Today is the U.S. federal holiday in observance of Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday. King was born January 15, 1929. He was a civil rights activist and a Baptist minister, and he was a leader of the civil rights movement until his assassination on April 4, 1968. He advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through the use of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience against Jim Crow laws and other forms of legalized discrimination, which primarily affected African Americans.

Atlanta has been a key player in the struggle for civil rights in the U.S. Following the civil war and emancipation, newly freed, former slaves flocked to Atlanta to establish themselves as free workers and business owners. Downtown Atlanta and adjacent Auburn Avenue became centers of entrepreneurial success, and Auburn Avenue became the richest black business district in the United States.

Of course, there was a lot of resistance from white people, particularly less educated and poorer white men, who viewed the success of black Americans as a barrier to their own success. This led to a series of laws designed to limit the rights of black Americans and keep them in virtual servitude, even though they were legally free.

There’s a lot of history tied up in Atlanta that is related to race. Segregation, education or lack thereof, the 1906 race riots, the manner of urban development and politics which kept black and white citizens in separate neighborhoods. I’ll make a post about that sometime, because it’s really quite fascinating.

But for today, I want to remember Martin Luther King, Jr. He was the voice of decency and an advocate for change in a divided nation. We know him for his “I have a dream” speech. We know him because he died young in 1968. But it’s so interesting to me that he is still revered in this country. He wasn’t a president. He wasn’t even a politician. But his principles of nonviolence and civic action continue to influence people today, particularly in the demonstrations during this current administration. I just learned that he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, and he accepted it “with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind” and saying that “what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up.” This resonates particularly strongly today.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park and Preservation District is just a 10-minute walk from my house, and I walk through this neighborhood on my way home from work which feels like a monumental privilege as an American. It is the only national park located in an urban area, and it is right in the middle of Atlanta. The district includes the house where he was born, Ebenezer Baptist Church where he and his daddy and his granddad preached, and the Center for Nonviolent Social Change Inc which was created by Coretta Scott King after her husband’s death.

I’ll make another post in the future with more details about this district. But for today, here are some photos in honor of Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday and legacy as an American figure.

Chad and I got married in June 2007. Over the next few months, we started saving money for a down payment for a house, and we started to look at real estate. We were living in Emeryville, across the bay from San Francisco, and we quickly realized that most real estate was out of range for us. At the time, we were looking at paying $500,000 for a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco, or we could pay the same amount for a fixer-upper in a run-down neighborhood in Oakland.

We quickly decided that it was time to move out of the Bay Area, and we tentatively decided on Atlanta. Chad had lived in Atlanta for 9 years before moving to San Francisco in 2004, but I had never been there. 

In July 2008, a year after our wedding, my Abbott family reunion was held in North Georgia and Tennessee. Chad and I took advantage of that reunion to fly to Georgia early and spend a week in Atlanta so I could get to see the city. Honestly, I had moved around enough since the age of 17 that I knew I could settle in and feel at home anywhere, but it was nice to get a preview of Atlanta before making the commitment to move. And so the decision was made.

One day that fall, Chad and I were walking to the BART train to go to work, and he said, “I’ve been thinking. Since we’re going to quit our jobs, pack up our things and move across the country, what if we take part of our down payment money and travel in Europe for a while? Is that a crazy idea?” I paused for about a nanosecond and said, “That’s an excellent idea!”

We left the Bay area in mid-March 2009, and we spent the next seven months traveling throughout Portugal, Spain, France and Italy. During that sabbatical, I kept a travel blog where I chronicled our journey, and my love of blogging was born. It was a great way to bring family and friends along on our adventures, and it became a journal and photo album that I have re-read over the years.

Since then, I have continued the travel blog for other international trips to France and Italy and, most recently, Antarctica and Buenos Aires. We’ve taken trips to other places during the last several years, but I’ve learned that it’s difficult to keep up with a blog if a trip is only one, two or three weeks, because there’s not a lot of “down” time. Some of those other trips that we’ve taken together but not posted on the blog include Jamaica, Panama (twice), Italy in 2018, and Madrid. I’ve also traveled for work without Chad to Bangalore India, Johannesburg South Africa, Sardinia Italy, and Grand Cayman, and he’s traveled to Bogota Colombia a few times without me. In hindsight, I wish I had documented all of those trips on the blog, but those experiences are on Facebook instead. Maybe some day I’ll pull together the info for those adventures and put it all on the blog.

