Campinas Airport - It all began in a perfect Saturday sunny morning. The small airport was calm, actually... empty. Aeroporto Viracopos - Eis o caos aéreo, milhares de pessoas invisíveis fazem fila no check in, nesta ensolarada manhã de sábado.
The problem is that the plane was coming from Rio de Janeiro and whatever comes from Rio is trouble. It came 1,5 hours late. And I was hungry with no sign of food in the boarding gate...
Curitiba downtown - As soon as we accommodated in the hotel we went downtown to hunt food. It was past 15:30.
(That's just my brother, ignore). We finally managed to have our late lunch. Really, I ate like a monster in less than 5 minutes and set a new record.
This is the famous November 15th Street, most known as Flowers Street. It's a street for pedestrians only and it's closed to vehicles.
And also the famous Avenue Palace, where they hold a Xmas show every year and all people can watch it from outside. Yeah, the building windows become the stage!
The "legendary" Positivo High School.
UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná.
A small garden in the center of the public administration district.
The Cathedral of Nossa Senhora da Luz.
The Brasiltelecom tower has a glass observation deck for views of Curitiba at 95 meters, open to visitation. It was closed when we passed there, but none of us wanted to get in that elevator anyway... =P
Oscar Niemeyer museum. It's said to be the biggest one in Brazil.
It was designed by the architect Oscar Niemeyer in 2002.
The Historic Sector holds some ruins, churchs, memorials and other historical townhouses.
On Sundays the Art and Craft's Fair takes place at Largo da Ordem in the Historic Sector.
There is also the Clock of Flowers in the center square.
Finally the parks Curitiba is famous for. There are around 30 parks within the city. This is the Botanical Garden, the trademark of Curitiba, opened in 1991.
And here we found a typical japanese tourist... Ok, it's just me being often mistaken for a japanese tourist with this outfit. I was really feeling like playing a prank on the citizens by just talking in English with a japanese accent... =P "Hi! Do you speaku Engrishu?" Really, the guys in the hotel were even asking if we spoke Portuguese... ¬.¬
The Botanical Garden is really amazing. We were lucky the weather was perfect this day. Even with 32ºC, Curitiba's weather is soft.
A kind of labirinth-shape garden seen from above the methalic structure you saw in the previous picture.
The japanese tourist is back! Does anyone know I like flowers?
The Wire Opera House (ignore my brother again =P).
Why is it called Wire Opera House? Just look at the floor. The whole structure is like that. It's cool walking looking at the floor...
The stage inside the house can accommodate 2400 spectators.
The ceiling...
The access bridge... (argh, bridge reminds me of PIN code =P)
And our shadows reflected in the lake.
Right beside the Opera House is the Paulo Leminski Quarry. It's a place for concerts, accommodating up to 50000 people standing.
And it was desert that day (Nice place for cosplaying don't you think?).
Welcome to Tangua park.
This park occupies the area of two abandoned stone quarries. Beautiful, isn't it?
My mom took this pic of me, my aunt and my brother. We went up there to appreciate the view of the other side...
...that was simply amazing.
Ok, just to remind I was there. =P
The Tingüi park. This name comes from the indians that lived in Curitiba.
This park is mostly for walking and practicing sports.
Next to Tingüi park is the Ukrainian Memorial, an interesting wooden construction.
And where there are flowers, there is me. =P And the mansions in the background... Poor millionaire people... =P
Well, I don't know what exactly means that egg... =P
More wooden constructions...
Another day, another park, the Barigüi park.
It holds bicycle paths, a place for events and snackbars.
It's December 25th, actually. And there are people here!
A yellow flower in the middle of yellow flowers. Ok, trash joke. =P
The Barigüi park is also considered Curitiba's seashore, many people like to go there to do a picnic.
It has a huge lake and leisure boats moved by pedalling (pedalinhos).
My brother took this pic... (nem o traseiro da capivara foi poupado... -_-")
The capivara eating its lunch.
Xmas Eve, we decided to take a journey through the several malls in the city. This is the Shopping Estação.
Argh, Picasa ruined the quality of this pic... -_-"
The Shopping Estação is very beautiful, the glass ceiling makes it very light up during the day.
The Shopping Estação was originally part of a railway station.
Just posing in front of the Xmas decoration. =P
The Shopping Curitiba. We also went to the Shopping Müller but it seems no one took a picture there... We just spent few minutes anyway, because the one we actually wanted to go was...
...the Shopping Parque Barigüi, the biggest one in Curitiba. Right at the entrance it looked familiar to me...
When I got inside it felt even more familiar: it's absolutely similar to Shopping Parque Dom Pedro in Campinas, same structure, same decoration, same stores. I'm pretty sure they belong to the same group. Oh yeah, look who is there, it's Santa!
Getting tired of my pics? =P Well, I didn't find interesting things to buy. I just decided that malls are the same everywhere... -_-" (e as minhas frescuras pra compras me acompanham onde quer que eu vá ¬.¬)
The Xmas decoration was very beautiful. It's wonderful in this season.
The Italian Portal to "Santa Felicidade", Curitiba's main gastronomic center. The district is a colony started by Italian immigrants, with typical houses.
It seems this restaurant got in the Guiness Book for having over 2000 customers simultaneously.
This is the land of Wine. =P
Wine...
More wine...
Be patient, it's almost ending.
Cute store!
Hey, guess! Wine!
Curitiba's Airport - another peaceful small airport. Fortunately our plane departed in the estimated time. Aeroporto Afonso Pena - Incrível, viagem sem contratempos! Deu pra passear bastante né?
We were blessed with a nice weather once again. Somewhere in Parana state from the plane's window.
Flying over the seashore of São Paulo state. We're home!
We are approaching Campinas. Doesn't it look like Google Maps? =P Well, I hope you have appreciated the pics. See you in the next trip! o/
