Argentina, contd.

Apologies for the lack of pictures. After my last update we headed out to into the country. Spent a couple of days on an Estancia in the Pampas and then went down to Tierra del Feugo for a couple of days. I´m now back in Buenos Aires, but at a new hotel. This hotel unfortunately doesn´t have in room internet access, only a quasi-business center. So some of the many pictures I have ready to post may have to wait a couple of days...or at least until I can figure out how to connect to AOL from here.

Tango Show

And at the Mrs' insistance, dinner was had at a mild tourist trap of a tango show. It wasn't that bad I guess. We had good seats.

Belle Epoque Cafe

Lunch was had at Cafe Tortoni, open since 1858.

Obelisco

Also checked out BA's obelisk. I like DCs better. But the setting for BA's is interesting. It's kind of like if a smaller version of the Washington Monument was put in Times Square, but Times Square was about 5 times as big as it is.

Casa Rosada

Including the exterior of the "Pink House." Home to the Argentine president. Ours is white, there's is pink. It's South America and to be expected I suppose.

Plaza de Mayo

After that we took some time and checked out things we had earlier missed at Plaza de Mayo near our hotel.

La Boca

Today started with a trip to La Boca.

Cenotaph

Ironically, across the street from the Torre de los Ingles is a monument to the Falklands (errr...I'm in Argentina so I guess it's Malvinas) War.

Torre de los Ingles

Of course, when youlive somewhere where the skies look like this, I would want to have a lot of reminders of it too. This is the Torre de los Ingles in Retiro.

Pilar

The Basilica to Pilar is right next door. See how it's white and sky blue? You see that color scheme a lot here.

Don't Cry for me Argentina

And when you're there of course you have to visit Evita's crypt. Bring a map so you don't have to pay a street kid to show you where it is.

Necropolis

When you're a tourist in Buenos Aires, what's one of the first things you HAVE to do? Visit Recoleta Cemetary of course.

Argentina

Well, that's over and done with. The once future-Mrs.-Connard is now just Mrs. Connard. Everything went great on Saturday. Ceremony, reception, the whole thing. Any and all stresses that I had been experiencing were wiped away within moments of saying "I do" or was it "I will?" I can't remember. I'm really glad everyone that went out to Texas for this came out and seemed to have a good time. Maybe i'll put up some pics later if/when I get them. Seeing as how i was otherwise occupied, I didn't take any.

Now comes the fun part. I'm currently blogging from lovely Buenos Aires as my child bride rests up after spending 14 hours in a plane yesterday. For the next two weeks instead of being an UKRBlog we're going to be an Argie-Blog. Check back in occaisionally as we escape winter in Ukraine for Summer in the Southern Cone. Should be fun.

Ramblings

As much as I bitch about the power on my building in Kiev going out and my high speed connection in Kiev going out, it amazes me that all in all, I have a better internet connection over there than I do when I come to the states. I've been stuck with dial up for the past week and it absolutely kills me. Farting around on the internet is more annoying than anything else when you're waiting for a page to load, which translates to less blogging as I come accross fewer things to link to and forget about uploading pictures. What a pain.

Anyway, still in Austin will be until Sunday. Everyone is slowly starting to arrive in town for the event and while I love my family and friends dearly each arrival seems to slightly increase the general stress level. Most of the time they aren't even doing anything to cause me worry or concern (yet) but now i have to worry about other people being comfortable. Or at least happy. I really shouldn't be complaining. At the least it's kind of funny experiencing first hand what I normally see only in the people whose wedding I am attending.

And while I'm on the subject of weddings, I have recently come to the conclusion that there are billions of dollars in the U.S. economy that is dependent upon people getting married. I'm not just talking about the caterers, venues, clothiers, etc...but department stores, hotels, and airlines too. Lookign at some of the lovely gifts we've already received couldn't help but make me think that no one would be buying nice china unless there was a wedding to buy it for. I wouldn't have even thought about asking for it had the shortly-to-be Mrs. Connard not informed me that yes, this was important. OK.

Thus, for the economic impact alone I think our nation's politicians should all immediately support gay marraige. All wedding-related contributions to the nation's GDP would immediately increase by 5-10%, depending on who you believe. I don't think Jeebus ever said anything specifically about marriage anyway. So he wouldn't object.

In Austin

Arrived in Austin late Monday evening. Arrived in town with a friend too, in the form of a nasty sore throat that developed on the flight. Finding a local place in my insurance network where I could get a doctor to give me a prescription turned into a chore yesterday morning. Made me long for Kiev where I coul djust walk to the damn Apoteka myself and get whatever drugs I wanted. Feeling better this morning though. Blogging will continue to be light, as the lack of a high speed is a bit of a hinderance.

Nasha Yulia Sworn In.

Making it official, the Rada approved Yulia Tymoshenko as Prime Minster yesterday.

So if she makes any state visits to Russia will they arrest her?

Back in DC until Monday. Flew Austrian back. They rock. So much nicer than the KLM flight I took back over XMas. Plus I find the Vienna airport so much more easier to deal with than Amsterdam or Frankfurt.

Oh, and was there a wrose movie released last year than Taxi? Whoever thought Jimmy Fallon could be a comedic lead was obviously mistaken.

Shady

When I heard that the Prime Minister of Georgia, a reformist, was found dead from carbon monoxide poisioning I couldn't help but think that shady things were afoot. Then again, corners are cut and construction is so shoddy in this part of the world, I don't have that much trouble believing it. Blogging will be light tomorrow. It's a travel day for me as I head back to the states. I'll be working my way to Austin with a stopover in NoVa to go get hitched. After that, it's two weeks in Argentina to Honeymoon. Looking forward to it all. I'll keep updating, just not as regularly as I do when I'm in Kiev. If Andrew Sullivan can cut back, why can't I? My stoppage won't be half as drastic as his anyway. Hopefully, you few regulars won't even notice.

Wow

So what do you think is more embarrassing, that Islamic terrorist lunatics have been reduced to kidnapping GI Joes or that major media outlets can't tell that it's a GI Joe in said Islamists picture?

Orange, It's the New Black!

So, according to an email I received this morning from the Moldova.org mailing list (yes, there is a Moldova.org mailing list, and yes, I am subscribed to it) :

The Moldavian Christian-Democratic People’s Party (PPCD)—led by Iurie Rosca—has adopted the colour orange for the [parliamentary election] campaign, in reference to the recent successful campaigns of Ukraine’s Yushchenko and Romania’s Traian Basescu.

Great Reading

Russian literary translator David McDuff is blogging about his experiences studying in the Soviet Union back in the 60s. It's really fascinating reading and I highly recommend checking it out.

Salo - Redux

A couple months ago, I blogged about salo. To illustrate what it was, i showed a picture of it in form that is a bit nicer than what you usually encounter. Above is salo as you get it in the market. Au natural, if you will. You can just taste the fatbacky goodness! This was bought so that the future Mrs. Connard could render some lard from it. Yum Yum.

Side note: the market this was purchased at (The Seeney Rynok - Hay market in english) is right down the street from me, I can walk there in about 5-10 minutes. Word is that this market is going to be shut down. Why? Apparently the land and building that comprise the market was sold to the son of the current mayor of Kiev, in what I'm sure was an entirely transparent and legitimate deal. He plans to turn it into a concert venue of some sort. No locals are happy about this development. And a few have cynically noted to me that the mayor will probably be able to get away with this as he supported the Orange protesters on Kreshatik and Maidan.