All Our Bags Are Packed!: South America 2019: Trip Notes # 2

South America 2019: Trip Notes # 2

Friends asked us why would we want to visit Sao Paulo - it's just a big city.

Looking Out From Apartment

True - it's a big city. But, it is also packed with wonderful places to visit, many things to see and (as cities go) and they all have their unique feel.

Paulista Avenue

One of the city's areas was devoted entirely to wedding gowns. This was not just one street with a few wedding dress stores - this was many square blocks - all having wedding dress establishments and, of course there were many stores that sold other items that would accompany a wedding such as tuxedos, cakes and flowers.

There are very few people that speak English. When it was obvious that we were struggling with trying to decipher what was in a cafe's food case, or in a market trying to find yogurt without sugar or helping to order food, there seemed to be a local that spoke just enough English that would come up and assist us.

Overall, Sao Palo is very clean. Drivers are good - they are polite, and there is no honking.

We often hear many emergency vehicle sirens in other cities. Here, it is very quiet.

Few people smoke. There are "Prohibited" signs throughout the area.

This is a dog-friendly city - they seem to be everywhere. However, they are all on a leash, the owners clean up the poop and, if the dog is small and tired of walking, they are put in a baby carriage and pushed for a while.

Graffiti is everywhere - . even on public phones.

However, may walls are decorated with sophisticated graffiti murals.

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Pioncateca de Estado - This is a museum situated in a turn of the century (1900's) beautiful, ornate building. Inside, it is modern, minimalist in style and quite nice. The focus is to emphasize works from the early 20th century to the present times - simple but well done.

There was one room showing the relationship between the artist and the model.

Jerry's mother had an artist friend. As an adult the friend painted a beach scene of Jerry's mother and the friend when they were small children. The below painting is quite similar to what we have at our beach house.