A Sort Of HomeComing

Distance Traveled 30,655 miles / 49,334 kilometers

07/08/17

Hotel : Travelodge Hobart Airport 1 Holyman Ave, Cambridge TAS 7170

All Bags Packed, excited beyond belief we await Amy coming to pick us up.
As always she arrives on time, so we load our suitcases into her Car (Just)
Say a long good-bye To Artie and head towards the Airport.
As we will be away for quite a while this time we go to see Glenn's mum
to say goodbye and finally arrive at the Airport Hotel.
Most embarrassing I find that I have the correct date but the wrong month Booked
They are very understanding and change it as required at no cost
I still feel pretty stupid though :-)
A reasonable but nothing fantastic meal, then off to bed for a ridiculously early start
(This is why we don't get a cab, for a start it would be over $100 and secondly, we don't
trust a cab or Uber turning up at 04:30)

A Sort Of Homecoming.

Why is my Blog for this trip called A Sort of Homecoming?

Well I guess the main reason is my returning to The UK and more importantly the town I was born in after living in Australia for almost 20 years, This is my first trip back! I am going to See my Best Friends, My family, Old School friends some of whom i haven't seen since I left School !
So the song title sort of appealed to me, as I will only be in my hometown for a day and overnight.
Each Blog entry for the trip will have a line or two from the song (its just a bit of fun and will mean nothing to most except Robert Foreman )

Below is a Link (or two!) to one of the best versions of U2 Performing "A Sort Of Homecoming" Live,

Below are the Lyrics

And you know it's time to go
Through the sleet and driving snow
Across the fields of mourning
to a Light in the distance
And you hunger for the time
Time to heal, desire, time
And your earth moves beneath
Your own dream landscape
Oh, oh, oh
On borderland we run
I'll be there
I'll be there
Tonight
A high road
A high road out from here
The city walls are all come down
The dust, a smoke screen all around
See faces ploughed like fields that once
Gave no resistance
And we live by the side of the road
On the side of a hill
As the valleys explode
Dislocated, suffocated
The land grows weary of its own
Oh some away, oh come away, oh come away, I say I
Oh come away, come away, oh come, oh come away, I say I
Oh, oh, oh
On borderland we run
And still we run
We run and don't look back
Ill be there, Ill be there
Tonight, Tonight
Ill be there tonight
I believe ill be there so high
ill be there tonight,tonight
You come away, and say you say
Oh come away I say
The wind will crack in winter time
this bomb blast lightning waltz
no spoken words just a scream
Tonight we'll build a bridge across the sea and land
see the sky, the burning rain
she will die and live again tonight
And your heart beats so slow
through the rain and fallen snow
across the fields of mourning to a light that's in the distance
Oh don't sorrow
no don't weep
for tonight at last i am coming home
I am coming home

Distance Traveled 30,655 miles / 49,334 kilometers

08/07/2017

Silly time of the morning to have to get up, but the 6:00 Flight means we will arrive in Argentina the same day we Leave Australia. So we get up pack and go stand downstairs in the cold waiting for the shuttle to take us to the airport.
Check in is quick and bags checked to Sydney.
Flight is on Time and we board our Flight to Sydney

Land at Sydney and collect our bags, then onto International terminal and join the long queues for checkin. After that we have a few hours to kill before our flight to Santiago Chile. The Excitement is beginning to mount as I have always wanted to go to Argentina but not sure why?
Our Flight is called we shuffle on board and prepare for the next 17 hours of trying to sleep watching anything eating and drinking whatever offered
Long haul flights are awful but needed.

Welcome to Chile !
The Flight was not that Bad and we both slept some Our Luggage is checked through to BA so no need to collect them, instead we head into the Food Court at Santiago Airport. we do not have to wait too long before our flight is called and we are about to Cross the Andes to our final Destination on this leg of the Trip Buenos Aries.

Distance Traveled 30,655 miles / 49,334 kilometers

8/8/2017

Hotel : Sileo Hotel Azcuénaga 1968, C1128AAH CABA, Argentina

So after queing collecting and getting through Customs in Argentina we hit the tango filled streets of Buenos Aries, well the Taxi Rank. My Tiny amount of Spanish I learnt, goes out of the window as soon as the taxi driver talks to us at 1,000,000 words per second ! Luckily

Entender inglés

gets a yes of course sir reply (phew !) and we take the long drive from the Airport to Recoleta the suburb we are staying in for the first few days.
Upon our arrival at the hotel, I find (to my horror) that I have again got the correct day wrong month booking, however the Checkin Staff are excellent and sort it out with Wotif and we retire for the night.
I say we retire for the night, what i actually mean is I stress out about all our hotels for the next two months!

Distance Traveled 30,655 miles / 49,334 kilometers

09/08/2017

We were up bright and early to begin our first day of exploring Buenos Aries and Recoleta in Particular.
The main reason for staying in Recoleta was so we could visit the Cemetery famous for being the last resting Place of Eva Peron or Evita, made famous by the Musical of the same name. Our Hotel is literally over the road from the Cemetery and a 5 Minuit walk to the gates.

Cementerio de la Recoleta or Recoleta Cemetery is Set in 5.5 hectares (14 acres), the site contains 4691 vaults, all above ground, of which 94 have been declared National Historical Monuments by the Argentine government and are protected by the state. The entrance to the cemetery is through neo-classical gates with tall Doric columns. The cemetery contains many elaborate marble mausoleums, decorated with statues, in a wide variety of architectural styles such as Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Baroque, and Neo-Gothic, and most materials used between 1880 and 1930 in the construction of tombs were imported from Paris and Milan, The entire cemetery is laid out in sections like city blocks, with wide tree-lined main walkways branching into sidewalks filled with mausoleums. These mausoleums are still being used by rich families in Argentina that have their own vault and keep their deceased there. While many of the mausoleums are in fine shape and well-maintained, others have fallen into disrepair. Several can be found with broken glass and littered with rubbish. Among many memorials are works by notable Argentine sculptors, Lola Mora and Luis Perlotti for instance. The tomb of Liliana Crociati de Szaszak, due to its unusual design, is of special interest. And finally, the tomb of Eva Peron (née Duarte). Although she died in 1952, her body wasn’t interred in the Duarte family mausoleum for 20 years. Evita lies in a heavily fortified crypt some five metres underground, to protect her remains.

For More information have a look here https://turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar/en/otros-establecimientos/recoleta-cemetery

So here are some Photos of the Cemetery we spent about 4 hours there

And I just had to have this on here didn't i ?

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