This past Saturday we had an opportunity to see different parts of the city. A group was organized to tour Patio do Colegio, the Cathedral and the Liberdade neighborhood.
The Sao Paulo tourist board describes Patio do Colegio like this:
“In 1554, after an expedition, priest Anchieta decided to build a place to accommodate Brazilian native Indians and to be used as a school to teach religious subjects to them. That was how the city of São Paulo was founded. Today, the place is home to Museu de Anchieta (Anchieta Museu).
(We have no idea who the people are in this picture. They are in it by accident.)
The museum was very interesting. The museum housed religious artifacts from as far back as the 1600’s (perhaps farther but we did not see those). There were many crucifixes, beautiful cherubs, baptismal fonts, golden altar pieces and two different holy water fonts two hundred years apart in age. Behind the building there was a small café and small enclosed plaza. The children enjoyed the birds and the view (complete with razor wire!). On the far end of the plaza there was an enclosed cross and a sign that read that John Paul II gave a mass there in 1980. Before we left we had some empanadas and limeade (without sugar) at the café. It was very peaceful and quiet.
After we left the Museum/Patio building we noticed a large bell. It was in an arc called “Marco da Paz “. We let the children ring the bell a number of times. They loved that!
We made a very quick stop at the Cathedral. They were holding mass so we were only able to take a few pictures of the plaza in front and some architecture at the back of the building. AJP was very excited because across the street from the Cathedral was a HUGE sign with “bombieros” (“firefighters”) on it. We are not sure what it was about but it was the highlight of the stop for him.
We ended the day in the Liberdade neighborhood. This is the traditionally Asian area of the city. We had lunch at a Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Brazilian buffet. We also spent some time at a market where we bought BLP a dress. It made TSP think of her fateful visit to Taiwan many years ago since all the signs were in calligraphy (and Portuguese – sometimes).
We had a wonderful day!
(We did not take the above picture; JTP found it on the internet.)
2 comments:
The kids are adorable, and the city is beautiful! Maybe we can work out that visit ...
I'm so glad that y'all are getting out and seeing the city. I am super envious and find myself wishing to be back in Sampa every time I read your blog.
(BTW - Did you see that Reich endorsed Obama? Good on 'im: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/18/AR2008041802000.html)
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