Sao Paulo to Zurich

Our flight from Sao Paulo to Zurich via Paris with TAM and Air France.
Thanks for reading this blog from our South America trip! Happy
holidays, Reto & Andrea

Sao Paulo

We are soon at home and wish you a Merry Christmas!

Sao Paulo

Pimping ourselves up for seeing our families and friends back in
Switzerland tomorrow

Sao Paulo

Fancy lamp at design store

Sao Paulo

Breakfast buffet at the Jardin restaurant of Renaissance Hotel Sao
Paulo. The staff was friendly and allowed us to do a late checkout at
4pm.

Sao Paulo

The old shoes go, the new ones are ready to be packed for travel home

Sao Paulo

Having our last delicious beef dinner at Rodeio restaurant in Sao Paulo

Sao Paulo

Reto feeling relaxed after the spa and free massage at Renaissance Hotel

Sao Paulo

A car full of bears at Ciudade Jardim shopping mall

Sao Paulo

Brazilian band at Paulista Galeria shopping mall

Sao Paulo

Shopping street by night

Sao Paulo

And Reto bought new Timberland shoes! Bye bye sneakers!

Sao Paulo

Reto feeling very happy in new pants from Hugo Boss - after spending
the last 6 weeks in the same pair of pants

Sao Paulo

Having a free Nespresso (what else?) in the American Express VIP
lounge at Iguatemi shopping mall

Sao Paulo

Reto in front of Iguatemi shopping mall, with giant Santa and giant
Labrador

Sao Paulo

We get inspired for Christmas shopping on our way to mall

Sao Paulo

In the morning, we walked through Paulista area searching for the
"Iguatemi" shopping mall, which Laura and Eduardo suggested last night
during dinner

Sao Paulo

Reto falling asleep in a sea of pillows :-)

Sao Paulo

Reto waking up in a sea of pillows :-)

Sao Paulo

The view on a cloudy day from the 12th floor of Renaissance Hotel in
Sao Paulo

Sao Paulo

At 11am we left Ilhabela, returned our rental car at 5pm in Sao Paulo,
and were exhausted when we got to the Renaissance Hotel (a chain of
Marriott) at 6pm

Sao Paulo

Driving into Sao Paulo we faced a lot of traffic - but also the
beach :-)

Ilhabela to Sao Paulo

Taking the ferry from Ilhabela to Sao Sebastiao

Ilhabela

Christmas decoration at town of Villa on Ilhabela

Ilhabela

Nice view from our dinner table

Ilhabela

Having dinner next to an orchid

Ilhabela

Nice view at Restaurant Nueva Iork'i

Ilhabela

The Statue of Liberty in the very south of Ilhabela. Here, the paved
road switches to gravel road

Ilhabela

Andrea and Reto in the very south of the island, where we later had
dinner

Ilhabela

To the left is the island, to the right is the mainland, in the middle
is a cruise ship

Ilhabela

View from a restaurant in the north of Ilhabela

Ilhabela

The coastline of the northwest

Ilhabela

Our drive to the beautiful north side of the island

Ilhabela

Andrea feeling fresh after manicure and pedicure :-)

Ilhabela

The hotel Real Villa Bella

Ilhabela

A whole day of sports! Figuring out how the hometrainer works :-)

Ilhabela

A great tennis lesson at a cloudy but hot day

Ilhabela

Amdrea and Reto playing tennis at Real Villa Bella

Ilhabela

Delicious breakfast buffet at Real Villa Bella hotel

Ilhabela

The breakfast room

Ilhabela

Andrea enjoying a Caipirina in the small village of Villa on Ilhabela
island

Ilhabela

The rainy weather on Ilhabela forced us to take a hotel room instead
of camping. We chose the "Real Villa Bella" because the staff was
nice, the room was clean with a garden view, and facilities included
swimming pool, tennis court, bicycles for free.

Ilhabela

On the ferry from Sao Sebastiao to Ilhabela island

Sao Paulo to Sao Sebastiao

Having lunch at Maresias Beach Hotel" in Maresias

Sao Paulo to Sao Sebastiao

Singing songs along the way :-)

Sao Paulo to Sao Sebastiao

What a crazy road that was! 25km steep downhill, 2 lanes and lots of
trucks!

Sao Paulo to Sao Sebastiao

Our Hertz rental car

Sao Paulo

By mistake we rented our car in Sao Bernardo, at a shopping center 45
minutes south of Sao Paulo. Our taxi driver got lost - total chaos.
Finally we found it!

Sao Paulo

Arriving in Sao Paulo on time after 15 hrs. The seats of Pluma bus
were comfortable, only 1 stop at 10pm where we were forced to leave
the bus. The only negative thing was that the driving was too fast at
night through some winding roads.

Foz de Iguacu to Sao Paulo

So far so good with "Pluma International", our first impression was
good. We booked the more expensive cama suite, or "leito" how they
call it in Brazil, which left Foz de Iguacu at 18:00. No food is
served, approx 24 seats, only one deck, no leather seats, clean sealed
blanket and pillow, intermediate legroom.