A Helping Angel - São Paulo

São Paulo, Brazil

“Amore, you have to wear long pants! The restaurant has a dress code.” I was looking in horror at Umberto who, after a shower, had changed into another pair of shorts. 

“No”, was the unambiguous monosyllabic answer.

“Come on! It’s written clearly on the confirmation email,” I begged. 

“No.”

“They might not let us enter.”

I was getting desperate. It was our last evening in São Paulo and I had made reservations at Terraço Itália. It’s an upscale bar & restaurant on the 42nd floor of a 46-story skyscraper, and is famous for spectacular 360-degree views of the city. This was supposed to be a romantic finale to the Brazilian leg of our tour. 

“No. I’m Italian, you know, we have ways to make things happen,” was the cocky reply.

I sighed and shut up. I know my husband well enough. It was not worth it to try and argue my case. For him, tropical weather means wearing shorts. Period. Annoyed, I put on my lip gloss and grabbed my handbag. We took the elevator to the hotel reception. Our taxi was already waiting.

“Besides, if it’s a problem we can always go and buy me another pair of pants. Just like we did in Bangkok,” Umberto cut the silence. 

“Yeah, right,” I thought inside my head but didn’t say anything. It was 9pm and we were on our way to a central district in São Paulo, not exactly like a street market in Thailand. 

We arrived at the Edifício Itália skyscraper surprisingly quickly. The security guards at the entrance were polite and we took the first elevator. Umberto did not realize we had to take a second one to arrive at the 42nd floor.

“See, you worry too much,” he said triumphantly. “Tutto si sistema!”

Tutto si sistema. It took me a few years in Italy to grasp the deeper meaning of that expression so full of Italian soul. It’s quite close to “it’s going to work out all right”, but not exactly. I would describe it as unwavering faith in finding solutions, which can also be quite creative, no matter what happens. 

“Famous last words,” I thought but still kept quiet as the elevator stopped. The doors opened and we encountered a grumpy-looking security guard. He took one quick look at Umberto’s bare legs, said one sentence with a militant voice and ordered us an elevator to go back down to the street level. 

My Portuguese was elementary, but good enough to understand this. 

“What did he say?” Umberto enquired. 

“That would be a NO. Not without long pants,” I did not hide my annoyance any more.  

“Don’t worry, we’ll go and buy something,” said Umberto, the eternal optimist.

Back at street level, I had to engage in a more elaborate Portuguese conversation with the security guards. Luckily, the tropical language is very close to Italian and I can improvise. Not that it helped much. We were not in a shopping district and it was so late that everything was closed anyway. Our romantic panoramic dinner seemed doomed.

I was swallowing tears when a young lady walked out of the elevator. She looked at my distraught face, then at Umberto’s hairy legs. She did not need to be a psychic to figure out what was going on.

“Good evening! You have reservations at the restaurant?” She inquired joyfully. All I could manage was a resigned nod. 

“Come with me,” she gestured and took us back to the elevator. 

We met the grumpy militant again but this time, our lovely helper was in charge. She took us to an adjacent hall and told us to wait for a moment. Umberto did not have a clue of what was going on. 

“Amore, she’s going to find you a pair of long pants.”

A couple of minutes later, she was back, with her sweet smile and a pair of huge black pants. She handed them to Umberto and told him to wear them over his shorts. He did. The result was so bulky that he looked like a clown. We started to giggle hysterically. 

Here’s Umberto, putting on the loan pants, on top of his shorts.

Umberto in front of the Edifício Itália skyscraper, earlier in the day.

On our way up, Umberto wanted to give the girl a generous tip. I told him no, I had a feeling she was helping us from her good heart. I was right, she refused the money. She left us at the 42nd floor restaurant front desk, wishing us a wonderful dinner. And saying that Umberto could leave the pants with the hostess at the end of the evening.

We had a fabulous time! The experience was even more beautiful and romantic than I had planned. The restaurant did indeed have unforgettable views of São Paulo, and the service was impeccable. After dinner, we stayed at the bar for a moment, admiring the unbelievable cityscape beneath our eyes. This was one of the largest cities in the world, with over 12 million inhabitants, and around 23 million in the metropolitan area. 

On our way out, we left the famous pants at the front desk. I also wanted to leave a thank you note for our helping angel but, alas, I had forgotten her name and the hostesses had changed shifts. I do hope she understood how much we appreciated her kindness.

I ordered a taxi to go back to the hotel. 

“What a fabulous evening,” I said to Umberto, dreamily.  We were sitting at the back of the cab. Umberto put his arm around me and smiled, victoriously: 

“I told you, you worry too much. Tutto si sistema!”

*****

The panoramic view was so amazing that we stayed for a while at the bar after dinner.

Our waiter at Terraço Itália put real effort into taking photos of us!

Our São Paulo favorites

We stayed at Radisson Pinheiros, a comfortable and friendly hotel in the leafy Pinheiros neighborhood. The area is pedestrian-friendly, relatively safe and has a great culinary scene.

Terraço Itália‍ - definitely one of the most memorable dinners of my life, thanks to the panoramic views … and the pants!

To explore the historic city center, we took The Original Old Downtown Free Walking Tour. Very informative and entertaining, the guide told us fascinating facts and stories. The Guru Walks are free tours where booking is free of charge, and you decide how much you want to pay at the end of the experience. We’ve been using the service on several continents and have been happy.

MASP - The São Paulo Museum of Art. The building itself is a symbol of modern Brazilian architecture. It houses the largest collection of Western art in Latin America, plus an important collection of Brazilian art and interesting temporary exhibitions. I loved the way the permanent collection was displayed in glass stands. The name of each piece and artist was written on the back, enabling the visitor to enjoy and evaluate each painting without first being told who - famous or not - painted it.

Ponto Chic is where the famous “Bauru” sandwich was created in 1937. It’s a crusty French roll filled with roast beef, melted mozzarella cheese, sliced tomatoes, and pickled cucumbers. The sandwich was really delicious! I was not surprised to discover is now officially considered a part of São Paulo's cultural heritage.

Bovinu'S Churrascaria Rebouças. Our visit would have been incomplete without dining at a Churrascaria. That’s a Brazilian restaurant where you first help yourself to a starter & salad bar. Waiters then walk around with different barbecued meats and serve them directly to your plate. The food keeps coming until you turn your table’s traffic light indicator to red. This Churrascaria, a couple of blocks from our hotel, was very good. As you can imagine, it was not exactly a light dinner. We were not able to have breakfast or lunch the next day!

At the Churrascaria, early in the evening. At that point, we had just enjoyed some salad and the waiters began to serve our table.

Umbe is about to taste the famous “Bauru” sandwich at Ponto Chic. It was delicious!

I loved the glass displays at MASP’s permanent collection, enabling you to enjoy art without being biased by famous names as a starting point.

This art museum was one of my favorite experiences in São Paulo.