It’s a privilege to pee!!!

I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

I’m behind, I’m behind, I’m behind.

We got home very late last night (Thursday) and I came home and went straight to bed.  More about that tomorrow. 

Let’s get back to Wednesday. 

I wake up Wednesday and my knee has exploded.  Worse than it’s been since it started flaring up.  On a pain scale of 1 to 10 it is a 12+.  

By the time I make it downstairs, I’m near tears.  

I am on the couch with my knee elevated, with a Ziploc bag full of ice on it and trying to get comfortable, to no avail.  At this point the pain is so intense, that it feels like it’s spreading down my shin, like shin splints.  

It’s SOOOOO bad.  

I tell Adam that I’m not going anywhere.  At least not till later.  

He tells me that he is going to go look for a suitcase, get us lunch, and will be right back.  We’ve decided on pizza for lunch.  It’s about 3:45 when he leaves.  

He is gone about 30 minutes when Chef texts to say that he is done with his errands and can pick us up at any time.  Like now. 

I suggest 5:00 and he agrees.  

I text Adam and tell him he needs to come home soon as Chef is going to be picking us up at 5:00.  

Adam gets home at 4:35 with a pizza in tow.  We both have one slice, then start to get ready.  I limp up the stairs, shower and get dressed.  It is not fun.

We make it downstairs at 5:05.  I let Chef know that I am NOT up for walking today.  

We suggest we stop at a bar called Tres Monos.  Three Monkeys.  A cocktail bar near our house.  

Chef has a better idea.  He wants to go to one of the ritziest hotels in town to look around and have cocktails.  

I like this because we initially chatted about me staying there when we were first looking to book my stay.  

Off we go.  

The hotel is called Faena.  Faena.com

It is a 5-star Forbes rated hotel, started in Buenos Aires.  They now have another location in Miami.  

To say it’s over the top would be an understatement.  

I didn’t take any photos of the staff as it felt rude.  

But, when we arrived, we were greeted by a man in a top hat and white cape who welcomed us to the hotel.  It felt a lot like Disney World.  

Later there was a woman, hosting at the cabaret, who had a tiny hat perched on the side of her head and she was wearing a skin tight red dress with heels.  

We go in and the space is insane.  Beautiful and undeniably original.  

The entry way is all stone with plants that leads to a VERY long hallway with a long red carpet with benches that are illuminated from below.  

We wander down the hall, taking it all in.  There is a shoe store that would have been a favorite of Carrie Bradshaw. 

That restrooms and not hidden, but if you didn’t know where to look, you’d never find them.  They are all marble inside.  

Chef stops by their fine dining restaurant, which is closed at that time to see if we can look at the dining room.  

It is exquisite.

After wandering around, we go into the bar to get a drink.  We are offered seats inside, where no one is sitting or poolside.

It’s a beautiful day, so we take poolside.  

Almost every, lounge chair is filled with people sitting by the pool.  Not so much sunning as they are drinking and socializing.  

We are seated at a 4-top at the shallow end of the pool.  

We order drinks and snacks, and people watch for the next 90 minutes. 

The staff is as beautiful as the pool.  

Mostly though, we are just enjoy the evening air, as the sun sets and people begin to leave.  

I know I’ve mentioned it, but they are permanently on Daylight Saving Time, so it’s 7:30 and it is still daylight out.  

Finally, we pay out tab, and take one more look around the hallway.

Now, the really formal dining room is open and is white and red.  Stunning.  

Then we peak into the cabaret and it’s ALL red.  No photos but it’s a great space.  

With that we take our leave and are on our way to find dinner.  

This is the tricky part. 

We haven’t made reservations.   And we are not sure where to go.  

Chef texts some friends including his mom and we end up down at the seaport.  

We’ve been given two options.  I make the decision based on the name.  

I won’t mention it here, because I don’t want to give a bad public review.  But it is the 2^nd worst meal we had.  

I didn’t say anything night of but turns out Chef agreed.  

It reminded me of a mall restaurant.  Or a tourist restaurant.  

The space was huge.  Easily seating over 200 people.  The lighting was bad.  The dining room we sat in had atrium windows ala Wendy’s 1986.  

If I’d been a server at this restaurant, I’d have been 15 years younger than the next youngest server. 

For a tourist restaurant, the prices were reasonable, and the food wasn’t bad.  It was all just fine.  Kind of like Olive Garden is just fine.  Or Outback is just fine.  Nothing is wrong with it, until you compare it to the 5-star meals we’ve been getting. 

