Sao Paulo, the city that never sleeps, or does it?

What happens when Katie heads to Sao Paulo for Carnaval break? 17 million of the 18 million people who live there leave town. Okay, maybe that number is a wee bit of an exaggeration but it sure did feel like it. Kathy and I headed out to SP on Monday to see the city, shop, and eat. When we arrived we noticed it was um, dead. It turns out that SP pretty much is closed till Wednesday morning. Luckily, we made the most of it and enjoyed the city.

On Tuesday, Kathy and I went walking on Oscar Friere, which is the equivalent of the Brazilian Rodeo Drive. Some of the shops were open but we mainly window shopped. It was also litered with tiny coffee shops that were adorable. We then met up with Kathy's friend Carol, who works at Graded. We tried the most amazing restaurant called KAA. It was my favorite meal of the trip. And the inside was gorgeous to boot.

You can see it was hopping! :)

This art gallery had a very cool entrance.

They had a Tennessee sandwich. However, if you look carefully, it looks like someone from Tennessee spelled it. :)

KAA restaurant, or as we say in Brazil Hesthauntay.

On Wednesday we knew everything would be up and open for business so we made the most of it. So much so, when we came back to the hotel to change for dinner we fell asleep. Oops. :) We started the day at the Sao Paulo museum of art. I love museums so this was a must on my list. They had an exhibit on Rome. It was amazing. To look at each piece and see that it was dated at 1AD was just astonishing. They also had their collection upstairs where there were paintings from Van Gogh, Degas, and Monet. After our experience at the museum we headed to Parque de Ibirapuera, Ice Cream, some shopping, lunch, and then back to the hotel.

Sao Paulo Museum of Art.

Parque de Ibirapuera. I love the city scape in the background.

Beautiful trees in a huge city.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM!!

Dinner performance.

On Thursday we had a couple of hours before we had to get back to Brasilia. But, before we did anything we did the important stuff, had breakfast at STARBUCKS!!!! OMG, my frapp was delish! So, after got our coffee fix, we headed to the city center to the Mercado Municipal. I am not sure the history of the building, it looked like an old train station, but it was beautiful. It had gorgeous stain glass.

beautiful stainglass.

Mercado Municipal

What this place is known for, Mordatella sandwich. Anthony Bordain even did an episode of his show, No Reservations, here.

fruits and veggies galore

Another beautiful stain glass, but this one was taken just for Colonel. :) I thought he would love the cows.

All in all my trip was great and I loved Sao Paulo. Just like NYC, it has an energy about it that can't be recreated. Even if 17 million people were out of town.