Granny booked a taxi for 7:45 and it was dead on time, getting us to the airport just before 8 o�clock, giving us more than enough time to sample the delights of Trelew airport, i.e. sit upstairs with a coke and a croissant watching the tv.

The flight passed quickly, as I dropped off right at the start, and we had no problems with anything until one of the security team wanted to check that our bags actually were our bags. I started to panic as I didn�t have a baggage ticket on my boarding pass, but luckily Emma had both.

Slghtly dodgy taxi driver decided to turn off the meter a little way through the ride. "It�s not working properly," he hesitantly explained. Yeh, right. Having already got a quote from him, it wasn�t a problem paying him when we got to the hotel.

Oh, yes, the hotel. Crumbs, it looks posh. Lots of people in uniforms holding doors open for you, bell boys with hats, all the works. We had booked a twin room, which I had expected to be two single beds.

Nope, two rooms!

Emma reckons that one of them was aimed at adults and one at children - I took the adult room, with the double bed and television ;).

Getting our stuff together we wandered downstairs to check out the hotel, and spotted a flyer on the desk advertising tomorrow�s Argentina v Uruguay game. I asked the guy at the desk, and he made some phone calls, coming up with a price for a ticket and transport to the game.

Emma and I thought about it, for, ooh, a second, before agreeing. How cool - getting to see Argentina play in Buenos Aires!

We walked down to Plaza de Mayo, where Emma took some photos of the Casa Rosada and then we walked down Florida to find somewhere where she could cash her travellers cheques.

After that, we went back to the hotel via the supermarket, who had some very nice cakes on offer. Yum.

Back out on the mean streets again, we found somewhere to eat, getting some very nice raviolis in a small, quite smart cafe before getting on the Subte (Metro) to Palermo where the zoo and the Japanese Gardens were hiding.

It was 4:30 by this time, and we decided to go to the Japanese Gardens first, even though we sort of already knew that we wouldnt be out of there in time to go to the zoo (whose ticket office closes at 5:30).

So, we went to the very tranquil and serene Japanese garden, wandering around the bonsai and the lakes before checking out some Japanese ceremonial samurai gear and an origami exhibition.

Back to the hotel for a quick relax, we went back to the shopping streets again, most of which were starting to close up (well, it was 8:30), reaching the end of Florida before turning back round and heading to a fast food salad place called Bonpler that I had been to back in July where we had a quick snack.

After that, we walked back up past the cinemas (nothing at all on that both of us hadn�t seen!) and back to the hotel, passing Solo Empanadas (Only Empanadas)and thinking, mmmm, going to treat myself to some of those before we leave!