Buenos Aires has always been on my list of places to visit. Not sure whether the associated elegance and glamor of Evita  or the sexy charm and magnetism of Tango created an image  of a place I wanted to experience for myself.

Whatever it was, I was thrilled to have a chance to spend three days in Buenos Aires in Feb. before starting on a trip organized by National Geographic.

The city, often referred to as the Paris of South America, is pretty nice. Unfortunately for me, my backpack styled bag was stolen the first day right in a fancy French restaurant. As you can imagine, this  impacted my urban experience.

It was my own fault for not looping the handle of the bag through my leg or chair leg, but I didn’t and right in the middle of a busy lunch at a white table cloth restaurant it went poof. With the bag went my Iphone, Nikon, prescription sunglasses, credit cards and cash.  Fortunately the passport was in the hotel safe.

It’s hard to overcome that kind of experience, but mostly what troubles me is that the people at the restaurant said, “The police won’t come and they don’t care.” Hmmmm. Made me wonder if they were part of the deal. Do they look over the patrons and target people like me?

Unfortunately we didn’t get to do all the sightseeing I wanted to do before the tour started because we spent our free time trying to track down a replacement camera and some kind of clip on sunglasses to make it possible for me to see in bright sunlight. Both missions were surprisingly challenging.

It was a national holiday so Nikon stores were closed and the malls simply didn’t carry camera equipment. Clip on sunglasses don’t appear to exist.

Lesson learned: always bring back up glasses and sunglasses when I travel. I should know better. And never let go of my bag.

But let’s talk about Buenos Aires.

There’s a reason why the city is called the Paris of the South America. While much of the people in the country are of Italian origin, historically wealthy Buenos Aires families had second homes in Paris and the city seemed to be enamored with all things French. We certainly saw that in the architecture. There appeared to be an obsession with French culture.

So, what do you do in Buenos Aires when you aren’t shopping for a replacement camera? Well, you can tango or watch tango. I wrote about that last week.

Here’s the link to last week’s blog about Tango:  Tango Three Ways.

You can visit the cemetery. It’s a big tourist destination.

We learned history of the people by visiting where they spend their afterlife. Interesting stuff although I probably won’t remember much. I was intrigued with one family grave with both a Christian cross and Jewish Menorah. I liked seeing the different architectural styles.

If this kind of experience intrigues you, be sure to put the big cemetery in Paris on your “go-to” list.  Here’s a blog post about it.  It’s the Grand Daddy of cemeteries.  Paris Cemetery :Pere LaChaise: why go there? 

We also visited a big Cathedral that interested  me because a highly revered military leader is buried there and it appeared to me that visitors to the massive structure of worship were as enthralled with his memorial statue as with religious references. Hmmmm. Says something about the culture.

We saw the changing of the guard at his memorial.

One of the more intriguing destinations was an underground museum. Evidently the river was covered over during the Middle Ages as a protection from disease. In recent years these tunnels were discovered. An enterprising businessman turned one and the adjoining house  into a museum. It was a little mystical and a little commercial.

One of the most creative  places we visited was La Boca, an old part of town turned into a tourist destination with a lot of colorful paint. Made me think of Austin, Texas.

I took photos of San Telmo Sunday Market,  the San Palermo Barrio and the Evita Museum, but unfortunately those images were taken by the thief who took my bag so I can’t share them here. That’s too bad because these places were cool and fun and worth your time if you go.

And if you do go, hang on to your stuff.