I should post a detailled explanation of the urban mass transportation transit system here in Curitiba - it is both interesting and fundamental to know when looking at the city and its urabn layout.
Anyway, I'll just mention some experiences here. Wednesday was my first day at work, and therewith my first day trying to use the bus as mean of transportation to work, and not just getting around randomly in the city. When you don't know where you are going, ask...which I did and do constantly. 'Disculpa, falla inglés? I have to reach Terminal Cabral/Rua Bom Jesus...' A very nice guy helped me on the way, stopping at the same station as me, putting me on my right transit bus. On those thirty minutes of waiting, driving, humping, bumping on the road, you get through the basic questions: origin, purpose of being in the city, how long have you been here, oh you have been to Europe...where and when and blablabla? But it makes this morning trip so enjoyable - thanks to you dear stranger.
On the way back, it is a lady who must have read the typical stupid tourist face. She asks me where I am going, tells me the right station to change (yes, because I forgot where I changed in the morning...), gives me her daughter's phone number to call her: 'My daughter is very intelligent. She travels a lot. She speaks English, French...Please call her. She'll be happy to help and maybe take you to some place. Her name is Daisy.' Later I take the wrong bus again but helped by another young girl I get home to Bigorrilho, to the flat, get the keys from the porteiro and finally home.
Well, before home, I get a nice chat with the porteiro (doorman) as well. He knows I don't speak fluent Portguese - well it is obvious. But points at some objects and give me their name. Today again I had my twenty-thirty minutes language course with him - Serge. He thinks I am getting things fast and will learn quickly to speak well. Nice :-)
All those meetings with people touch me profoundly - I am positively surprised by so much generosity. Even though I am told it is because I am a curiosa from Europe and people think it funny/nice/interesting to help me, maybe practice their english... I was told as well that I shouldn't put too much hopes in all this, that it'll fade out with time. But hey...I'll take it happily as long as I get it. It just makes the stay so enjoyable and I cannot be thankfull enough for those great moments of sharing between strangers.
Oh yeah, and talking about surfing the bus - it is really a sport! Those 'tubo' express lines really apply the true meaning of 'express'. Hang on to the bar and bend your knees, find your balance while trying not to bump too much into the other people. And on rush hours - meaning that extra speed is in order - you litterally take off on some of those bumps the bus crosses!
vendredi 26 août 2011
Moving and working
Tuesday was moving day - still cold and humid. While I was waiting for Manuel to come home so I could move in I got into talk with the receptionist at the hotel. Funny guy - he complains about the lack of polite behaviour in Brasil and acts very arrogant. He was the one who was pissed at me one evening where I came home and was trying to talk Portuguese to me: 'I speak English you know, not the others, no one speaks English here but I do!' (in a very arrogant and unpleasant way). Anyway, he tells me about his experiences abroad and how he hates the place - guy, you are in the tourist business!
Manuel is back - I take a cab and here I am in my new home for the next two months. Manuel puts on music, we go grossery shopping, he cooks (at 11 p.m.!) and Jenny, the neighbour from downstairs drops by. She doesn't speak much English neither, so here we are pointing at stuff in the kitchen, and translating them in Portuguese and English.
Wednesday is my first real work day. Or not so real... I mean I am asked to prepared a presentation of my background, research and knowledge of Danish architecture and urban planning traditions and tendencies (with focus on energy, transportation and sustainability). Easy peasy - how I look forward to share all these stuff with them! I have wondered so much around in Copenhagen that it is a pleasure to just communicate my impressions. And it seems that the work and projects done in Amsterdam and in Aalborg interest them quite a bit and would be relevant for some of the projects.
The evening is Manuel's goodbye dinner, at a very nice Italian restaurant. Nice people, some I met before, some other new ones. All lovely, crazy, charming...wonderful! Leo, Mary, Louise, Pedro, Ryan...the other Pedro, Sheila... all great and fun.
