Things about Buenos Aires: Part Nine

Though it’s a big bold place, the city wallows in nostalgia. The cafes are a living museum as are the cake shops, the delis and the home-made pasta shops where spaghetti is sold in pretty cardboard boxes. The avenues are lined with grand nineteenth-century architecture and there are hundreds of antique shops crammed with old bits and bobs. The tube, called the Subte (subterraneo), has hanging straps made from imitation ivory rings and fake green leather. Though there are skyscrapers, shopping malls and cool urban kids they don’t really register.
It’s very Fifties Italy. It would remind me of Naples if I’d been there.