It’s difficult to choose, but here are some of the notable sights in Buenos Aires.

Palacio del Congreso, home to Argentina’s congress, completed in 1906, 40 years in the making and twice the projected budget.

Yes, it is “The Thinker” (or in Spanish, El Pensador) by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin.  This is one of the 3 castings in the world.  While the other two are in museums, this one is in a public plaza in Buenos Aires.

Palacio de Justica, dating from 1904 is home to the Supreme Court for Argentina.

The Teatro Colón, completed in 1908 is the massive theater that is home to opera, ballet and the Buenos Aires Philharmonic.

Avenida 9 de Julio and the Obelisco.  This “street” is over 300 feet across.  The center section has just been completed and has a passenger platform in the middle with two lanes of bus traffic for each direction.  Past that are 4 traffic lanes in each direction flanked by tree filled plazas with another 2 lane street beyond each of the plazas.

Galerías Pacífico is a large French style building dating from 1889.  It was had many occupants over the years including the Buenos Aires and Pacific railroad company.  Having been abandoned for many years, in the late 1980’s it was remodeled to house an upscale shopping mall.  The mural in this photo is one of 12 in the large central dome.  They were painted in 1946 and are some of the most important in Buenos Aires.  It’s an unexpectedly beautiful space for a shopping mall.

The Jardin Botanico Carlos Thays is a 17 acre botanical garden located in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires.  It has over 5,500 species of plants, flowers and shrubs as well as a number of statues and monuments.  It was inaugurated in 1898.  Landscape designer Carlos Thays and his family lived in the English style mansion that is located here.

This building, Palacio Barolo is one of the most interesting in Buenos Aires.  It was commissioned by cotton baron Luis Barolo and competed in 1923.  Its design reflects Dante’s Divine Comedy; its height (100 meters) is a reference to the number of cantos or songs, the number of floors (22) to the number of verses per song and its structure is divided into hell, purgatory and heaven.  Supposedly, every room is unique in design.

One of the most iconic sights in all of Buenos Aires is Puente de la Mujer, or Women’s Bridge.  The architect has described the design as the synthesis of a couple dancing the tango.  It is a 560 foot pedestrian bridge that connects the two sides of Puerto Madero.  It rotates on a central pylon allowing vessels to pass.

Inside Casa Rosada, the building that houses the Argentine Presidents’ offices, we joined one of the tours that takes place on the weekends.  All that was needed was to walk up, go through a metal detector and wait for the next tour.  The tour was about one hour and even included the President’s office although no photos were allowed in that part.

The Recoleta Cemetery – 4,691 vaults holding the remains of past presidents, military heroes, influential politicians and the merely rich and famous.

As you walk along Avenida 9 de Julio near the Obelisk, if you look up you can see this incongruous sight of a two story suburban home on top of one of the buildings.  Somehow the builder was able to get a permit to build this home for his family.