Thursday and Friday... I just get to know better the people at the office, chatting over a coffee, asking what project they are working on, going for lunch. Cell phone numbers are exchanged and before going on weekend today, they made sure I had some to call in case of emergency, in case I am bored and have no plan. Well, plans were quickly and spontaneously made since Wednesday: Louise's party on Friday, Couch surfers' reunion and party on Saturday, and lecture and visit at the Curitibanese contribution to modernism - Casa Vilanove Artigas. I have the number to a guy who makes tourist tours on bike, between three and four hours in some districts of town. How could I ever get bored?
Ow, and I have a Jaime Lerner mail adress now! christina@jaimelerner.com Yay!
Manuel is back - I take a cab and here I am in my new home for the next two months. Manuel puts on music, we go grossery shopping, he cooks (at 11 p.m.!) and Jenny, the neighbour from downstairs drops by. She doesn't speak much English neither, so here we are pointing at stuff in the kitchen, and translating them in Portuguese and English.
Wednesday is my first real work day. Or not so real... I mean I am asked to prepared a presentation of my background, research and knowledge of Danish architecture and urban planning traditions and tendencies (with focus on energy, transportation and sustainability). Easy peasy - how I look forward to share all these stuff with them! I have wondered so much around in Copenhagen that it is a pleasure to just communicate my impressions. And it seems that the work and projects done in Amsterdam and in Aalborg interest them quite a bit and would be relevant for some of the projects.
The evening is Manuel's goodbye dinner, at a very nice Italian restaurant. Nice people, some I met before, some other new ones. All lovely, crazy, charming...wonderful! Leo, Mary, Louise, Pedro, Ryan...the other Pedro, Sheila... all great and fun.
Thursday and Friday... I just get to know better the people at the office, chatting over a coffee, asking what project they are working on, going for lunch. Cell phone numbers are exchanged and before going on weekend today, they made sure I had some to call in case of emergency, in case I am bored and have no plan. Well, plans were quickly and spontaneously made since Wednesday: Louise's party on Friday, Couch surfers' reunion and party on Saturday, and lecture and visit at the Curitibanese contribution to modernism - Casa Vilanove Artigas. I have the number to a guy who makes tourist tours on bike, between three and four hours in some districts of town. How could I ever get bored?
Ow, and I have a Jaime Lerner mail adress now! christina@jaimelerner.com Yay!
Jaime Lerner Instituto
So I will here take up my week experiences - which have been exciting, fulfilling and just great!
Monday - rainy weather and horribly cold! I was told that the days around that weekend, where I arrived to Curitiba, were some of the coldest of the year. Nice... Anyway, I had an appointment at Jaime Lerner's office for 3 p.m. The first part of the day was basically find money to pay my rent to Manuel (which I didn't because my card did not work - panic... it works now though), find a jumper because obviously I had decided that only one light woolen jumper would be enough and get pastils for my sore throat (in portuguese, not speaking portuguese - but I did it!)
Due to my inexperience in the Curitibanese transport system, I managed to arrive thirty minutes late at Jaime's. This bus system is of course very efficient and planned cleverly - obviously, it is the Curitibanese example of urban mass transportation and transit! But you can get in one ride far, far, far away from your destination. So here I am at 3 p.m. at the Center Civico, not that far from the office but still too far to walk. I hop into a cab - with gestures and three portuguese words I get him to the adress: Rua Bom Jesus 76 (to be pronounced '(h)ua bon jézus') I only pay 10 reals instead of 14, he gives me the number of his taxi driver son, who speaks apparently fluent English - sooo nice and helpful, again! I just keep getting touched by the people's generosity here. Despite their reputation to be as cold and unwelcoming as their weather, I have only seen their warm side.
