Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo
Put 22 million people in a place and see what happens. Urban fizz pop bang.
Not somewhere I would have chosen to visit (here to see friends), but so glad I did. It is everything they (the media, my assumption) says it is, and everything they say it isn't.
It is a spectacle -the world's most built up place with an estimated 50,000 tall buildings, and absolutely mined with plurality, change and renewal. And surprisingly, so much built history.
Spot the pool party - throughout the city it's riddled with semi-secret rooftop bars, galleries, pools and lounges, some for those in the know, others as a public forum for all
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From above it all looks like a concrete, highrise morass. From below the mix of architecture is incredible. My gorgeous hosts:
Yuri -nicest, most interesting guy you'll meet. This was a social living block at one of his friends', with its rooftop bar/ lounge for the residents -there were also other lounges, other rooftop pools, games rooms, gym, BBQ space, bars, cafes, playground, gardens, self service shop, and in the Brazilian way, an instant hyper-friendly community to go with your tiny flat. Even the laundromat had a luxe balcony and views.
Back in London laying on such a place would be completely unaffordable even to the rich. -Think student halls for the middle classes, but without the middle class hangups and at a much younger age. You can have a good life out here, and don't have to be swimming in liquidity.
There's something very monumental about the quality of Sampa's buildings
And OMG the parks. They blew me away -I really thought London had the best, but its hard to compete with jungle wilderness
And everywhere, everything all at once, the city:
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The antennae on Avenida Paulista are massive (a street lined by skyscrapers 3 miles long, built on a hill so the highest spot for miles), some reducing the buildings below to mere stumps. They have a very Eiffel-esque quality in real life as they are huge, much bigger than the picture can show. Also much celebrated by the locals -lit in different colours at night and often used as viewing decks.
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