The Plan was to Take Photos On The Way

I just got back from dinner at T.G.I. Friday's. Yes I'm in Brazil; but it was close to my hotel and the other direction from where I usually go (i.e. toward the client's office).

I decided that I would skip the "afternoon" conference session and take advantage of "the magic hour". My plan went awry in several ways. First, there weren't many interesting photos on the way. It was just another two blocks down a road with which I was already familiar (Av. Santo Amaro). Second, the real magic hour hadn't started yet. Third, Friday's was much closer than I had anticipated.

Surprised at seeing the restaurant so soon, I went in. (This happens to me a lot; I get surprised and then forget my cool plan.) They sat me upstairs by a window, so I had the whole meal to watch the light get more interesting. Luckily, it didn't look like I missed anything too spectacular. Then again, the definition of "missing something" is not seeing it -- so who knows what I missed.

Oh well. If I weren't up in the restaurant, I wouldn't have had this view of the intersection below.

Too Many Doughnuts

I went to the big mall here in São Paulo: Shopping Ibirapuera. Mostly I wanted some quick food, but being a mall rat I decided to check things out a little before I ate.

I saw suits that ranged from R$399 to R$1599.
A new base-model MacBook was R$3k
PSP Games that are $15 at Target were R$49, PS3 games were R$230

I saw a little kiosk in the middle called "Happy Donuts". I decided then that I should get some before I leave Shopping Ibirapuera.

For dinner I had some gnocchi. They kept asking me what else I wanted on it... all I wanted was some good cheese and sauce... I guess they didn't have that so they made up for it with bacon and onions and stuff. I think I was paying for 8 toppings or something, because at one point I said, "that's all" and pantomimed the best I could, but the guy said, "two more".

It was fine.

After I finished that I searched for the Happy Donuts that I had seen but lost. Eventually I found them.

I couldn't believe how hard it was to order doughnuts in another language. I think the little girl was trying to get me to buy a dozen... Any way, I ended up with almost a dozen mini filled doughnuts and two big ones. Let me tell you: Bavarian cream at Happy Donut makes me very happy. I can't wait to try the Bavarian lemon cream!

Oh, right... the point. Besides being too many doughnuts to eat comfortably, I was R$2 short of cab-fare back to the hotel. I think the guy understood when I explained that I had more money in my hotel room, because he took me back. I got some more cash and gave him a good tip.

The End