Jaime Lerner Instituto is located in his old house, built when he finished his architecture studies. Today he has moved to an appartment in the next door building, an extension has been built to the house which now hosts his office. The first room I am introduced to is the kitchen - 'where we come when we don't want to work...' to use Jaime's words. This homy little room holds indeed much of the spirit of the place: there is always some one sitting reading the paper, drinking coffee or eating a snack, or Linda (the house responsible) who prepares coffes or food. Then I am shown around in the building and presented to each and every one of the colleagues and partners. I am introduced to the projects of the office and the methodology - Jaime explains in great lines some of the projects, among which I am likely to work on one especially.
Then the private secretary comes: 'Christina, come...cake!' It is Paulo's birthday (one of the partners) and there is hot dogs, cake and champagne! Food and a glass of something is of course always a good way to get to talk with others... The journey turns home then, not by bus - one of the other stagiaires gives me a lift.
Monday - rainy weather and horribly cold! I was told that the days around that weekend, where I arrived to Curitiba, were some of the coldest of the year. Nice... Anyway, I had an appointment at Jaime Lerner's office for 3 p.m. The first part of the day was basically find money to pay my rent to Manuel (which I didn't because my card did not work - panic... it works now though), find a jumper because obviously I had decided that only one light woolen jumper would be enough and get pastils for my sore throat (in portuguese, not speaking portuguese - but I did it!)
Due to my inexperience in the Curitibanese transport system, I managed to arrive thirty minutes late at Jaime's. This bus system is of course very efficient and planned cleverly - obviously, it is the Curitibanese example of urban mass transportation and transit! But you can get in one ride far, far, far away from your destination. So here I am at 3 p.m. at the Center Civico, not that far from the office but still too far to walk. I hop into a cab - with gestures and three portuguese words I get him to the adress: Rua Bom Jesus 76 (to be pronounced '(h)ua bon jézus') I only pay 10 reals instead of 14, he gives me the number of his taxi driver son, who speaks apparently fluent English - sooo nice and helpful, again! I just keep getting touched by the people's generosity here. Despite their reputation to be as cold and unwelcoming as their weather, I have only seen their warm side.
Jaime Lerner Instituto is located in his old house, built when he finished his architecture studies. Today he has moved to an appartment in the next door building, an extension has been built to the house which now hosts his office. The first room I am introduced to is the kitchen - 'where we come when we don't want to work...' to use Jaime's words. This homy little room holds indeed much of the spirit of the place: there is always some one sitting reading the paper, drinking coffee or eating a snack, or Linda (the house responsible) who prepares coffes or food. Then I am shown around in the building and presented to each and every one of the colleagues and partners. I am introduced to the projects of the office and the methodology - Jaime explains in great lines some of the projects, among which I am likely to work on one especially.
Then the private secretary comes: 'Christina, come...cake!' It is Paulo's birthday (one of the partners) and there is hot dogs, cake and champagne! Food and a glass of something is of course always a good way to get to talk with others... The journey turns home then, not by bus - one of the other stagiaires gives me a lift.
jeudi 25 août 2011
Intermezzo on Brasilian 'café'
Since last posted message, many things have happened already: I have had the first day at work, met my colleagues, met Jaime Lerner (you should see my happy face!), I have moved to Manuel's flat (great place!)...
But I want to share my experience of the Brasilian breakfast, café da manha. My first days (or rather nights) here were spent in a hotel in the center, the Garden hotel. Nice place, fine, clean...cold though! Breakfast included in the price of the room so here I go - I have to feel my stomach so I might manage lunch on a little snack. Only thing is that half of the buffet is... 'bolo', cake! Egg and sausages, bread (half dry baguette or sliced sandwich bread), ham and cheese, usually bananas and some kind of melon, and cakes! Usually banana flavoured sandcake with coco or sugar topping, or just some vanilla-ish cake with orange flavoured chocolate topping. Heavy stuff!
Well Brasilian apparently like sweet stuff - the coffee which isn't that extraodinary (seems they exported all the good one) is sweetened, and if you want milk you get it! To be describe the picture, I could use Ryan's comment: 'how much coffee do you want with your sugar?'
