Author: marionvermazen

I am a traveler, hiker, avid reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, Spanish and French language student, knitter and genealogist. I am retired after working for almost 30 years in the Computer Industry. I live in Reno, Nevada with my husband Duke.

São Paulo

We are staying at the Meliã Paulista in São Paulo. We had a good breakfast there this morning. I have never seen corn on the cob on a breakfast buffet before.

Part of the breakfast buffet

São Paulo is one of the biggest cities in the world. According to Google the only cities bigger are in Asia.

The view from our hotel room.

São Paulo is on the Tropic of Cancer. Spring is starting here. The weather has been hot. We walked about a mile down Avenida Paulista to the SESC building. they have a free viewing platform on the roof. Along the way we walked through Trianon Park.

Trianon Park

We had to wait a while to get tickets to go up the SESC building. They had a nice air conditioned lounge with free wifi for us to to wait in.

SESC waiting area
View from the top of the SESC building
Us on the viewing platform.

On our way back from the hotel we stopped at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP).

São Paulo Art Museum

The art work is displayed on crystal easels with the descriptions on the back.

Inside the MASP
Renoir paintings
Back of the painting of the two little girls
Hieronymus Bosch painting

Tonight we went to a show at a jazz club called JazzB. The group played mainly tango music. We had a fun evening.

JazzB club
The show at JazzB
Our dinner

Reno to São Paulo, Brazil – The start of another adventure

Duke and I are at the start of a seven week adventure. Tuesday morning we got our Covid shots and Tuesday evening we flew to Oakland. We spent Tuesday night in Walnut Creek with Allison, Doug and two of our grandchildren.

Off to school

Wednesday morning Doug dropped us at BART. We took BART to San Francisco Airport and then flew to Atlanta. After a short layover we took a ten hour overnight flight from Atlanta to São Paulo, Brazil.

We were dropped off at BART
Knitting on the plane to Atlanta
Ready for dinner after leaving Atlanta
Sunrise over Brazil

In São Paulo we took a taxi to our hotel. Traffic was really bad. The taxi ride took about an hour and cost $37.

We had a couple of hours to wait for our room to be ready so we went for a walk and had coffee.

The street outside our hotel
Coffee

Once we checked in we slept for about three hours and felt much better. Duke had bought tickets to a Marvin Gay tribute concert put on by Mark Lambert at the Blue Note Jazz club near our hotel. We had a great dinner and enjoyef wonderful music. I feel like we are aleady in the travel groove!

At the Blue Note

Copenhagen to home

Yesterday was a very long day. All went according to plan.

In the morning in Copenhagen we had an excellent breakfast at our hotel. Now we are back to reality! No more hotel breakfasts. No more European croissants.

Breakfast at our hotel.

After breakfast we went for a walk in the Christianshaven neighborhood around the hotel.

Church of Our Saviour
Enjoying a bench on our walk.
Outside Freetown Christiania.

Around noon we checked out and took the metro to the airport. Our Premium plus tickets included lounge access so we enjoyed the SAS lounge and then caught our plane to San Francisco.

In the SAS lounge in Copenhagen.

In San Francisco we took BART to Walnut Creek picked up our car and drove home to Reno.

It was a wonderful trip and we both had a great time. Thanks to Roger and Gayle and Rick and Elaine for sharing it with us. After 57 days, 41 hotels, 4 rental cars, 8 flights and 7 countries it is great to be home.

Our backyard this morning.

Prague to Copenhagen

Yesterday we looked at our options for the easiest and best way to get to the airport in Prague. And then Duke discovered that in Prague if you are over 70 you can ride the metro for free. So the decision was made! This morning we caught the metro and then a connecting bus to the Prague Airport. The whole trip was very easy!

On the metro
Waiting for the airport bus.

The flight was about 90 minutes and uneventful. In Copenhagen the public transit is fantastic and in less than 45 minutes we were at our hotel.

On the metro in Copenhagen.
The view as we walking to our hotel.

When we were in Copenhagen a couple of months ago we paid about $60 for 2 glasses of wine and a bowl of nuts. I check the bar menu as Duke was checking in. A hamburger costs $40. So for dinner tonight we decided to picnic in our room. We went to the grocery store and bought wine, bread, cheese and pâté. We had a fantastic dinner.

Pâté choices at the grocery store.
Walking back from the grocery store.
Our picnic dinner.

Prague

This morning we did the Rick Steves walking tour of Prague.

We started in Wenceslas Square.
This is the statue of King Wenceslas.
I detoured to a couple of toy store that weren’t on the tour.
I liked this Transformer
Another store had 100s of different puppets.
Another puppet
Last Sunday (western Easter) and today (orthodox Easter) we saw lots of people carrying Easter baskets with beautifully embroidered covers.

Our walk ended at the Charles Bridge over the Vlatava River. You can see Prague castle in the distance.

Charles Bridge

After the tour we sat in the main square and had beers.

Beers after our walk.
And then we shared a tunnel cake hot off the grill