Are we really flight attendants that are working or are we 2 girls on vacation having fun experiencing the different parts of the world? We have decided to look at each work trip as a vacation!

Marianne and I started our 2 back to back trips to São Paulo on Tuesday, April 11. The trips are actually easier than working domestic flights. The passengers are generally so kind and grateful. This is a change for us. As I mentioned before, many people go to São Paulo for all types of beauty treatments. This time Marianne and I decided to have some fun with getting our hair done. Our hair stylist did not speak any English, so she had an interpreter with her the whole time. We asked if we could have our appointments together. They said yes.. no problem. First 3 1/2 hours I watched Marianne get her hair done and the next 3 1/2 hours Marianne watched me get my hair done. Our stylist was like an artist and was not going to be rushed.

Both Marianne and I were both pleased with our hair. The stylist gave us so many treatments; we couldn’t keep up. I know she wanted our hair to be hydrated!

After our Salon visit, it was late so we had a much needed glass of wine and dinner at the hotel and went to bed.

The next day we just walked around the neighborhood.

We were picked up at the hotel at 730pm to head back to the airport. It was a nice 9 hour flight back to New York arriving Friday morning at 6am.

After arriving at JFK, we needed to get to the Crashpad to get some sleep because we were flying back to São Paulo that night.

We arrived back in to São Paulo Saturday morning. We took a 2 hour nap and then we headed off to seek new adventures outside our hotel neighborhood.

Paulista Avenue

We could not believe Paulista Avenue was only 1.7 miles away from our hotel. Everyone told us to go over the bridge and keep walking straight up a hill and that’s what we did. To much of our amazement, Paulista Avenue felt similar to 5th Avenue in New York. Paulista Avenue is one of Brazil’s most famous streets, it has several museums, restaurants and lots of shopping. Paulista Avenue is closed to passage of cars on Sunday. It becomes full of vendors and lots of entertainment. We were there on Saturday and it was still fun.

Chapel of Santa Catarina

We stopped at this beautiful chapel along our walk to pray for a dear family that is close to our hearts.

After serval fun hours spent on Paulista Avenue, we started down the hill to find a restaurant to have dinner.

Monte Carlo Restaurant

We were walking down the hill through many different neighborhoods and we came across this restaurant that had a lot of local people sitting having their dinner. What a find! This restaurant was our kind of place…fun and delicious!

Our waiter did not speak English at all. He only spoke Portuguese, but what he did have was a translator on his phone. We had a chuckle when I asked for a glass with my beer and I got a wine glass. I definitely was drinking my beer with class. He was using the translator nonstop when we ordered dinner. We ordered 1 mixed meat platter and I asked for grilled onions to be included. This is what the translation came out as..

1 Mixed Meat Platter with onions and 1 Pork Sausage Platter with onions. We had enough food for an army. It was sooo delicious. We took the extra platter back to the hotel and ate it the next day on the plane. Lesson learned…we need to learn Portuguese .

We made it back to our hotel to see one of American’s finest…Jennifer Pollack. She was heading out the door to fly back to New York!

Off to bed we went, to get a good night rest! We had another day to spread our wings in São Paulo.

Good morning São Paulo. This is our view from our hotel.

We stay at the Pullman Hotel. They provide us with a complimentary breakfast buffet. It’s a great way to start our day!

After a yummy breakfast, Marianne came up with our adventure of the day. We are now ready to explore Batman Alley!

Batman Alley

Beco do Batman is an area near Vila Magdalena in São Paulo where 3 alleys meet. Every inch of wall at the dense urban crossroads is covered with graffiti and the pieces even extend down onto the sidewalks. Well known street artists from not only Brazil but all over the world are attracted to this sanctuary of graffiti and come to make their marks. The street art started in the 80s when the first drawing of superhero Batman was drawn. The art was amazing!

I definitely have a new outlook on graffiti. Not only did we see so much art, we also had fun checking out all the treasures the artists were selling.

We needed to get back to the hotel, because these two girls had to nap before working our 9 hour flight back tonight to New York. We still had more to see on our 3 mile walk back to the hotel!

We saw this beautiful church on our way back. We decided we would do Sunday Mass here on our next visit.