Argentina Pavilion Entrance

The Argentine Pavilion is one of those small ones that are usually pretty accessible (no long lines). There’s nothing superbly special about it, but it’s pretty and friendly. It’s a large open room with a mezzanine filled with touch-screen videos, and a few of the walls incorporate even larger video screens. There’s a small snack bar, but the best thing about the beverage area is a nice selection of Argentinian wine. You can buy a bottle and share with friends, or you can buy it by the glass.

Here’s a shot of the interior ground floor looking toward the snack bar.

Argentina Pavilion

And a shot of one of the larger video screens and the mezzanine above it.

Argentina Pavilion

Here’s the somewhat small menu.

Snack Bar Menu

And a good selection of wine. One of my friends said of her glass of Malbec was delicious.

Argentina Wine

As we were enjoying the Pavilion, who should walk in but Mavi Diaz and Las Folkies! We chatted with them for a while, and Corrie, one of my colleagues, ended up buying one of their CDs. It was a pleasant surprise to end our tour of the Argentine Pavilion.

Mavi Diaz and Las Folkies at the Pavilion

Here’s my opinion of the Argentine Pavilion:

Day and Time Visited: Saturday, May 19th at 8:30 p.m.
Interior Design: Lots of stripes, blue, functional
Lines: I’ve never seen a long one here
Multimedia: Several touch screen videos and larger wall-sized video screens
Souvenir Shop: None
Cultural Assets: None (except for the wine)
Restaurant/Bar: Small menu, nice selection of wine, food looked appetizing
Overall Rating: An easy place to visit, quick in and out, unless you stop to try the wine. Most of these small pavilions have their own charm and the staff are usually quite friendly and easy to talk with. Give it a shot while your waiting for longer lines at other pavilions to go down.

Entrance Sign to the Uruguay Pavilion

You could blow through the Uruguay Pavilion in 5 minutes, but, even though it’s small, it’s a well-done pavilion, with about a dozen small interactive video screens that give plenty of information about the country. There’s also a small snack bar with good seating and good food. I had a chivito (steak sandwich) with french fries, and, let me tell you, those fries are the best I’ve found at the Expo, with Belgian Fries a close second. So, give the pavilion a try, and, if you’re there in the morning, say hello to Roberto, an American expat living in Yeosu, who greets visitors at the entrance.

Note: Even though some of the pavilions are small, they’re all worth going through. You can find more than a few surprises (like the Uruguay snack bar), they’re usually quite nice, and, best of all, many of them have much shorter lines than the larger, major pavilions.

Here’s a shot of part of the interior.

Uruguay Pavilion

The Montevideo Cafe.

Montevideo Cafe

And here’s a close-up of the menu.

Menu at the Uruguay Pavilion Cafe

Finally, the small, but interesting gift shop.

Uruguay Pavilion Gift Shop

My review:

Time and Day Visited: Thursday, May 24th, about 1:30 p.m.
Interior Design: Simple, but nice, blue motif.
Lines: I go by there often, but I’ve never seen many long lines.
Multimedia: About a dozen touch-screen videos.
Souvenir Shop: Small, but adequate
Cultural Assets: Not many.
Restaurant/Bar: Nice little cafe with pretty good food (check out the french fries), but no Uruguayan alcoholic beverages.
Overall Rating: Sure, check it out. Very friendly pavilion workers, good food in the cafe, no long lines, and interesting.

Russia Pavilion Entrance

I’ve had some people tell me that the Russian pavilion isn’t all that great, and others have told me they liked it. I thought it was very good. It’s one of those guided tour pavilions, with only a limited amount of people let in at one time (about 50), so be careful of long lines if you don’t have much time.

The pavilion focuses mainly on Russia’s exploration and exploitation of the Arctic Ocean. After walking through an “ice tunnel”, you’re first given an introduction on a large video screen, then you go into a large theater made out like the deck of an old research ship. There, you watch quite a good animation of Russian ocean vessels projected onto the walls of the room. The video lasts about 7 or 8 minutes.

Here’s a shot of a timeline of Russian explorers in the intro area.

Russia Pavilion Timeline

The “ice tunnel.”

The Ice Tunnel

Pretty cool animated video of Russian icebreakers, research ships and others.

Russian Icebreaker

The final hall contains lots of mock-ups of ships, research vessels, and other interesting paraphernalia. At the end of the hall is a simulation that lets you be the captain of a large ocean-going ship, steering wherever you want to go, sort of like a video game.