This was also the first restaurant we ate at where the food was served from the plate it was on, to the plate you’d eat it from.  All done with one hand, while holding the plate on a tray in the other.  

That being said, the service was fine, we had a great time, and it was something to experience.  

Later, I told Adam it was like eating at The Big Texas in Amarillo.  Great to do once, but not necessary to do every time you visit.  

With that, I hobbled back to the car, Chef dropped us at our apartment, and that was my night.  

A view of the pool at Faena.

The crown in the pool.

The deck at the pool.

The marble sink in the men’s restroom.

You can walk completely around it.

Pate!!!

Chandeliers over the bar.

VERY expensive shoes in this store.

Large dining table in the meat focused restaurant.

A better view of the crown.

The bench in which you sit in order to enjoy the view of the crown.

Even the urinals are a work of art at Faena.

Chandelier over the bar.

The more formal restaurant done in White’s and Reds. Every table has its own rug.

You can’t tell from the photos bur the unicorn has red glowing eyes.

I love the hallway. And the benches lit from beneath.

The restroom doors. You’d never notice them.

Neon next to the cabaret.

A photo of Eva Peron advertising shoes.

Architecture near the seaport.

The red buildings are like the mills in Biddeford that have been redeveloped for retail/dining.

An evening stroll.

The high rises in downtown.

Chef and I enjoying the evening.

Full rack of beef ribs smoking on the Asador.

All the apps again. Blood sausage, sweet breads and chorizo.

They had fried cheese on the menu. It desperately needed ranch dressing.

GOAT its what’s for dinner.

Dessert. The glass is a vanilla type ice cream with a shot of whiskey. It was delicious.

A first. The urinals had a container with little tissues to wipe your peep when you were finished.

What knows what pleasure was in store if I only had Argentine coins.

We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun!!! 4 to be exact.

I’d like to speak to the Manager!!!

I was up late last night. Between the throbbing of the knee and the writing, the formatting photos and being tired, it took a while to get to bed.

When I woke up, Adam wanted to know why I didn’t post before I came to bed.

Funny story.

Facebook doesn’t like it when I upload 50 photos. So it sits there, churning.

What I have discovered is the photos are there, but I can’t see them, unless I publish the post that isn’t quite ready to be published. So I hit publish, change the audience to just me and finish editing.

Last night, I never changed the audience back to public.

Whoops.

So that my friends is why you didn’t see a post this morning.

Now on to yesterday.

I have been up late almost every night since we got here. As a result, I’ve been sleeping very late.

As Adam pointed out there will be no jet lag as our schedules haven’t changed.

What’s interesting, is that Adam has been sleeping very late as well. At home he is usually up by 10:00 no matter how late we go to bed. Yesterday it was 12:30 and he was still beside me.

Around 1:00 he told me he was going to the pool.

I said great, turned over and went back to sleep.

At 2:00, I got up, got dressed and joined him at the pool.

I was there for about 60 minutes. It was warm, but the wind was blowing fierce, so it wasn’t super comfortable.

Around 3:30 we went back upstairs.

Adam went to get lunch.

I’ve been forbidden to tell you where he went, but it starts with a B and ends with a G.

It was delicious and perfectly hit the spot.

We’d just finished eating, when Chef texted that he’d be there to pick us up around 5:00.

We showered, got dressed and were downstairs promptly at 5:00.

Chef picked us up and we decided to try and go to Evita’s grave in the center of town.

Every time, I think about it, I hear the end of the play, about the body disappearing and the pedestal being started but never finished.

We get to the cemetery, park and walk to the entrance to discover that it closes at 5:30. It’s 5:32.

Damn it.

Chef checks in to find out the hours etc. and then we decide to walk a bit.

At the time my knee is okay. Not great, but okay.

We end up stopping for a rest at a hotel who’s name I don’t remember. The lobby is old school. Luxury. Masculine. We get seated and order grown up drinks. A Manhattan for me, which made me very happy. It was also very cold and VERY good.

We stay for about an hour then get moving again.

I’m not sure of the name of the area of town we are in, but it is very wealthy. The stores are Hermes and Rolex. The houses are mansions, and we pass several consulates. including that of the Pope and the Vatican.

We walk buy the French Embassy, which is stunning. The US embassy is some barricade, brown concrete monstrosity that looks like it was from the Cold War.

At the French Embasssy, we turn right and head down the hill.

We arrive at the Four Seasons.

They have a restaurant, that is called Nuestro Secreto, Our Secret.

