A small Sightseeing Tour

On Saturday I actually wanted to go out and waited for a promised phone call of a working colleague, which took so long that it actually never came... This is true for many things in Brazil ;-)

I transformed the problem into an opportunity by personally commiting to do a small sightseeing tour on Sunday. Now I was happy to stay at home, because if you want to go out in the city jungle of Sao Paulo you better plan it beforehand and look for the right buses and metros or you will end up somewhere and it will take you 1-2 hours to find back to the place you wanted to go. I used google maps to plan my route. The official transport site of Sao Paulo (sptrans.com.br) also gives you directions and a lot of options to find your destination, but in the end produces a lot of bullshit as well.

On the next morning I left the house in order to start the sightseeing. I crossed my lovely neighbourhood "Moema". I personally call it my fortress, because it's an island of security in this town made for raising children, entertainment and rich people as the prices here are like in London. I take the first bus. So far I have never arrived by bus directly where i had wanted to go. Therefore I asked the ticket cashier guy in the middle of the bus to tell me, when I should leave it. Most of the time the friendly guy will do this. Sometimes he won't tell you because he has just more important things to do like chatting with his girlfriend (the short term version of girlfriend here in Brazil is called "Kiss-friend") or you caused him too much work by paying with 20 REAL and forced him to search for the change.

After successfully getting out of the bus I headed to the subway station (20 min walk). The Metro (subway) here in Sao Paulo is super safe, fast, easy to use and somehow cheaper than the buses. It meets all the logistical needs of the "paulistanos" (inhabitants of Sao Paulo) and therefore remains a big paradox in this city, but a very nice one!

One metro station is called "Liberdade". I leave the metro and suddenly I am in the middle of .... Japan. Japanese people all around me talking in Portuguese with Italian body language. The buildings in nippo-stlye, the street lamps in red with lights in lotus shape and Japanese words printed on many houses. Also many Chinese, Korean and Japanese restaurants, Karaoke bars and a special brand of ice cream, which is only available in this neighbourhood called "MELONA". Absolutley delicious! The Museum of Japanese Immigration and the Japanese Gardens are also a must-see here in Liberdade like the street markets where you can get e.g. fresh prepared Maracuja, Ananas and Organge Juices like a lot of cheap Chinese stuff.

After Liberdade I went to the metro station "Praca de luz" in order to visit "The museum of the Portuguese Language". I can recommend this museum for people interested in learning Portuguese or languages in gerneral, because it shows the flexibility of this language. It seems that as long somebody can somehow understand you, your Portuguese grammar is not necessary incorrect. The grammar mutations of Portuguese have no similar examples in other Roman Languages like Spanish as far as I know.

The final part of the day is filled by a visit of "Parque Ibirapuera". It's the "Central Park" of Sao Paulo and this definition is justified. If someone says, Sao Paulo is a big cement desert he is only partly right, because if you spend your weekends in Ibirapuera you will have the feeling that Sao Paulo is the greenest city on earth. I walked for 4 hours in this park but couldn't see any end... It's full of people on the weekends who practice sports like basketball, football, biking, jogging, skate boarding etc. The park provides all necessary facilities to spend your day like two museums, sport fields, a big park for skaters, restaurants, biking lanes and even a big lake. It's the only place in Sao Paulo, where you can experience absoulte silence and a place where thousands of people recharge their batteries for their next working week.

By the way the paulistanos are very hard working people, who are used to get up at 5 o'clock in the morning (traffic reasons) and return at 10 o'clock in the evening (traffic reasons). So you see the big issue in Sao Paulo is traffic. Therefore it takes me one additional hour by bus to get back home after a fulfilled day of travel in a city full of opportunities.

See you!