Here’s a submersible and a diving suit.

Russia Pavilion Models

And a scale model of a research vessel.

Research Vessel

Here, you can try to steer a large ship around the ocean. Nice video game!

Ship Pilot Simulation

The souvenir stand is quite good, crammed with traditional nesting/babushka dolls. However, as in some of the other major pavilions, one of the highlights of the Russian Pavilion is a charming restaurant just outside of the souvenir stand, featuring a decent menu, with a variety of, what else, vodka flavored drinks.

The souvenir stand, followed by some of the many babushka dolls.

Souvenir Shop

Babushka Dolls

Here’s an image of the interior of the cozy restaurant.

"Russia Pavilion Restaurant

And, here’s the menu. I had to keep it at a very large size in order to be able to read it, so give it a click or two.

Menu

So that’s the Russia Pavilion and here’s my take on it:

Time and Day Visited: Thursday, May 17th at around noon.
Interior Design: Pretty good, functional, scientific motif
Lines: None today, but I have seen some long ones here at various times.
Multimedia: Videos, animation, interactive screens and models, ship simulator
Souvenir Shop: Very nice, crammed with various items
Cultural Assets: Hmmm, not many traditional items, like balalaikas, but plenty of modern Russian scientific gear.
Restaurant/Bar: A small restaurant where you can order Russian fare and alcohol (Russian vodka!). I haven’t eaten here yet, so I can’t comment on the quality, but it looks pretty good.
Overall Rating: Go see it, but avoid any long lines. It’s a large pavilion with enough to interest most people, and it’s time well spent. Let me know how the food is if you eat at the restaurant.

France Pavilion Entrance Sign

From the somewhat underwhelming sign that adorns the entrance to the French Pavilion, one might not have very high expectations for what the interior might hold. But, with typical French artistic flair, this is one of the more beautiful country pavilions at the Expo.

There are three halls, which I’ve dubbed “The Hall of Mirrors,” “The Electric Blue Hall,” and “The Green Hall.” Not very inspiring names, but they’ll have to do until I, or you, think up some better ones.

The Mirror Hall features lots of, umm, . . . mirrors. It’s like going to an old-time carnival Hall of Mirrors. A bit disconcerting, so be careful not to smack into one of them.

France Pavilion Hall of Mirrors

Along the right hand side are several scenes that show various French landmarks underwater with colored, electric fish swimming serenely through the famous areas. I hope this isn’t a prediction of the height of the rising water levels due to climate change!

Arc d' Triomphe Underwater at French Pavilion

Another image of the Hall of Mirrors

Hall of Mirrors

In a room just off the Hall of Mirrors is this large model of a futuristic undersea research vessel. Looks like it would be an awesome place to live and work.

Research Vessel Model

Next up is “The Electric Blue Hall.” This one was very difficult to photograph, due to the very low light levels. I had to crank up my camera’s ISO and do some tricky adjustments in Photoshop, but I still couldn’t get it quite right. I’m going to start carrying my tripod with my when I go out to the Expo on weekday mornings and evenings, when it’s less crowded. That’s my colleague Andy watching the video screen in the background.

The Electric Blue Hall

There were some “tanks” in this room, too, with electric fish swimming around a bright white light, but the photos I took didn’t turn out so good, so you’ll have to go see them for yourself. Here’s the exit from the hall.

Exit From the Electric Blue Hall

The final “Green Hall” leads the way out of the pavilion. This is a landscape-themed hall, more or less, with your usual robot enjoying itself on a tree swing. (See second photo below)

The Green Hall

The Green Hall

There are two disappointments about the French Pavilion. They are the lack of a souvenir stand and the lack of a restaurant/bar. These are certainly not enough to spoil your enjoyment of the pavilion, but for those looking for such things, it might dampen your enthusiasm a bit.

Time and Day visited: Friday, May 18th at 6:45 p.m.
Interior Design: Outstanding (My photos don’t do it justice)
Lines: There weren’t any at this time of day, nor are there any in the morning, but afternoons there are occasionally long lines. Go early or late if you’re pressed for time.
Multimedia: A few interactive screens, videos, and simulations
Souvenir Shop: None
Cultural Assets: Very Few
Restaurant/Bar: None
Overall Rating: Well worth a visit because of the interior design alone, but a bit of a disappointment that there is no restaurant to chow down on French cheeses and wines.