Showing posts with label Palermo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Palermo. Show all posts
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| A nice reprise from the stress of the city: the Japanese Gardens |
Gardening, for New Zealanders is mostly usually popular for those who are above 40 and still like a bit of a knees-up, whilst being bent down. However anybody who has half a sense of smell, sight or touch can appreciate immediately upon arriving in BsAs that for some reason (which I will explain), the city has heaps of green spaces. For most of these we have to thank Carlos >>>Nope, not that Carlos???
Uh uh, not him either (more on this one in another moment).
... Chaaarles Daaarling, nope not this Carlos either...
Ahh here he is...
Born Julian Charles Thays. He worked as a landscape artist on some of the Napoleonic parks in France and was consequently invited to design the big park in Cordoba, fell in love with Argentina, and when invited by the city of Buenos Aires to landscape the newly aquired Parque Lezama (more detail later), got to work and loved what he did so much, gave himself the title of Director of Parks & Sideways for the city of Buenos Aires, a position he held for the next 35 years (and that noone since has held).
A house with a garden that is not very well looked after is reason for shame, and for all the reasons Argentinian history shows (or omits) that has to feel ashamed, not among them are it's parks and plazas, of which there are hundreds.
Thays thought the river of silver a.k.a. el Rio de la Plata ugly, and turned his back on it focusing his artistic tree hugging eye inwards. For this reason the coastline of the river became ignored mostly and began to used as the city dumping grounds.
His modest "house" and grounds are now the city's botanical gardens, the house has an extensive library (not often open), and the grounds he broke up into plants and trees from every continent.
For New Zealanders hiring someone just to take care of the garden is only for the very rich, however here where housemaids are still affordable and commonplace for the middle class most building complexes have the gardener/doorman/maintenance guy's wages are built into the expenses.
The parks here are hubs for the porteños, and greatly used. The city parks burgeon with dozens of dogs (8 of 10 households here have a pet and virtually noone has a backyard), and city park staff who are always present and mostly use weedeaters intead of ride-on mowers the cuttings afterwards are then blown about and ocassionally raked into piles, which are then collected or noisely blown about again ;)
More soon, and share your experience if you have a mo!
Fideicomiso al costo refers to the pre-completion purchase of a building, I though it was worth mentioning as many visitors to the city become starry-eyed with the idea of either living here or at least having an investment/reason/place to crash when they come back.
Interesting to note is that even if you work for the tax department you are expected to pay a portion of the purchase price in USD!For anyone interested on the current square meterage prices or moreabout purchasing here, I know one of the top agents here in Buenos Aires. PM me for his details, with more than 40 sales in the last two years in a so-called 'depressed'market, he knows his stuff, he's an expat Australian and newly an Argentine citzen, but then noone is perfect eh?
- Barrio Parque, also known as Palermo Chico is only metres to one of the best and largest parks of the City .
In this barrio you will find the tranquil Japanese Gardens, also the Botanic Gardens containing many notable works of art and a historic library, preservedinside what was once the home of famour French landscape artist Carlos Thays.
The world famous Buenos Aires Zoological Gardens are situated nearby; historically once the private zoo of claudillo Juan Manuel de Rosas,who had it constructed for his daughter. The Buenos Aires Zoo itself comprises some 45 acres of land that is home to over 2,500 different animals. and the Beautiful Bosques of Palermo .This is a popular area that is known for its wide range of attractions, including lots of shopping, dining, and entertainment .
Below: Museo Renault Palermo chico Palacio Alcorta Edifico Chrysler c. 1930
