Avenida Paulista, São Paulo

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If you take your time to walk Avenida Paulista, the financial hub of Sao Paulo, you'll notice there are no shortage of sights, sounds, smells and sensory overload.

There are places where artisans are selling their paintings, sculptures and crafts. These are often by the sides of the green space park plazas. The buildings are built with many different architectural styles. There are many restaurants, stores and boutiques selling all international options.

But in my opinion, one of the coolest things about Avenida Paulista is the random street art and creative decorations.

For example, spanning nearly the entire length of the Avenida, almost all of the public phone booths are functional pieces of art. For example, the 'brain' by the metro exit.

(photo: not in Ave Paulista, but most new buildings look just like this!)

This is the main 'new downtown', one of the many new downtowns in Sao Paulo! AP is also the Wall Street of south America, with all the crazy finance and corporations located here. It was also the only ATM haven I could find in the city--I didn't even bother cashing my traveller's checks. (I had an embarrassing episode when I got stuck in a revolving bulletproof glass door and an armed security guard screamed at me in Portuguese, but Fabiola saved my butt and explained I was just a dumb tourist)

Cris, Tom's comic book drawing goddess friend, drove me around and told me how all these mammoth giant gray skyscrapers were just starting 15 years ago. all the highways and buildings sprang up so fast! just like that.

There's a most beautiful park across the street from MASP, walled and forested with pretty leafy trees and cobblestoned paths where you can eat your yummy Brasilian hot dogs.There were lots of skimpily dressed men walking around and smiling, whichI wrote off to my awful horny imagination. Later on a friend's aunt told me the park was 'horribly dangerous!' for young girls and 'full of gays!' so I guess it was a big cruising spot!

one of the guys in the park rushed up to me and squealed, 'You're filipino! I LOVE MANILA!' and gave me his phone number, which made me happy in a weird way.

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Located on Avenida Paulista in the Jardim Paulista district, Parque Trianon is a tropical jungle within a concrete jungle. The botanical park was designed in 1892 by the French landscape architect Paul Villon and planted with local tropical plants. In 1968, it received a facelift when Roberto Burle Marx, famous for designing Rio de Janeiro's beachfront pavements, renovated the park. Fortunately, the park survived the transformation of the district from a residential neighbourhood to a business centre with skyscraper. Its location amid the towers is an astonishing contrast. Walking through the park, one forgets the surrounding urban hustle and bustle of São Paulo. Parque Trianon offers a nice respite from the city's chaos, but as everywhere in São Paulo, one must exercise caution when walking through the park, especially in late afternoons.

Visit the Paulista Avenue, especialy MASP(são paulo art museum). The Copan building in the city centre, the Sé Cathedral, the Ibirapuera Park, the Ipiranga Museum, the Teatro Municipal, etc
Many museums, dozens of beautiful parks, hundreds of historicaly important buildings and an extraordinary cultural life

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Built in 1970 on one of the highest points in São Paulo, Edifício Gazeta is the headquarters of the local media company: A Gazeta. The rather unattractive structure is recognisable by the concrete entrance inscribed with GAZETA, and by the oversized antenna topping the building (added in 1983). Despite its lack of aesthetics, this building has become a landmark on Avenida Paulista.

A landmark on Avenida Paulista, the FIESP building (short for Federação das Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo) is an interesting example of what architects could produce from concrete. The sloping façade was the creation of architects Luís Roberto de Carvalho Franco and Roberto Cerqueira César who designed the building in 1969. It houses the Centro Cultural Fiesp which contains an art gallery and a theatre.

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The street sellers are popular in several places like in the big "Avenida Paulista". But in the old city center the streets are crowd of them ( called Camelô) and we can buy almost everything but sometimes this is disturbed by the police.....