It’s not really a secret, but it is on the patio on the 2nd floor, by the pool.

It is also gorgeous. It’s the most formal place we’ve eaten yet, and the food was perfection.

We are greeted by the most amazing androgynous person, in a green suit who is wonderful. They are nice, and we are pretty sure was the manager on duty. We all wanted to be their friend.

One thing we noticed, when we sat down, was that we were not presented with menus. We were given a QR code to scan. It might be because I am old, but I don’t like it. Not at all.

I want to hold the menu. Study it. Take a photo of it. Plus, what if I forget my phone, or don’t have a phone, or didn’t pay for the service in a foreign country. Hmmm.

The meal starts as they all do. Sparkling or Flat.

Chef and Adam always get Flat.

I always get sparkling, or as they say, aqua con gas.

We order apps. They tend to be the same every time as Chef is getting a feel for how others prepare the food we do. Blood sausage, sweet breads, empanadas.

We order entrees. Chef gets a ribeye. Adam and I are going to share the skirt steak.

30 seconds after the server leaves, Chef sees a long bone short ribs being put on the grill. He calls the server over and asks if they were a special. She says not, they are on the menu.

He goes on the realize that on the menu, they were referred to as braised short ribs. And these are clearly not braised. They are slow cooked over an open grill, but not braised. He immediately changes his order to the short ribs.

The server also offeres to show us where they are cooked. She leads us to the patio and there is an ASADOR, off to the side, but still near everything, where whole racks of beef ribs are being smoked. It’s a beautiful sight.

We get back to the table as the apps are being served.

Everything is delicious.

By now the restaurant is filling up and getting busier. There are also seats on the patio served from this kitchen. We are all admiring how efficient the two men in the kitchen are at executing service for the restaurant.

Apps are cleared. Entrees are served.

The long bone short rib is divine. Smoky. Tender. Falling off the bone, melt in your mouth goodness. The skirt steak is tender enough to cut it with a fork. Everything is excellent.

We literally eat everything in sight, and our plates are cleared.

Chef gets up to go to the restroom we think, and we contemplate dessert.

Chef comes back, dessert and coffee is ordered and Chef tells us that he had spoken to the chef and asked him to come by the table when he was not busy.

We are eating dessert when the other Chef arrives. He introduces himself and my Chef begins to speak with him in Spanish.

I now knownwhat was being said.

Chef was asking him if he’d be interested in coming to America to work at our restaurant. Seriously, the chef from this restaurant was excellent. Chef eventually gave him his card, told him he’d be in town until Sunday and that if he was interested would like to speak with him and his co-worker about working in the states.

Hands were shaken and off he went.

Who knows if anything will come of it, but the offer was made.

We finish up. We pay.

And then I need to stop at the restroom.

When I come out, I can’t find my boyfriend and that’s because he and Chef and have wondered into Le Mansion, that is part of the Four Seasons. I join them and the home is stunning. Large, ornate and beautiful. We stay just long enough to not get in trouble then make our way to the street.

Then Chef does the kindest thing ever, he tells me I can wait and he’ll walk back and get the car.

Seriously, I could have fallen over. By this time, my knee is on fire again.

Adam and I sit in the lobby and admire how awful the lighting is, and how the Xmas tree looks like it was decorated by the maintenance team.

Then we move outside and in about 5 minutes are picked up.

And 15 minutes later we are home.

Me trying to break into a cemetery.

Chef trying to break out of the cemetery.

The lobby bar of a hotel, where we stopped for drinks. I can’t remember the name of it. Adam loved the red jackets, I expected Dolly Levi to appear at the top of a flight of stairs at any moment.

My first Manhattan in BA.

Architecture along our walk.

This is definitely haunted.

A beautiful Entry to a single family home.

The Pope’s house in Buenos Aires. And embassy.

The French Embassy.

Adam and me in front of the French Embassy.

La Mansion

Horse statues playing in the water in front of the 4 Seasons.

A Christmas Tree made of horse shoes.

The atrium of the dining room we were eating in.

A full rack of long bone short ribs being cooked in the Asador.

More long bones.

The usual suspect. Octopus, sweet breads and empanadas.

Yumminess.

Chef is very happy.

Seriously, melt in your mouth goodness.

Finally a good skirt steak.

I never get tired of coffee here.

The grand staircase at the mansion.

One of 6 fireplaces we saw.

The lighting in the lobby is as white as the oscars.

The Christmas Tree looks like it was decorated by the maintenance team.

Horse statues at night, playing in the water.