sábado

Reading as a performing art: in this city of bookstores, the largest is El Ateneo, which occupies a renovated theater. In fact, it's the largest in South America. The balconies are filled with shelves and the former stage is now a café. It's truly grand.

























No less grand, but more uneasy in its merging of past and present is the Café Tortoni. In this city of cafés, Tortoni is the patriarch who's just starting to lose it: everyone humors him, and some even love him. With its stained glass ceilings, dramatic mirrors, Tiffany lamps, and rich leather furniture, it's a perfect spot for churros and a submarino: a bar of chocolate--actually shaped like a submarine--that melts when submerged in hot milk.