Sites Seen

I'm going to be head-over-heels busy this year so fortunately/unfortunately my new city has little to offer in terms of true tourist draws.

Bem-vindo á Campinas!
Notice the churrascaria at the bottom?  Brazilians love their meat!

Jockey Club building.
It is located in the Centro district near some popular night spots and
a plaza with a statue in honor of Carlos Gomes, a famous opera
composer from the 1800's and native son to the city.
Also, it is blue.

The Municipal Market: a good place to get fresh produce, meats, and
other possibly off-the-back-of-a-truck consumer items.

Officially known as Parque Portugal, most residents
call it Taquaral, after the lake at the center.  This is a
good-sized park, which I have adopted as my main
running area.  Nice wide dirt paths around the lake,
coupled with good lighting at night and lots of
fellow runners, makes this a great place to work out.
There are also swan paddle boats (seen pictured at
the lower left) as well as caged peacocks and herds
 of loose feral cats (not pictured).

And that basically concludes the city tour!   There are several sites of interest a short drive outside Campinas, but there is a clear reason the city appears no where in the most recent edition of The Lonely Planet: Brazil.

Regardless, I am living in one of the more interesting and vibrant neighborhoods, full of boutiques, cafés, bakeries, markets, restaurants - Japanese, Argentine, Italian, German - and parks, so having an interesting social life is within walking distance at all times.

Stay tuned...