Every spring brings a spring break. And my birthday. And for these occasions, I like to travel. This year, we managed to get award tickets to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro on American Airlines. Thanks, American!

We took a bus from the Airport in Sao Paulo and we quickly saw what this country is all about: Soccer. But we also saw the first "favelas", where the poorest of the poor live.

A typical snack-bar that offers tropical fruit juices, sandwiches, and, of course, cerveja (beer).

The city of Sao Paulo greeted us with rain. But it was warm and we had much fun discovering that exciting place.

Many Brazilians make their money selling stuff on the street or providing services such as shining shoes.

We lived close to the Republica Metro station. Republica also has a nice green park - although I would not want to stroll there at night.

View from the "Edificio Italia" over Sao Paulo. What a city! But 11 million people have to live somewhere...

A closer look.

We saw many homeless people, and it was no rare to see them sleeping in the middle of the day, in central streets and places.

The cathedral of Sao Paulo and the busy Praca da Se.

The Praca was filled with musicians, vendors, tourists, and even barbers.

The telephones in Brazil look very cool and offer protection from hot sun and wet rain.

Another shopping street. Notice the piles of CDs and DVDs for sale on the floor. 3 for 10 reais (5 USD).

Brazilians like their little snack bars. I liked them a lot for their atmosphere and for the cheap (salty, fatty) food and drink... but after 10 days I was craving REAL food.

Sao Paulo also has its Chinatown - although most of the people there were Japanese. When I saw the soba noodles in the shelves of the stores, I was immeditaly reminded of my trip to Japan last year.

Like in many other cities, a cemetery offers a quiet place to rest and reflect...

...before heading back into the busy streets. Here the Av Paulista with all its office buildings.

A typical juice bar with delicious drinks. Tropical juices come in a large number of variations, including versions with milk.

Many people make their living as walking billboards. This man sits in front of an employment agency and has dozens of job posts on his blue plastic cape.

Sao Paulo does not have its own beaches. To experience the famous Brazilian beach life, we flew to Rio de Janeiro, just one hour to the East. And this is where our hotel was: Ipanema Beach.

Police and security guards are everywhere, which made us feel pretty safe. These guys are lucky enough to guard the beach with all the...

...hot girls and guys.

Ipanema beach with two impressive sugar loaf - shaped mountains.

If the beach doesn't offer what you are looking for, just follow this walking sign.

Next to Ipanema beach is Copacabana beach. The beachfront is formed by not very attractive hotels - except this one: Copacabana Palace.

The touristy beaches have their own bars that offer shade and cool drinks. Be it a freshly-cut coconut, a Brahma beer, or a Caipirinha.

Copacabana Beach with the famous Sugarloaf Mountain in the background.

For a white person like myself, it is impossible to stay at the hot beach for more than a few hours. And I would get bored anyway. So we explored the many different faces of Rio. Many areas have majestic buildings from colonial times...

...but much of that glamour has faded.

The Arcos de Lapa. The old and famous streetcar "bonde" usually runs on this viaduct - but the operators had been on strike for several months...

...and the bonde sat still in its depot.

The modern Cathedral of Rio - inaugurated in 1976 :)

Directly outside of the Cathedral, there is a school. Of course with soccer-playing kids.

But not everybody is allowed to play... Note the white-and-orange T-shirts, which are part of the school uniform in Rio. They also sell at various clothing stores for about USD 2.50.

That's where we got some shirts as a souvenir. An incredibly busy shopping district called Saara.

Brazil's national colors green and yellow are everywhere. As are the "dental floss" bikinis (and we really saw people wearing them at the beach!).

The Lapa district is famous for its Samba bars. We planned to go to the most famous one but were repelled by the long line of tourists waiting to get in for USD10. That can't be authentic. So we sat in a nearby cafe with its own samba music. And had "saved" enough money to drink a couple of "Bavarian" beers.

These furry fellows (I still don't know who or what they are) had a good time in one of the green city parks.

Carioca Metro station downtown.

The main square of Rio is Praca Floriano with several majestic old buildings.

We thought we could use a break from the city and went on a ferry trip to the Ilha de Paqueta, a popular spot for local tourists.

Fisherboys in the waters around the island.

The island church greets travelers who are arriving by ferry.

The island does not have any cars - only bikes (and a garbage truck). We walked to a beautiful park at one end of the island. Rio with its many mountains is at the Horizon.

Fisherboat.

A colorful reminder of old times.

Many large ships are parked in the waters outside of Rio. The famous sugarloaf mountain is visible in the background.

We decided that the next day would be good to be very touristy - and visit the Pao de Acucar (sugarloaf mountain). Although the mountain is not THAT high, it offers stunning views of the city. It's well worth the 35 reais.

Copacabana beach.

Centro (Downtown)

The favelas seem to climb up the mountains - poor people build these little homes in steep areas that are unsuitable for "real" houses.

A closer look.

Jesus watches over the city.

No, not the Amazon rain forest. But a little glimpse of the rich green that covers so much of Brazil.

The Pao de Acucar attracts tons of tourists and school classes. Some with quite modern equipment :)

We did not take the cable car back down but found a nice trail through the forest. At the end of that trail, we discovered the beautiful beach of Praia Vermelha.

The sun was too hot to walk around, and we decided to take another short ferry trip to Niteroi.

Rio has an amazing bus system. We never waited more than 3 minutes, and many buses had airconditioning (Air Condicionado). Most buses have a person who collects the fare (1.90-2.20 reais) and then lets you through a very small turnstile. Even the slim Brazilians had a hard time squeezing through the metal - another reason not to gain weight here.

Near the Praca de XV Novembro. We had just enjoyed food "by the kilo" in one of the many cheap eateries. It's not an "all you can eat", but you have a big buffet and pay by weight (from 9.90 per kilo in downtown to 27.90 in touristy Ipanema beach). These buffets were a good place to get some vitamins and to discover the variety of foods Brazilians eat.

We stopped by the Federal university of Rio to see how student life looks like here. We didn't see many students (were they on break?). The old building looked like it needed repair, and my sister in law would certainly be shocked at this sight. Can we hire a cargo flight to Germany?-)

We didn't get the chance to attend a soccer game, but at least we visited the big Maracana Football Stadium.

Maracana seems to be a popular gathering place, and of course there were kids playing soccer. And their friends watching.

We had first planned to make our way up to the Christ statue, but we were too exhausted from all that walking around. And we had to catch up on beach life. And what is better than having annoying vendors walk by every minute?

...Watching the sun set over Ipanema beach....

...Or having a fresh coconut (and a Caipi) at Copacabana Beach.

On our last day, we had just enough time to shop for some souvenirs at the "Hippie Fair" and to relax to the sounds of street musicians' Samba music, an ice-cold Cerveja cooling us down. The perfect end to our first trip to Brazil.