I took a couple of walking tours of Buenos Aires yesterday (7hours to be exact).  I like walking tours.  The one in the morning was just ok, but the one in the afternoon was excellent.  Interesting how the Argentines seem to like talking about Argentine politics, which they all agree are perpetually corrupt and a mess.  It seems like that and futbol (soccer) are their national past times.

The tours pointed out that almost all of the great/interesting buildings of BA were built during the countrys golden age- 1880-1930.  And many of the buildings are impressive and remind one of europe.  In fact, one guide pointed out how the Argentines of this time wanted to emulate Europe and would travel there and come back with ideas.  The trouble was, he said, they did not really know what they were doing and would construct  buildings that did not reflect a particular style or epoch, but would be a jumble of different styles from different centuries.   Below is a picture of one building which incorporated different architectual styles from Florence-

  So, the guide said, the city has no real architectual style, just a jumble.  here is the Presidential palace- from which balcony Evita Peron famously spoke- which for reasons of politics, notably lacks a certain symetry-

Still, being no aficianado of architectural styles, I enjoyed the buildings and thought many attractive.  And they had some pretty churches too-

And one that was half a Greek temple in the inmitable Argentine style-

That was originally Pope Francis church while he was a cardinal.

The tour guide also pointed out how, for reasons of politics, the Argentine govt has printed 4 different 100 peso bills (the largest in circulation, he said, because the govt refuses to recongize any inflation in the economy).  Some of the bills are of different quality and look different, which evidently has created confusion in the counterfeit market.  It seem like nobody can tell which is a real bill which is not, so the counterfeits do not go to much trouble to produce high quality counterfeits (particularly as the 100 peso bill is only worth $8).  So, as they say, even the counterfeit business is a mess.  Still, I find the Argentines somewhat lovable.