap and safer. Prefer the registered ones. They have the signed marked in the pictures. The original price is US$1,20 and US$0,12 for each 200 meters. If you call a cab, the minimum price is $12 pesos. The subway (subte) is the fastest way arround the city. The price is US$0,30, Monday to Saturday (5am to 10:30pm) and Sunday (8am to 10pm).

My sister told me that I was crazy doing this special post series in the middle of the World Cup. It is known that Brazilians (Pelé) and Argentinians (Maradona) HATE each other tremendously what concerns soccer, but I believe we would have a love story if it was not for the soccer. So,...

It starts today the special post series entitled My trip to: Buenos Aires. I hope you enjoy!


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