After our sabbatical in Europe, we arrived in Atlanta in October 2009, so we’ve now been here 16 years. I’ve realized that I haven’t chronicled any domestic experiences on the blog, so 2026 will be focused on My Atlanta. I’m going to treat it as if we are visitors in our own city and make blog posts with fresh eyes. 

Some day, we will retire and move to Italy, and I want to create a journal and photo album so I can look back on our life here. I’ve also realized that, when I write a blog post, I slow down and really think about what I’m seeing and experiencing, and I take the time to process the experience in a different way. I want to do this for Atlanta.

I want to chronicle my experiences throughout the year, from the simple things like my commute to work which passes through historic neighborhoods to special events like local festivals and the World Cup. I want to document the places that are meaningful to me such as our beautiful Inman Park neighborhood, the Atlanta Beltline, and the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. I’m sure we’ll have many amazing meals, and there will be photos of food, of course. 

Ultimately, I am blessed in life and am extremely happy in Atlanta. It’s been a great home for 16 years, and I want to get it all on paper, so to speak. I’m very much looking forward to this project throughout the year. Stay tuned for more blog posts, and I hope you enjoy the ride.

Buenos Aires has been exactly as I expected and the opposite of what I expected. It definitely feels like Latin America, but it also feels like Europe. The architecture, the design of the avenues and streets, and the urban planning with the grand parks and gardens, this all feels like Europe. But then there are the tropical plants and certain little shops, small streets, and details that totally feel like Latin America. It’s definitely its own unique city. Here are some photos from the morning’s walk in the botanical garden.

Argentina has a long history of immigration, and it is a true melting pot. There is a strong ancestry from Spain, of course, but there is also immigration history of Italians, Germans, Jews, Japanese, and Chinese, and this is reflected in the food. The Italian influence has certainly been significant with Italian food such as pasta, pizza, and gelato being part of the regular diet. Even the typical Argentine dish of Milanesa (veal cutlet or chicken cutlet) is named after Milan.

And while Buenos Aires is its own unique city with its own culture and personality, there are some cultural phenomena which transcend political boundaries and unite us around the globe:

One week in Buenos Aires has been just enough to give us a taste of the city. In order to really see the city, I think we would need to be here for a month or two. Chad and I have a list of cities where we want to spend a month. We’ve already done this in Barcelona, Paris, and Lisbon. Rome, Milan, Madrid, and maybe Bogota are on the list for the future. Now we’ll be adding Buenos Aires to that list. Until next time!

There are some random thoughts that have been rolling around in my head this week.

Language:

I keep speaking Italian when I mean to speak Spanish. I guess it’s good that Italian is starting to roll off my tongue after studying it for so long, but it’s confusing for the Argentine taxi driver or the waiter who’s expecting to hear Spanish.

A lot of people in Argentina, particularly the younger generation, speak English, so it’s easy to get around.

I also see some signage in Portuguese, and I’ve heard it every once in a while because Brazil is next door. It’s fun to hear the language since it’s part of my history, it’s like a familiar poem.

Money and Prices:

Argentina has been plagued with inflation. A year ago, it cost 1,000 pesos to buy one US dollar. Today, it costs 1,450 pesos. As a result, I thought a strong dollar would mean that prices would seem cheap here. But they generally are not. A box of DeCecco pasta costs $8, but in Atlanta it’s $3. Restaurant prices are generally the same as the US. Exceptions are wine, coffee, and pastries. And eggs are cheap for some reason.

Like other non-US countries, the money is beautiful. Due to the inflation, coins are no longer in use, only bills.

Traffic:

A note on traffic. Most streets and avenues in the city are one-way, even the wide avenues with multiple lanes. And when the small neighborhood streets come to an intersection, there usually are no stop signs. Drivers just figure it out. It’s kind of brilliant. And there’s no constant honking of car horns. It all seems very civilized.

Restaurants:

Most of the restaurants have sidewalk seating which makes sense since the weather is pretty nice year-round. Many have expanded into the street, taking over parking space with covered seating areas.

Architecture:

Most apartment buildings, at least in our neighborhood, have an in-person security guard or a virtual guard on a video screen. In our building, we have an in-person guy during regular work hours and then a rotation of virtual staff on nights and weekends. It’s an interesting concept.

