Today was another low-key day of reflection and meditation here in Palermo. I left the apartment mid-morning since the maid came to clean, and I walked back to where I had spent a large part of yesterday, down by the French Embassy. Yesterday the Embassy opened its doors to the public from 12 noon - 6:00 p.m. and I joined the long lines of people who waited to enter and view this Belle Epoque style building constructed in the early 1900's. Originally it was the home of the Ortiz Basualdo family, it became the French Embassy in 1939. The French saved the building from destruction by refusing to give it up when the Military Regime in power wanted to demolish it as part of the their plan to create the grand boulevard of 9 de Julio. Much of the building has been preserved as it was originally constructed and the main living areas on the second floor were the parts opened to the public. These included the library, the billiards or smoking room, the dance hall, the corner sitting parlor, and the dining room. Several of the rooms had a Versailles feel to them while the dining room was patterned more on an English design. It was a most interesting visit, unfortunately they did not allow pictures.
That is why I returned today. Also, because I wanted to visit nearby Plazoleto Carlos Pellegrini which one of the guidebooks described as one of the best places to capture a sense of the former glory of late 19th, early 20th, century Buenos Aires. It most definitely is true. This small, very well-kept plaza, is surrounded on three sides by well-preserved buildings that present a small vista of what Buenos Aires must have looked like in the early 1900's. One building is now the Brazilian Embassy. There is also the French Embassy, the Jockey Club, and the BNP (Nacional Bank of Paris). You can see part of the view in the photo above.
After visiting this pleasant little square, I proceeded a few blocks further on to find the memorial to the former Israeli Embassy. In 1992 a car bomb destroyed the embassy and killed 29 persons. The space has been turned into a memorial with a raised area that identifies the former outline of the building and the 29 victims remembered by 22 trees and 7 benches. It is a stark space that certainly highlights the continuing, senseless violence in our world. I had intended to spend some time in this plaza writing in my journal and reflecting on life, but it was too stark a place for that kind of reflection. I did spend a bit of time on one of the benches and reflect on our inability to find peace and a way to live together in the world. People and cultures are far more alike than different, yet most people do not believe that to be true and instead focus on our differences. As a result our divisions grow deeper, lead to growing tensions, and eventually senseless violence. In fact, it was certainly an appropriate day for me to visit this memorial: the night before the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan was car bombed, killing more than 50 people and today there was a driver in Jerusalem who seemed intent on doing harm to pedestrians with his automobile and the Egyptian government announced the kidnapping of about 20 tourists in southern Egypt. I have to wonder how it is that we think we are "winning" this war on terror?
In the following link to another Kodak Gallery Album you will see more photos of the French Embassy and Plazoleto Carlos Pellegrini and the Israeli Embassy Memorial. There are also some photos from one of my walks this past week of the Plaza de Chili and some of the buildings surrounding that plaza. Here is the link to the photos: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6d2p4u6.1uascjk6&x=0&y=-3gl7rr&localeid=en_US
1 comment:
I have thought a lot about the same issue of why people have to focus on differences. I think I understand that in the Middle East, children are raised with such hatred toward others that it is natural they become killing machines as adults. But in other countries where this is not the case, it has to be this need for man to feel superior to something. It is really sad and we can only hope that with the globalization of the world, it will change over time.
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