For my third, and final, day in Sao Paulo had some ambitious plans: I would get up early(ish), possibly head to the Modern Art Museum in the park, maybe go to Nagayama for lunch (my only regret about this trip was that I didn’t have any Japanese food), make a quick visit to the sauna, and take advantage of the 8pm closing at the Instituto Tomie Ohtake.
That ended being a bit much. The beds at the Unique are very comfortable (and the hotel even has a pillow menu), and so I barely pulled myself out of bed by 11 to make breakfast. The weekend buffet is an excellent spread, and unlike at some other places, there was no sense of being rushed out, staff gave us warning when the buffet items were being bused away, and they continued to offer coffees and juices well past time.
At that point, my natural laziness began to win, and I decided to make the most of my 3pm late checkout and spend the next 2 hours in the sauna, steam room, and pool. I realized I still had some F&B credit leftover, so had an excellent tuna not-niçoise-but-almost salad (really, the food at the hotel was extremely good), left my luggage with the hotel, and decided to take another leisurely walk through Iberapuera Park and check out the Modern Art Museum.
The park was bustling on a Saturday afternoon (why don’t I spend more time in Central Park at home?). Skateboarding is still very much a thing here; again, this made my Inner 90s Skate Betty incredibly happy. I followed the sounds of live music, and discovered there was a small band playing outside the MAM. The coolest bit is that the museum’s Louise Bourgeois Spider is visible from outside the museum, so made for a super nifty backdrop for the band. That is some fantastic integration of art and public space! There was lots and dancing, a general very good mood, and I was extremely happy I decided to just spend a leisurely afternoon wandering around rather than trying to run off and see sights.
The
MAM was fine, the café there was fine, and the little gift shop was also quite nice. (I bought some earrings by a Brazilian designer, Andrea Pronotti. (I should have gone to the
Mercadinho Chic for shopping.) I had plenty of Reales leftover, and jewelry makes for a lovely souvenir. The packaging was also lovely: a simple round box, but it nevertheless seemed very Brazilian and very modern. And the Bienale was still open, and I ended up spending another 90 minutes or so wandering around again. The Vivian Caccuri work held up to a second visit. I’m not entirely sure why Öyvind Fählstrom was so heavily represented, but I’ll spare you once again the art talk.
At that point, it was after 6 pm, leaving me with less than 3 hours. Too early to go back to the hotel and to the airport, not long enough to do much else. So I decided to walk (!) to the area around Rua Oscar Freier, possibly grab a drink at the Fasano, and just compare the other area of town I had considered staying.
The Christmas Tree by Iberapuera Park.
Google Maps quoted a walking time of about 30 minutes, which seemed fine. It was still light, there were plenty of families and people around. And while there weren’t a lot of people walking, I never felt unsafe. There’s a noticeable difference in pedestrian traffic from other cities I’ve been, but there always were a few people about, including some dog walkers and joggers. I passed through nice looking neighborhoods (there was a consulate or two), and I figured, worst case scenario, I’d call an Uber from along the way. Plus, I don’t really understand places unless I can walk them— by subway or even by car, they all seem too disjointed. I need the slowness of being powered by my own feet.
I walked by several restaurants that had been on my list of recommended places, and by the Fasano, which oozed slick luxury hotel with pretty, shiny people. The big triumph was visiting the Havaianas store, where I bought gifts for family (traveling is always the best way to take care of pesky holiday gift-giving requirements.) And then I took yet another perfect, easy, and seamless Uber back to the hotel to prepare for leaving the city.
At the hotel, I decided to enjoy one last drink at the hotel. Rather than going to the Skye bar upstairs, I stayed at the downstairs bar, which is pretty overlooked and very quiet. But it’s a pretty impressive sight, nevertheless:
I will soon wish that I had had several more caiprinhas before getting in the Uber, but that’s for the final installment of This Long Weekend in Sao Paulo.