I had heard that Buenos Aires was the “Paris of South America” so I expected to see more 19th century buildings. But I think most of the older buildings have been replaced with more modern buildings. It’s still common to see older ornate buildings, but they are usually sandwiched between newer buildings.

And here are some examples of the 19th century buildings that we’ve seen:

And some architectural details:

And an evening view:

Today is another really hot day, so we’ve been taking it easy with some leisurely walks on tree-lined streets. We’ve joked about how we can’t imagine that we’ll return to Atlanta and complain about the cold winter weather.

During our walk this morning, we saw this which made me laugh, given that it’s so hot out and that last week we were literally with penguins in Antarctica.

We found a little pocket park called Patio de Marruecos. (I think this means Moroccan Patio.) It was a small plaza on the corner of a block. It was a cute, private oasis in the middle of the neighborhood.

Since we didn’t feel like doing touristy things today, we decided to go all-out for lunch. We spent almost three hours at El Preferido.

We’ve walked by the place a few times over this last week, and there is always a crowd of people waiting for a table. Our guidebook says “Reservations are a must.” We figured out a way around that by showing up for lunch at 11:45, and we were immediately seated at a table outside.

The food was incredible with typical Argentine cuisine and some innovative twists. It was a pricey meal, but it was totally worth it. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

Of course, after all of that food, lunch was followed by some quiet time in our apartment with the air conditioning.

This evening we took another long walk, about an hour and a half. This really is a great neighborhood with lots to see and do. I would stay here again.

This is our last night in Buenos Aires. We do have almost a full day here tomorrow, so there might be another quick blog update in the afternoon, and then we head to the airport to fly back to Atlanta. Until then:

Buenos Aires has a lot of murals painted around the city. Some are big, some are small, and some are better than others, but they always brighten up the view as we walk around. There are several entities that give walking tours of the street art, but we just walked around on our own. We found some murals listed in the guidebook, but most were paintings that we stumbled upon during our daily walks.

And then we saw these sculptures at the main entrance of an apartment building:

It’s been fun exploring the various neighborhoods, because you never know what you’re going to see!

The Parque Tres de Febrero is one of the Buenos Aires’ largest parks, and it’s right here in our neighborhood of Palermo. The design was inspired by London’s Hyde Park and Paris’ Bois de Boulogne. There are many different areas of the park with lots of things to do and see.

The most popular area is around the Lago de Rosedal. There is a wide pedestrian and cycling road that runs along here as well as sidewalks and walking paths. The place was full of people this Christmas morning getting some exercise, strolling, sitting with friends, and sunbathing.

The lake has a lot of resident geese as well as paddle boats that you can rent for a tour around the water. Of course, paddle boats and other activities were closed due to the holiday, but there were still a lot of people out and about.

In the middle of the lake, there is a large rose garden with thousands of plants.

At the far end of the lake, we found some restaurants nestled under the arches of the train tracks that lead to the central train station. We also found a carousel.

In another area of the park, there is a planetarium. At night, the dome of the planetarium has been lighted up with red and green lights which we can see from our apartment.

Other areas of the park have groves of trees, ponds and lakes, and large grassy areas.

It was a great place to spend Christmas morning.

Today the temperature was 10 degrees cooler, only 80 F, and the humidity was 50%, so the weather was perfect and a nice change from our other days. We spent the morning walking through the neighborhood to see what was going on. Nothing. The streets were quiet with only a couple of cars and a few people outside. But we did see some sights along the way.

We headed to the Parque Tres de Febrero, one of the biggest parks in the city and, lucky for us, not far from our apartment. We spent a couple of hours walking around, exploring the park, and we discovered that this is where people headed when they were going stir-crazy on Christmas day.

As we headed home, we passed two kioscos (little shops that sell candy, chips, and drinks) that were open and one cafe. Everything else was shuttered.

We had lunch at home with the balcony doors wide open to let in the breeze, and then relaxed for a couple of hours.

We went back out for another long walk mid-afternoon since the weather was so nice. At this point, we saw a lot more people out, and cafes and gelaterias were open for business. People in Buenos Aires like their afternoon coffee and pastries and like their ice cream.

This time it was a little warmer outside, so we came back home to some air conditioning for an hour.

Then we headed out again at 5:30 for another walk to see what was open. Things were still pretty quiet around the neighborhood.

