Day 63 - São Paulo (Part 2)

Wednesday, 15 October 2014

I remember my father telling me a long time ago that God keeps an eye out for those who are visiting Him, so if I am going to the temple, no matter how late at night, I will be safe, no accidents, no muggings, nothing untoward would happen. Of course this is nonsense but nevertheless it gives me comfort to think that God is protecting me, and as I retraced my steps to Sala São Paulo, I thought about my father's words, and hoped that my Elephant Sami would pass the message to the Lord Jesus Christ. I think He did, and nonsense or otherwise, there may be truth in what my father said because nothing untoward has happened whenever I go to and come back from the temple, including today.

I asked a Guarda Civil (which I assume is a civil guard, and which is different from the police as their uniforms differ) for directions and then walked to the Santa Ifigênia church. The church was built in 1910 to replace the demolished colonial-period chapel, Capela de Noosa Senhora da Conceição. After its construction, Santa Ifigênia served as the city's temporary cathedral while Catedral da Sé was being built. On the way to the church, I noticed many music, electrical and electronics shops. Many of these shops were blasting away Latino music. If I wasn't feeling heavy headed, I would've danced on the streets. Just kidding.

Then I walked back to Sala São Paulo (this was my temporary landmark) and made my way to the Luz Railway Station or Estação da Luz, which was modelled after Victorian-era railway stations in England. This railway station originally linked the São Paulo region with the coast. It was completed in 1901 and was a symbol of both the prosperous coffee industry and the industrialisation of Brazil. The edifice was designed by the British architect, Charles Henry Driver, with all of its building materials also coming from England. Decades after its construction, the building fell into disrepair only to be restored and reopened in 2004 for the 450th anniversary of the city of São Paulo. The reinvented building now functions only as a local railway station, but also houses a small museum, Museu da Língua Portuguesa, dedicated to the Portuguese language and its evolution since ancient times.

Just behind the Luz Railway Station is the Parque Da Luz, a small park which I just walked past without entering. By the way, 'pintu' and 'keju' are Portugese words, and have the same meaning in Malay. In Spanish, cheese is 'queso'. Keju, queso, cheese. They all sound suspiciously similar to me. I'm sure a linguist will tell us that the word originated from a common ancestor, most probably Latin or Greek. I just combined Darwinism and linguistics. I am a bit mad today, I know. I blame it on the yellow phlegm.

Next on my list of places to visit was the Sao Bento Basilica. On my way, to my horror, I saw the Santa Ifigênia church again across the road! Which means I just walked around in a big circle! But that is the problem with having a map with no street names. The Sao Bento Basilica is a beautiful church with amazing architecture, but to me the best thing about this church was the enormous organ that was at the altar, this organ apparently houses 6000 sound pipes. From the Sao Bento area onwards, there were pedestrian walkways with cobbled stone-like streets.