So yeah, sweet coffee and cake for breakfast. When you stand there, you just don't know if you eat three pieces or drop the whole breakfast thing and get yourself something more nourrishing :-) Well I took three pieces of 'bolo'!
bolo de cenoura - www.vestidadenoiva.com
But I want to share my experience of the Brasilian breakfast, café da manha. My first days (or rather nights) here were spent in a hotel in the center, the Garden hotel. Nice place, fine, clean...cold though! Breakfast included in the price of the room so here I go - I have to feel my stomach so I might manage lunch on a little snack. Only thing is that half of the buffet is... 'bolo', cake! Egg and sausages, bread (half dry baguette or sliced sandwich bread), ham and cheese, usually bananas and some kind of melon, and cakes! Usually banana flavoured sandcake with coco or sugar topping, or just some vanilla-ish cake with orange flavoured chocolate topping. Heavy stuff!
Well Brasilian apparently like sweet stuff - the coffee which isn't that extraodinary (seems they exported all the good one) is sweetened, and if you want milk you get it! To be describe the picture, I could use Ryan's comment: 'how much coffee do you want with your sugar?'
So yeah, sweet coffee and cake for breakfast. When you stand there, you just don't know if you eat three pieces or drop the whole breakfast thing and get yourself something more nourrishing :-) Well I took three pieces of 'bolo'!
bolo de cenoura - www.vestidadenoiva.com
mardi 23 août 2011
Day 2 - after a good night sleep
When they dropped me off the evening before, the guys - Manuel, Lotario and Ryan - told me about the market in São Francisco on Sundays. So off I go. It is a huge market, with food stands, clothes, shoes, things of great utility or not, home-made stuff, art of several kinds... and people all over the place, in and around the market, people walking, talking, playing, eating those fantastic diep-fried pastelaria - tried one myself... Heavy! I still need to work on the appreciation of those recipes.
The market in São Francisco
People on the Praca JoãnCandido, enjoying their Sunday in many different
The little blue Art Nouveau belvedere
Indian street music
On I go - the Linhea Turismo is a bus tour that will take me to all the turist attractions worth visiting in the city. Most important of all, it takes me to the outskirts where the parques and bosques are to be found, those I have heard of and studied previously. It will give me a more general impression and picture of the city. It is a 42km tour with hop-on-and-off stops. For me those were the Botanical gardens, the museum of Oscar Niemeyer and the Parque Barigui. The ticket allowed more but at some point it was just so freezing cold - Frio da porra! as I was told - that I just sat in the bus registering the comments, taking a couple of pictures and longing for warmer days where I'll take up the tour again, maybe with some visitors.
1: who said Brazil was hot? - 2: in the pavillon of the Botanical Gardens
The Botanical gardens are an interesting place: flowers, trees and all kind of vegetation from Brasil and South America are exhibited there. The lake hides some huge fishes jumping up after flies in a huge splash, of which reveals more water than fish, while the turtles move on slowly popping up their heads from time to time. From the botanical garden building, the view over the city is terrific: the skyscrapers emerge out off the green maze of the bosques.
View over Curitiba from the botanical garden
The museum of Oscar Niemeyer is quite a sight. This eye throning in the middle gives the uneasy feeling of 'Big Brother is watching you'. The different levels - entrances and exits - are linked by curved ramps, which might remind some of the Corbusier's work on the university buildings of the Carpenter Center of Visual Arts in the States. The entrance is downstairs at the pillar level - the museum tour takes you then up and down via slopes in the big volume of exhibition halls. Then when you are done enjoying the art exhibition, the visitor is taken through an indoor square dedicated to the work of Niemeyer, before leading him through a cyber-space tunnel and up into the eye (sounds very 'Lord of the Rings' doesn't it?). The eye is a huge room, you can wonder around, glaze, meditate...whatever you feel like. But then you just walk down again, out via the ramp and on to next visit.
