Christmas Eve, and the temperature is over 30 degrees. Something isn't right!
 Fabrice and I spent the day exploring a couple of new areas of town whilst the family did their own thing, in particular sorting out delivery of dinner from a local restaurant to the hotel. 
First of all we went to the artistic San Telmo area. This is BA's oldest neighbourhood and is characterised by cobblestone streets and colonial mansions. Its renovation is patchy, with beautifully restored buildings sitting next to somewhat crumbling relics, designer boutiques next to tiny local stores. It had a nice bohemian feeling to it, and apparently the nightlife is very good. However it being Christmas Eve most things were shut and there were few people around. The Argentines spend Christmas Eve with their families. 
San Telmo is also known for outdoor displays of tango dancing and sure enough in one of the main squares a couple were entertaining the few diners on a restaurant terrace. Very impressive.

Next we took a cab over to La Boca. This is a very working class district that until relatively recently was a total no-go area, in fact most of it still is. However there are two main attractions, the area around the Caminito and La Bombonera, home to the Boca Juniors football club. We didn't make it to the football stadium, surprisingly.
 The area immediately around the Caminito consists of brightly coloured colonial houses, both wooden and brick built. It is very striking, especially with many of the buildings decorated with street art and 'proper' graffiti. The Caminito itself is lined with lots of cafes and restaurants, most with professional tango dancers putting on a display and teaching the rudiments of the dance to tourists. 
It is very pretty and atmospheric, but all very touristy and so once we'd taken in the general ambience and the obligatory photos we made our way back to the apartment. It's a shame that most of the area is still essentially off-limits, we passed through the heart of it in the taxi leaving and it is a very pretty neighbourhood with some lovely examples of old colonial architecture. I'm sure it won't be long until the whole area is "up and coming"...

In keeping with Argentine, and French, tradition our Christmas meal was held on the evening of Christmas Eve. I asked Fabrice if they also celebrated their own birthdays the day before but he declined to honour the question with a response.
 So early evening we headed over to his parents' hotel. Luckily the rooms were pretty large with serviceable kitchenettes and so we moved a table and chairs from one to the other and set up a nice dining table for the meal. A local restaurant had delivered lamb and pork dishes plus various accompaniments, so coupled with what had been procured elsewhere we had quite a feast. But no, no turkey :( 
Problem number 1 : we forgot to bring a travel adaptor and so couldn't plug in the iPod dock we borrowed from Pete's apartment. What no tacky Christmas music? Luckily a combination of two adapters borrowed from the front desk solved that problem.
 Problem number 2 (and this one is serious) : no cork screw!! Front desk didn't have one and the hotel restaurant was closed/locked. Desperate times and so Fabrice and I left to get a taxi back to the apartment to get one from there. However this seemed a bit extreme and so we tried to find a nearby restaurant from which to borrow one. It being Christmas Eve most were closed. In desperation we asked in a large ice cream parlour/cafe around the corner - and by a stroke of luck they actually had one! However they didn't trust us to borrow one and bring it back. So back to the hotel, we grabbed the bottles and took them to the ice cream place to open them. Not surprisingly we got some pretty strange looks but hey if needs must!
 All set. We settled in for a very pleasant evening. I almost ruined it for myself by accidentally taking a mouthful of pig kidney, but I gritted my teeth and quickly washed it down with some medicinal red wine. Worse than sprouts! 
Food, wine, presents and Christmas music. Plus a slightly 'merry' Rose to provide additional entertainment. Everything you need for a lovely Christmas evening. In place of the Queen's Speech we watched "Gangnam Style" on YouTube - and then figured out that the Senac family had actually lived in Gangnam when they were in South Korea. Now that's a claim to fame!! 
Much later Fabrice and I headed back to the apartment and watched fireworks going off all over the city from the vantage point of the 19th floor. A very festive end to the day.