It starts to rain on Saturday after we have finished our meal and just as we step into Rapa Nui, an incredible Patagonian ice cream and chocolates shop.  We walk back to the hotel in a warm downpour, and could not help but to start singing in the rain.
 
The rain continues off and on into Sunday, mostly as a cooler mist.  But the day is brightened with the arrival of Dan and Martha.  After our breakfast and their opportunity to freshen up, we walk to the Ricoletta area.  The weather and possibly the January vacation season have taken their toll on the number of vendors at the Sunday Féria.  Approximately half of the stalls are displaying their wares.  We meander through, but do buy. 
 
We are very close to Cementerio Ricoletta, but save that for tomorrow.  Instead we walk around the cemetery walls to the Mueseo Nacional de Bellas Artes.  It is a free museum with the international art of masters such as Monet, Pissarro, and Rembrandt.  It also has many works from Argentine and South American artists.

We are excited to become reacquainted with Buenos Aires.  Several years ago I worked on a project which caused me to spend 35 days in the city over a nine month period. William was able to join me for five days on one of those trips.  My Buenos Aires home was the Plaza Hotel, which is just a few blocks from where we are now staying.

William now has a single cup french press, so he's happy to leisurely drink his coffee and read his email.  We have a lazy start to our Tuesday morning then set out to explore more of the city.  
 
Christine told us about her neighborhood, including an old mercado which was converted to a food venue so we decide to stroll over and check it out.  We enjoy walking through the quieter area - the streets can be quite busy in the area of Independence Square where we are staying and this change of pace is welcome.  The buildings are mostly two to four stories and are of differing ages.  Some could use a little TLC and others have been recently refreshed (at least on the exterior),

This Monday morning William and I have the pleasure of taking a private walking tour of the old town with Christine of Uruguay-Autentico. We meet Christine in the iconic Palacio Salvo, which is where our apartment is located... but now we get to see parts that are not accessible to the tenants and to learn the history of the building.  :-)
 
The Palacio was built by the wealthy Salvo brothers and completed in 1928.  For a few years it was the highest building in South America.  It was built to be a luxury hotel, but quickly ran into money problems and space on many of the floors was sold as shares (think early condo's). The building has a rich bohemian history including being the home of Montevideo's famous musician Raul Rial and also home to the noted poet Idea Vilariño.  Christine obtains the keys and takes us up to the the small viewing deck on the 25th floor for a panoramic view and then to the rooftop terrace on the 10th floor.  We walk through other parts of the building learning of the history, tales of a ghost and observing details of the finishings such as the shell design in the railings.

It's a gorgeous Sunday morning and a perfect day for a street market.  Following William's coffee experiment we take Aveneda 18 de Julio east for  2 km to the Féria Tristan Narvaja.

We have a lunch of beef Milanese at Bar Facal, which claims to be the oldest bar in Montevideo.  Outside is Fuente de los Candados, a fountain with thousands of love padlocks on it's gate.  Next to it is a statue of Carlos Gardel, who is famous for singing tango and his tango compositions.  He died in a plane crash at the height of his career, so I sat down with him while he enjoyed his coffee.​

Yes, we are travelers, but one ritual William truly loves is relaxing with his morning coffee.

As the apartment does not have a coffee maker, Friday evening we create a plan to go to the cafe next door for morning coffee.  We carry our laptop and iPad out the door at 8:30 am only to find that the cafe and indeed all of the small restaurants in the area are closed.  Oh, it is Saturday and they must cater to the workers in the nearby offices and only open Monday through Friday.  Ouch!  
 
We meet a tour guide waiting for her client and she tries to help by searching on the internet, but finds that most nearby coffee shops/restaurants that are open on the weekends at best begin serving at 10am.  The highest possibility is a McDonalds on the pedestrian street (Sarandi). Somewhat depressed, we return our electronics to the apartment then begin the six block walk to McDonalds.   Luckily we see that a local restaurant a block past McDonalds is open.  The waiter is a little surly when William attempts to order an omelette along with his coffee - the only food they serve before 11 am is chivitos (sandwiches) or bakery.  Sigh.  This is going to be tough for a low-carb guy.
 
While having coffee we develop a plan to go to the TaTa store (it's a South American  chain that is a smaller grocery, home goods and clothing store) to see if we can find a coffee maker.  Alas, we find that TaTa does not sell coffee makers and the other home goods stores in the area are closed for the weekend.  Time for Plan B.  We buy components that allow William to approximate a pour-over coffee maker.  There's a small fine sieve that fits over a coffee cup, standard coffee maker filters and of course, coffee.
 
I know I'm skipping ahead a bit, but William gets to try out his home made pour-over coffee solution on Sunday.  His conclusion: it will do in a pinch, but if he's going to make coffee in the apartment going forward we should buy a small french press.