Tuesday:
I walked down the winding cobblestone Santa Teresa streets to Central to meet an architect contact, Pablo Souto. We ate brunch at Confeitaria Colombo, an amazing cafe, bar and restaurant that was established in 1894! It is such a beautiful place and incredible that it's still completely intact and operating. We ate a lot of pastries. I ordered a 'Colombo Cappuccino' which turned out to be espresso, chocolate, topped with a large portion of Chantilly cream, sprinkled with cinnamon. Not quite what I was expecting and super sweet but... wow. We spent about 3h there talking architecture. Afterwards we visited a unique cafe that Pablo had built the furniture for; Curto Cafe. They started in a tiny nook in the shopping centre about 1.5mx1.5m and had the concept of not setting prices for the coffee but they have a chart showing their expenses on the wall and people pay what they wish. It became so popular that the shopping centre management gave them a bigger area to set up in. When we went there it was crazy busy with people standing everywhere. The barista would just call out - "how many for latte??" and people would raise their hands, and he would make those 8 lattes. And then he'd move onto the next type. Profits, expenses, number of quantities of coffees made were all charted on the wall and there was a table in the centre with a bowl where you put money.
We visited the Sao Sebastiao cathedral which looks really strange from the outside but is really amazing inside.
Afterwards we walked to a street where there's a lot of antique furniture shops. Have decided to buy an old colonial house and stay here. Jks. But seriously.
Wednesday:
I went walking around Central with my French brothers. We visited a lot of churches and libraries. A lot. My favourite was the Real Portugues Gabinete de Leitura. It contained old Portuguese books about 500 years old. In the evening we bought some Caracha and made Caipirinhas. The boys even cooked dinner. Then we went out to a candelit local bar with live acoustic music, which was very beautiful. We eventually had to leave when they closed around 230am!
Thursday:
Had a bit of a lazy day. My French brothers left :( But in the late afternoon I visited the Cristo Redentor! It was quite expensive to visit. I took the tram up to the peak through the rainforest. The sun was starting to set behind the statue when I got there. I actually think the statue is more impressive from a distance looming over the City rather than up close where you can't really comprehend the scale, and have to crane your neck to see it all. The view was amazing though. But of course, lots of people around taking photos. No where near as busy as earlier during the day though; I was on the last tram up for the day.
Friday:
I've eaten breakfast and written this blog... should probably go out for a walk!
Amiee x
I walked down the winding cobblestone Santa Teresa streets to Central to meet an architect contact, Pablo Souto. We ate brunch at Confeitaria Colombo, an amazing cafe, bar and restaurant that was established in 1894! It is such a beautiful place and incredible that it's still completely intact and operating. We ate a lot of pastries. I ordered a 'Colombo Cappuccino' which turned out to be espresso, chocolate, topped with a large portion of Chantilly cream, sprinkled with cinnamon. Not quite what I was expecting and super sweet but... wow. We spent about 3h there talking architecture. Afterwards we visited a unique cafe that Pablo had built the furniture for; Curto Cafe. They started in a tiny nook in the shopping centre about 1.5mx1.5m and had the concept of not setting prices for the coffee but they have a chart showing their expenses on the wall and people pay what they wish. It became so popular that the shopping centre management gave them a bigger area to set up in. When we went there it was crazy busy with people standing everywhere. The barista would just call out - "how many for latte??" and people would raise their hands, and he would make those 8 lattes. And then he'd move onto the next type. Profits, expenses, number of quantities of coffees made were all charted on the wall and there was a table in the centre with a bowl where you put money.
We visited the Sao Sebastiao cathedral which looks really strange from the outside but is really amazing inside.
Afterwards we walked to a street where there's a lot of antique furniture shops. Have decided to buy an old colonial house and stay here. Jks. But seriously.
Wednesday:
I went walking around Central with my French brothers. We visited a lot of churches and libraries. A lot. My favourite was the Real Portugues Gabinete de Leitura. It contained old Portuguese books about 500 years old. In the evening we bought some Caracha and made Caipirinhas. The boys even cooked dinner. Then we went out to a candelit local bar with live acoustic music, which was very beautiful. We eventually had to leave when they closed around 230am!
Thursday:
Had a bit of a lazy day. My French brothers left :( But in the late afternoon I visited the Cristo Redentor! It was quite expensive to visit. I took the tram up to the peak through the rainforest. The sun was starting to set behind the statue when I got there. I actually think the statue is more impressive from a distance looming over the City rather than up close where you can't really comprehend the scale, and have to crane your neck to see it all. The view was amazing though. But of course, lots of people around taking photos. No where near as busy as earlier during the day though; I was on the last tram up for the day.
Friday:
I've eaten breakfast and written this blog... should probably go out for a walk!
Amiee x
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