After the Narbona winery, we drove to Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital, to meet up with Serge's parents and extended family.


Montevideo is somewhat similar to Buenos Aires in look and feel, except it is much smaller, a bit sleepier, and a lot more run down. There was a local election underway, and one of the big issues was cleaning up the face of the city. I do hope that happens, as it really could be as beautiful as it's Argentinean counterpart across the water. There were a lot of these very tall, one-story buildings pictured below. Each had exquisite architectural details, though sadly, most were looking pretty shabby and in disrepair.






This was our hotel, The Plaza Fuerte, which was straight out of Paris - one of those grand old elevators in the middle of the staircase, and wonderful atrium skylights in the lobbies. The reggaeton club next door did keep us up every night, but the people-watching factor from the balcony kind of made it all worth it.









Montevideo too had its fair share of great street art.




Sege's boyhood home (far left). Now he's all growz up and Mr big time big city art director.






This guy is such a badass.