We went through a walking tour with Fabian from Tours by Locals today. We took the subway to downtown. The subway was built in 2013 and the cars were replaced only in the last five years. Fortunately they have air conditioning.

We walked from the Supreme Court and Opera House down to the Cathedral and the Pink House where the President works.

The Courts almost completely shut down for summer break and only the most urgent cases are heard so the area is quite quiet as both lawyers and judges take their holiday.

The opera house is known for having some of the best acoustics in the world. Most of the world's best opera stars have performed there.

We walked past the massive obelisk, through the banking district and ended up at the Cathedral where the Pope once served as Bishop. It was one of the most impressive churches that we have seen. Argentinians were very supportive of the Pope but there has been some recent controversy as he has visited Chile and other South American countries but not Argentina since becoming Pope.

Fabian then told us about the atrocities in the 70s and 80s where young people were abducted by the militia. They were tortured, killed and considered "disappeared". On Thursdays, there is a walk by the mothers of the missing that we plan to attend. One reason the mothers specifically started protesting, as opposed to male relatives, was that it was hard for the militia and police of the day to batter women in a public place.

After the walking tour we rushed to the grocery store in our neighbourhood to stock up on food and libations as most places will be closed tomorrow. Chris made a delicious dinner of spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread (we couldn't figure out how to light the oven with a match so we pan-fried the bread and it was super yummy!). We were very happy to have a home-cooked meal!