Then we found an intersection in the hipster area Palermo Soho with bars and snacks and sidewalk seating and lots of people. It makes sense that things would be open here since this part of the neighborhood is young and vibrant. We had a cocktail and then headed home for dinner.

Christmas here has not been quite what we expected. When we went to Madrid in November/December 2019, the city was decked out for Christmas.

When we made plans to spend Christmas week 2025 in Buenos Aires, I expected a grand celebration of the holiday and thought the city would be decorated. Instead, almost all of the decorations have been in shops. We’ve just seen a few things in public parks. And while things were quiet this morning, at the end of the day, the streets were bustling again, almost like it was a normal Thursday (but the shops were still closed).

But we have also seen these fun things. Merry Christmas!

And my personal favorite, a sign in a pet store. “Perro” means “dog”, so Perry Christmas!

Il Cementerio de la Recoleta opened in 1822, and it was the city’s first public cemetery. With 4,691 mausoleums, it is the final resting place for Argentina’s most influential families including 20 former presidents, military commanders, Nobel prize winners, and famous authors.

You could easily spend half a day wandering around. It’s huge. The cemetery is laid out with a series of streets, alleys, and little plazas.

There is a big variety of design styles for the mausoleum buildings.

This mausoleum contains the grave of a Nobel prize winner in chemistry who died in 1971. He was very modest, but he came from a wealthy family. When this building was constructed in 1914, it cost 3 million dollars. It is estimated to be worth 15 million dollars today due to the precious stone and gold used in the design.

This family mausoleum had photos on the facade. We’ve visited cemeteries in Italy, and this is common there.

A lot of mausoleums had windows and you could see the caskets inside.

Not all graves are marked with mausoleums. Here are some others that we saw.

There were a lot of interesting details throughout the cemetery.

And the most famous gravesite of all is that of Eva Peron.

Maria Eva Duarte was born into poverty in rural Argentina in 1919. She married Juan Peron in 1945, and he became president of Argentina in 1946. During her short life, she was an actress, a politician, an activist, and a philanthropist. She was an advocate for women’s suffrage, workers’ rights across the country, and children’s education and well-being.

She died in 1952. She was a beloved figured, and on the day of her funeral procession, Argentina ran out of flowers. Evita lies in a heavily fortified crypt 5 meters underground to protect her remains.

We got up this morning and hailed a taxi to the Recoleta neighborhood. The first stop was to visit the famous cemetery.

Afterwards, we walked through the neighborhood. Recoleta has grand avenues, stately mansions, and luxury hotels. It is a grand old neighborhood.

We passed into the Barrio Norte neighborhood which is filled with more grand avenues and beautiful old buildings. This seems to be the main shopping district of the city with shops everywhere. 

Our next stop was El Ateneo Grand Splendid bookstore in Barrio Norte. This building was originally built in 1919 as a theater for ballet, opera, and tango. In 2000, it was converted into a bookstore, and it retains the character of the original theater. It is so cool!

Lunch was at a place that specializes in milanesa, one of the traditional Argentine dishes. A milanesa is a breaded and sautéed cutlet of beef or chicken which is pounded very thin, and it can be served with a variety of toppings. On our first day here, I had beef milanesa napolitana with melted provolone and sliced tomatoes on top. Today I had a plain chicken milanesa, and it hit the spot.

We had grand plans to go to another neighborhood after lunch, but by this point, we were so hot and tired that we took a taxi back to the apartment and just chilled for a couple of hours.

We eventually worked up some energy to go out into the neighborhood, primarily to buy some groceries. We had a few things in the fridge from the previous couple of days, but we needed more supplies for this evening (Christmas Eve) and all day tomorrow (Christmas Day).

I’m glad we went out when we did! Most mom-and-pop shops had closed early. The giant supermarket was still open, but it closed in 10 minutes at 6 pm. We hustled around to make sure we bought enough food, and we came home with some stuff for salad, bread, bottled water, pasta, and tomato sauce, and yogurt, fruit, and juice for tomorrow morning. With these new groceries and what we already have in the fridge, we’re all set for our holiday meals.

Now Chad is prepping some food for dinner. We’ve been seeing green parakeets flying around in the botanical garden across the street, and I’ve been watching the clouds over the city. Our apartment really does have a wonderful view.

Felices Festivas and Feliz Navidad.