In taking a spin around the city...I found the historic downtown area probably the most interesting. But, also discovered that a number of the buildings were not more than 100 years old. Here is the Municipal Theatre....
Then some modern structures within the past 15 years....
Does every city have an obelisk?? I think so....if you look hard enough...sometimes they just pop up!!
This structure is from the 16th century....but only a portion of the original wall is still there...it was a combination church/monastery/theology school...this is where the Pope stays when he visits Sao Paulo....not at the Metropolitan Cathedral.
....this is the portion of that wall that is from the late 1500's....
One of the two buildings comprising the Department of Justice.....
The Wall Street of Sao Paulo....this is the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange....
...and adjacent to that the Board of Trade....
This was the original Bank of Brazil building. The Bank built a new structure and this building was turned into the Sao Paulo Tourism Headquarters....
What would any 'Wall Street' area be without shoe shine parlors? This stand has 5 active 'shiners'....and business is said to flourish within this financial area of the city.
The Municipal Cathedral was built in 1910....
Feliz Navidad is of course very big in a country where 75% of the people are Catholic. Therefore a large number of Creche and other symbols of Christmas time....
Just outside the Municipal Cathedral is a 'Central Point' for Sao Paulo....all distances in the city are referenced from this point....too bad the guy would not take his elbow off the pointer!!!!!
...and of course no photos were allowed in the Cathedral...so I had to resort to this picture of the entrance...
Around the corner from the Cathedral I found one of the many so-called barbecue restaurants. These are really glorified buffets. It is all you can eat with one difference....they carve meat at your table from carts that circulate in the restaurants....meats include beef, pork, lamb as well as fish and other seafood. You usually have a red and a green block.....place the green block at the edge of the table and it is continual serving or carvings.....place the red block and they cease to stop at your table....
This photo of the meat being cooked at the front window of the barbecue restaurant...
I loved this....a bench in front of the Cultural Center....it is in bronze...and the front of the bench is being held up with books (Bronze books of course....)
A peek at an exhibit at the cultural exhibit....it is a huge display of string/wire art.....
The Cultural Center was also a bank at one time...and one of the vaults can be seen here....the other vault is used as an exhibit space...however...yeah....no photos allowed!!!
Off to the markets....this is a street where on Saturday up to 1 million people are said to shop...the street is some 25 blocks.....
This was the real market area....not only for wholesale produce as seen with this man carrying potatoes on his head....
Vendors who usually specialize in one or two products....like this orange merchant....
Exotic Fruits.....
Then the 'peoples' market...open daily for retail trade...and it is HUGE!!
This is just one of the 40 aisles.....
The product displays by each vendor seemed to rival one another...who could put up the best 'advertising' display....
It was not all fruit/vegetables....meats were also plentiful....
Great time just having a look at all this.....I was offered a tasting test at most of the stands....
These are the packing crates for all this merchandise....on old carts.....
As I head out from the market...a load of potatoes has just arrived....
No South American city of any size has a football (soccer) stadium.....This is the one in Sao Paulo....
...and more of the Christmas season decorations.....
My photo of the day....a treat that could not be passed up. This is a "acai" berry smoothie....topped with bananas and strawberries. The acai is a deep purple berry that resembles a grape in texture. I will have to be on the lookout for them at Whole Foods. Not only was this delicious it is very nutritious....ummmm so so good...
It is a little bitter sweet....but all good things come to an end at one point. Sao Paulo is the last city on my RTW trip before I head back to Miami and the United States. Of course the fun will not stop there....I will be at the Dallas Cowboy/Tampa Buccaneers game on Saturday night....then to Miami Beach for a couple days before heading to Lombard, Il for Christmas with my daughter Michelle, Son-in-law Todd and grandchildren Schuyler and Keaton.
I hope that you have enjoyed my Blog as much as I have had in putting it together. I trust that it has inspired some of you to visit some or all of these places from my journey. I will now be taking a brief respite from blogging....but promise to have periodic updates on how my new job ('Retirement') is progressing....and some of my 2012 travel....Caribbean....Barbados....New York....Italy/Greece/Turkey...
