Nice Day


Good luck. It was rainy and dreary for the past five days, but today it is partly sunny, so it was a joy to walk around. Better save the nice days for weekends. As I mentioned in earlier posts, my walk home from the Consulate was not pleasant. Rua Santo Amaro is one of the least attractive major streets in São Paulo. It is my misfortune that it is the most direct route from where I am to where I want to be on weekdays.
However, not far from the ugly street are some very nice ones. Today I walked up and down Avenida Juscelino Kubitschek. Juscelino is the Brazilian president that caused Brasilia to finally be built and in many ways is the father of modern Brazil. If you notice the use of the first name, this is an important convention in Brazil. People are called by their first names. If you go to an event where your name is listed in alphabetical order, you will find it by your first name. If you are taking a taxi to a restaurant on Avenida Juscelino Kubitschek, the driver will more quickly understand you if you say Avenida Juscelino that if you default to the last name, although in the case of so famous a man it would not create confusion. Notice in the picture on the street sign which name is most prominent

I will generally let the pictures of speak for themselves, since I don’t know any more about them than you do by looking at them, but I will point out a couple of things to notice. I have a picture of a bike trail. New major streets feature bike trails. It is a brave rider indeed who rides traffic, but if you are near the trails, you are reasonably safe. I also included a picture of a foot bridge. Notice how they have cut holes in the bride to preserve the trees – a nice touch.