The eye of the Oscar Niemeyer museum
Walking to the eye tower - looks like a cyber space tunnel, don't you think?
The bus took us passed the circular theatre - an old old cultural monument -, the Centro Civico, the Bosque Papa João Paulo II - dedicated to the Polish immigrants and inaugurated after a visit of the pope -, the different parques from the North East with all the different memorials and hommages -to the German immigrants, the Ukranian, the Italian at Santa Felicidade... Fascinating mix of cultures and expressions is found with all those immigrants from all over the world! The contrasts and various impression are enormous. And then of course, driving through those landscapes, you discover the social contrasts expressed through the settlements of condominios, gatted communities and poor quarters lying just next to each other, separated by a wall, an electric fence or both.
Memorial Ucraniano
Views of Santa Felicidade, the 'Italian district'
The sum feeling of the day is really there, in the huge contrasts that inhabit this city!
Knowing that the bus stopped at Parque Barigui and that my new friends and acquaintances were having some ultimate freesbee going there - that was my last stop of the day. The freesbee was most welcome as I was freezing to the bones and my toes were like ice-cubes. Fun thing the ultimate freesbee. Clearly there is some practice to do on my side, but I really enjoyed it! So fun! And fun as well to meet more people, new people.
The evening ended at the same adress, with cooking - three course dinner, yay! - music - conversations and live performance, soooo cool! - and a chill, relaxed, happy feeling. It is always so delightful and constructive to meet such great people. Sometimes a bit crazy but immensely charming! I must as well point out how helpful those guys have been to me - very touching.
Thanks to them, I have a place to stay, people to hang out with, a Brasilian phone number and good memories from the start on :-)
The market in São Francisco
People on the Praca JoãnCandido, enjoying their Sunday in many different
Praca Joãn Candido, I get up onto the little hilly parcky thingy, up to a little blue house - very pretty in pale blue colours, with white carvings and vegetal features around the windows, doors and on the upper floor facade. Apparently it is an Art Nouveau belvedere from beginning of the 20th century, which also had hosted the first radio programme of Paraná and an astronomy observatorium. And on the other side a couple of Indians playing on their pan flute and other instruments, which you see in every city of the world. But as tourist of second day in Curitiba, I found them cheerful and entertaining, and appreciated the intermezzo in my tour.
The little blue Art Nouveau belvedere
Indian street music
On I go - the Linhea Turismo is a bus tour that will take me to all the turist attractions worth visiting in the city. Most important of all, it takes me to the outskirts where the parques and bosques are to be found, those I have heard of and studied previously. It will give me a more general impression and picture of the city. It is a 42km tour with hop-on-and-off stops. For me those were the Botanical gardens, the museum of Oscar Niemeyer and the Parque Barigui. The ticket allowed more but at some point it was just so freezing cold - Frio da porra! as I was told - that I just sat in the bus registering the comments, taking a couple of pictures and longing for warmer days where I'll take up the tour again, maybe with some visitors.
1: who said Brazil was hot? - 2: in the pavillon of the Botanical Gardens
View over Curitiba from the botanical garden
The museum of Oscar Niemeyer is quite a sight. This eye throning in the middle gives the uneasy feeling of 'Big Brother is watching you'. The different levels - entrances and exits - are linked by curved ramps, which might remind some of the Corbusier's work on the university buildings of the Carpenter Center of Visual Arts in the States. The entrance is downstairs at the pillar level - the museum tour takes you then up and down via slopes in the big volume of exhibition halls. Then when you are done enjoying the art exhibition, the visitor is taken through an indoor square dedicated to the work of Niemeyer, before leading him through a cyber-space tunnel and up into the eye (sounds very 'Lord of the Rings' doesn't it?). The eye is a huge room, you can wonder around, glaze, meditate...whatever you feel like. But then you just walk down again, out via the ramp and on to next visit.
The eye of the Oscar Niemeyer museum
Walking to the eye tower - looks like a cyber space tunnel, don't you think?
