Last day in Sao Paulo 🌁

Good morning from Sao Paulo 🤗

We apologize for the late reply, but sometimes external circumstances just don't allow us to invest time in the blog. For example, tiredness and hunger 😁 But now we'll tell you about our city tour in Sao Paulo. First of all, we have to mention that we had a completely individual tour - with Durval in his car 👴🚘.

Durval was approximately 55 years old and a true Sao Paulista. We don't want to withhold from you what we could see on our 4-hour tour:

We started at the hotel and drove towards 'Platz der Republik' (we arrived there 3 days ago as well). We then continued to the Japanese quarter - Liberdade - because, as we found out yesterday, the Japanese are the largest immigrant group in Sao Paulo (in all of Brazil, it's the Italians 😊). Somehow we discovered the courthouse and were finally able to capture the extraordinary traffic:

Of course, the first police station caught our eye. And with this, greetings to Bine's colleagues from Stralsund 😊👮 Believe us, you don't want to work here 😋.

The journey continued to one of the most beautiful churches in Brazil, in the heart of Sao Paulo. 🕍 Nossa Senhora do Brasil is her name, which means Holy Lady of Brazil. (This has nothing to do with the song: Nossa, nossa! 😅)

The next stop took us to the botanical institute, which is currently fighting the Zika virus and has developed numerous vaccines against dengue, yellow fever, and malaria. What surprised us at this point in Sao Paulo were the green palms and the incredibly clean air. This institute is located in the Bantantan neighborhood. 🌴🌳🌿

We were already there the day before yesterday, but we couldn't show you the monument of Ibirapuera Park because it was too dark at night. It took 30 years to build and is now in the center of an unbelievably large roundabout.

Next stop: Avenida Paulista. The Wall Street of Sao Paulo. The most turnover-intensive businesses are conducted here 💴💵💶💷. And here we also find Marie's counterpart to her work: the Banco Central do Brasil. We could even learn a thing or two from the design 😶. Greetings to Marie's colleagues in Frankfurt as well ☺

Of course, we also passed by the national stadium because Brazilians follow football like the Germans. They even broadcast the European Championship, albeit with Portuguese commentary 😅⚽

Finally, we followed Durval's tip to climb the tallest building. Naturally, we walked up 41 floors on foot 😋 but the view was definitely worth it, although we have to confirm again: Sao Paulo is not that beautiful.

An exhausting day that we ended with another all-you-can-eat meat feast and fell into bed a little tipsy after 2 caipirinhas. Our bus to the airport leaves at 11 am today. We will fly to Marie's host family in Marilia at 4 pm 👪. We will keep you updated.

PS: The nights weren't quite as cold anymore, the long sleepwear and two blankets helped. Marie's cold is slowly subsiding. Smoking almost tastes good again 😉☺

Take care!

BINE & MARIE 👭