Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Today was another action packed day full of Adventure and Exploration.
Every day requires a nutritious breakfast, so I sought out a good one.
This stand near a park and
a Metro station got the call
A deep fried pastry shell loaded
with roast pork and cheese
was a good option
Pay no heed to those grease spots on the paper, they're an optical illusion, I'm sure.
It was delicious.
By the look of this man's nose,
he may have died of leprosy
The bust is of Dr. Luis Lázaro Zamenhoff, the inventor of the silly Esperanto language.
One of Brazil's premier soccer
club's team store
Prophetic as I was on a forced field march to Brazil's Museu do Futebol.
Tall communication's tower
We've seen a lot of these sentiments
all over South America in the last month
Colorful mini-park
A tribute to . . .
. . . the French . . .
. . . Republic
I strolled past this nice swim stadium
Home of the Museo do Futebol
Seating Capacity of 40,199
Interestingly, this stadium is also the part-time home of four Brazilian powerhouse teams.
Corinthians, Palmeiras, São Paulo and Santos all play home games here when their home field has a scheduling conflict or it is under renovation.
Happiness is the Museo do Futebol
The Museo was packed with
trivia and information
The Kaiser Cup
Sweet looking dog
Bicycles with some cool dudes
in stripped jackets on the right
Tough wearing this one with all
of the pro-Palestine sentiments
The greatest player, Pelé, performing
one of his famed bicycle kicks
Marta on the pitch
Same Pelé, same kick
"Knowledge of Brazil comes from football."
I have no clue why these two
had a picture in the Museo
Old school women's futebol
Marcos Carneiro de Mendonça
Brazil's premier Goal Keeper
from 1911-1922
Colorful outfit
The Sporting Life
Carmen Miranda made it into
the Museo, why not?
These indigenous people
made it in as well
Excellent displays everywhere
Come to Brazil in 2027 if
you like Women's Futebol
The result of the first ever
futebol game in Brazil in 1895
The Maracanã Stadium in Rio de
Janeiro can accommodate
200,000 rabid fans
The 1950 World Cup was a disaster
for heavily favored Team Brazil
All that they needed to win the World Cup under the tournament rules in those days was a win or a tie over Team Uruguay.
The game was played at the Maracanã Stadium in front of a packed house.
The scoring went from 1-0 Brazil, to a 1-1 tie and finally to a 2-1 Uruguay World Cup Championship.
A dark, sorrow filled room has a looping video of this disastrous game. Brazil is still mourning what might have been.
Brazilian Team Flags
This was an excellent museum that I highly recommend to all sports fans.
Next up was a ride to the eclectic Beco do Batman or Batman's Alley and its graffiti splashed alleyways.
It all started in the 1980s when someone illegally painted Batman on one of the neighborhood walls.
The rest is history, let's take a look at Beco do Batman artwork.
The young lady is stunning
BATMAN!
Of course there was dancing in the
streets while I was eating lunch
I ordered this traditional Brazilian
dish served only on Wednesdays
and Saturdays
Called feíjoada, it is a concoction of black beans and pork seen in the bowl in the upper left.
Of note was the oddly refreshing pink lemonade beer, a local artisanal brew that came in that colorful can.
A good lunch indeed!
Mysterious
Who does not love a toucan?
A naughty Batgirl
Commissioned by the
FitzGerald Family, I suspect
The REAL Batman!
The absolute BEST graffiti in
Beco do Batman
I felt a lot of love in the area
Aren't those mushrooms poisonous?
Isn't that The Rock?
I really liked this one
Nathan's Hot Dogs in Beco do Batman
The happy owners of this restaurante
What a face!
Damn those dragons!
What is that green monster doing?
The Beco do Batman is another great spot to visit when you come to São Paulo.
The final stop of the day was at Parque Ibirapuera.
The Parque was in a Christmas mood
But I was in the Parque to visit another museum.
African Brazil Culture on display
Like in the USA, Brazil imported slaves from Africa until this terrible system was outlawed here in 1888.
The African culture's influence on current day Brazil is both obvious and awesome!
I'm big on colors
Rasta Truck
I liked those mini-churches on top
Three heads, one snake
It makes perfect sense to me.
Contortionist
All about the Women
Jobu?
Brazilian L.A. Rams fan?
How did St. George and the
Dragon get in here?
Love the dresses
Another fine museum, I had three fun Adventures to be sure today and did a lot of walking yet again.
Now THAT's a park bench!
The Monumento às Bandeiras
greeting you at Parque Ibirapuera
Controversial, it commemorates the 17th-century settling expeditions into the interior of Brazil and has stood on this spot since 1954.
The controversy stems from the fact that the bandierantes, as these settlers were called, killed and enslaved many of the indigenous people whose land they coveted.
Sounds familiar.
There are regular acts of vandalism with red paint covering this epic statue signifying the blood on the long ago bandierantes' hands.
It was time for a late night snack, so I headed around the corner to the Estadão Bar & Lanches for the third time this week for another one of their amazing pernil sandwiches.
Rogue bikers got there before me
Their funky shorts and helmets intimidated everyone in the bar but I fought through my fear.
I needed another roast pork sandwich smothered in tasty mustard and I would not be denied!
It was good.
Another great day of exercise, now
if I could just keep this up at home
All good things must come to an end and this trip to the Southern Hemisphere's biggest city has indeed been spectacular.
The long trip home to Camarillo starts Thursday night and will last for about 17 hours including a short layover in Santiago de Chile before changing planes.