The bus took us passed the circular theatre - an old old cultural monument -, the Centro Civico, the Bosque Papa João Paulo II - dedicated to the Polish immigrants and inaugurated after a visit of the pope -, the different parques from the North East with all the different memorials and hommages -to the German immigrants, the Ukranian, the Italian at Santa Felicidade... Fascinating mix of cultures and expressions is found with all those immigrants from all over the world! The contrasts and various impression are enormous. And then of course, driving through those landscapes, you discover the social contrasts expressed through the settlements of condominios, gatted communities and poor quarters lying just next to each other, separated by a wall, an electric fence or both.
Memorial Ucraniano
Views of Santa Felicidade, the 'Italian district'
The sum feeling of the day is really there, in the huge contrasts that inhabit this city!
Knowing that the bus stopped at Parque Barigui and that my new friends and acquaintances were having some ultimate freesbee going there - that was my last stop of the day. The freesbee was most welcome as I was freezing to the bones and my toes were like ice-cubes. Fun thing the ultimate freesbee. Clearly there is some practice to do on my side, but I really enjoyed it! So fun! And fun as well to meet more people, new people.
The evening ended at the same adress, with cooking - three course dinner, yay! - music - conversations and live performance, soooo cool! - and a chill, relaxed, happy feeling. It is always so delightful and constructive to meet such great people. Sometimes a bit crazy but immensely charming! I must as well point out how helpful those guys have been to me - very touching.
Thanks to them, I have a place to stay, people to hang out with, a Brasilian phone number and good memories from the start on :-)
Arrival at Curitiba
The flight to Curitiba was quite something - knowing that you are on a plane taking you to somewhere where a work place is waiting for you, people expecting you, you know that you are going to spend some time there but don't have a clue of anything yet. Some flight turbulences enhanced the inner turbulent thoughts, and while preparing for landing, the plane had some strong curves and turns offering already some views on the landscape that is going to be (also) mine soon.
At the airport - I am in deep waters, English is not spoken by many here. So between English, French, Spanish and improvised Portuguese words I get out, into a cab, to the hotel room and out again to see the city. A nap was on the plan, but I am too excited!
1: view on the city, out through the entrance porch of Passeio Publico and trees - 2: the 'Tubo', the Curitibanese express bus line
Perrots in Passeio Publico
After several hours of walking, the tasting of Brasilian espresso and funny pastries which consists mainly of sugar, fried dough and cream and cheese of strange consistence, I finally catch up with Manuel and Lotario (the Bavarian expat who happens to have a flat to subrent for two months - yay! - and his Argentinian friend).
The flat is in Bigorrilho, a nice part of town, close to the Parque Barigui. It is superbe, with a nice kitchen, huge sofa, huge bed, clean bathroom and a homy feeling - not to mention the incredible view! The plan is set - dinner and friends coming over. How great! My first evening in Curitiba and I get to meet great people, enjoy dinner with them and just hang out till...well with the jet lag it was quite late for me. But sooo nice!
And I get to move in to the flat! How sweet can life be... by the first day, having a place and a good start to friendships.
1: TAM Linhas Aereas, São Paulo - 2: São Paulo from the plane
At the airport - I am in deep waters, English is not spoken by many here. So between English, French, Spanish and improvised Portuguese words I get out, into a cab, to the hotel room and out again to see the city. A nap was on the plan, but I am too excited!
1: view on the city, out through the entrance porch of Passeio Publico and trees - 2: the 'Tubo', the Curitibanese express bus line
Perrots in Passeio Publico
After several hours of walking, the tasting of Brasilian espresso and funny pastries which consists mainly of sugar, fried dough and cream and cheese of strange consistence, I finally catch up with Manuel and Lotario (the Bavarian expat who happens to have a flat to subrent for two months - yay! - and his Argentinian friend).
The flat is in Bigorrilho, a nice part of town, close to the Parque Barigui. It is superbe, with a nice kitchen, huge sofa, huge bed, clean bathroom and a homy feeling - not to mention the incredible view! The plan is set - dinner and friends coming over. How great! My first evening in Curitiba and I get to meet great people, enjoy dinner with them and just hang out till...well with the jet lag it was quite late for me. But sooo nice!
And I get to move in to the flat! How sweet can life be... by the first day, having a place and a good start to friendships.
The journey - and stop in Milano
Getting up at 5 o'clock in the morning to catch my flight to Milan. Then 12 hours in Milano - visiting in 35 degrees heat! I felt like the crazy tourist but was quite happy to manage some major attractions of the city: the splendid cathedral - Piazza Duomo - with its incredible floor and glass work, the Opera La Scala, the staring statue of Leonardo Da Vinci, Palazzo Maritimo on the Piazza de la Scala, the designer street of Monte Napoleone, the old shopping gallery Galleria Vittorio Emanuale II - where I got myself a divine espresso and tiramisu.
1: the somptuous facades of Palazze Maritimo - 2: Piazza Duomo
1: the Galleria - a wonderful thing about the layout of buldings and streets are the porches and vaults framing the townscape - 2: the staring staue of Leonardo
1: hmmmm... - 2: wow!
1: in the Duomo - 2: architectonic contrasts, between old and new in the Milanese city center
At the market hall of Mercanti I enjoyed an ice cream speaking about football and architecture and home countowns with an old football trainer who knew Michael Landerup (football connaisseurs please help me!) and who had an incredible story about why he didn't have any front teeth but I didn't quite get it, due to a lack of Italian language skills from my side. But great and fun conversation it was!
Running to Piazza Castello to visit the famous castle which was the attempt of realising the Renaissance ideals in terms of design and defense of Sforza and then try to get in to see the great masterpiece 'The Last Supper' of Leonardo Da Vinci at Piazza Santa Maria della Grazie. But sadly the visit is only on reservation and they were sold out that day. The visit of the church of the same name is though worth the tour - beautiful paintings and decorations on the walls and ceilings!
1: Milanese citybikes - 2: Reflections of Santa Maria della Grazie
In general this sunny day revealed the heavy decorated features of the city in a delightful way - the sight of Milano, and first experience of Italy, was as dolce and rich as the tiramisu, strong and quick as the espresso.
Catching then the train back to Malpensa, I got onto my plane to Sao Paulo. 12 hours later I was in Brasil - how surreal! A bit of waiting, one more hour flight and I was standing in Curitiba. Cold Curitiba, grey Curitiba, filled with this incredible sensation of both hysteric excitment and panic towards the reality of a plan, a dream, a long desired experience finally coming true.
1: the somptuous facades of Palazze Maritimo - 2: Piazza Duomo
1: the Galleria - a wonderful thing about the layout of buldings and streets are the porches and vaults framing the townscape - 2: the staring staue of Leonardo
1: hmmmm... - 2: wow!
1: in the Duomo - 2: architectonic contrasts, between old and new in the Milanese city center
Running to Piazza Castello to visit the famous castle which was the attempt of realising the Renaissance ideals in terms of design and defense of Sforza and then try to get in to see the great masterpiece 'The Last Supper' of Leonardo Da Vinci at Piazza Santa Maria della Grazie. But sadly the visit is only on reservation and they were sold out that day. The visit of the church of the same name is though worth the tour - beautiful paintings and decorations on the walls and ceilings!
1: Milanese citybikes - 2: Reflections of Santa Maria della Grazie
Catching then the train back to Malpensa, I got onto my plane to Sao Paulo. 12 hours later I was in Brasil - how surreal! A bit of waiting, one more hour flight and I was standing in Curitiba. Cold Curitiba, grey Curitiba, filled with this incredible sensation of both hysteric excitment and panic towards the reality of a plan, a dream, a long desired experience finally coming true.
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