Botanical Gardens and a By Hand London Anna Top

As we have less than three weeks until we leave Sao Paulo, we decided to continue with the revisiting the best of our time here.  Today we went to the Botanical Gardens, which although only a 20 minute drive away is such a tranquil oasis in such a dense city.  As a reminder most of Sao Paulo looks like this

 

That is the view from the Banespa building downtown.  The next picture is what I look at every day from my apartment.  Sao Paulo is a sea of skyscrapers.  30 miles in every direction from downtown.  There are approximately 23 million people who live in the metropolitan area.

 

So it goes without saying, that it's nice to have a place that is lush and green, and quiet not too far away. 

It was a bit cold and cloudy this morning, so we practically had the park to ourselves.  It's large enough that even when it's nice, it's not teeming with people.   Unlike the zoo next door, which can take upwards of an hour to even get inside.  It definitely appeals to my midwestern idea of space.

Alex had a blast.  He enjoyed being able to run around and get dirty.  His favorite person is the gardener, so you can imagine how much he loved being able to touch all the plants.  But since this is a sewing blog, what did I wear? 

 

I wore my Papercut Patterns Rigel bomber, because of course, it was only 65ish today.  The top is By Hand London Anna dress turned into a top, and the jeans are me-made, but I honestly don't remember the pattern. They aren't great.  I really need to get off my lazy bum and make a better pair.  Sometime before next May.

 

So, the top...  I took the bodice of the By Hand London Dress and mashed it up with the Colette Patterns Sencha to make a top.  It works out pretty well.  I used a border print cotton from Bras.  I decided to go against the traditional use of border print and put it up top.  I used French seams and then fusible interfacing to finish the neck.

At least the jeans fit well?  What I don't like about them are the pockets and the fly.  That and they're rather low cut.  I'm such a mom and like my jeans to be almost at my natural waist.  Otherwise, it's muffin top city.  Blech.  Anyone know of good higher waisted jean patterns?  (Ones that aren't wide legged or super skinny- as I could use the Colette Juniper for wide legged ones, and I am a curvy lady with curves that extend to my calves.)

 
On the quest for interesting backdrops, Alex and I ended up in a swap situation.  Which resulted in a lot of mud.  For what it's worth, it didn't seem to bother him.  There is a lot of sculpture at the gardens, I forgot to see who designed these metal ones, but one can assume by the style that it was either Oscar Neimeyer or an associate of his.  Definitely his style.

One of my favorite parts of the park is the monkey trail.  It's fairly short, about a half mile, but you are on a raised path going through the Altantic forest, one of the many types of forests Brazil has.  You can really forget you're in the city then.

It's so green back there that even you get a slight green tint.

There is a lot more to the park, we only have seen probably a third of it.  We usually run around for a couple of hours and then eat at their lunch buffet, which is pretty nice and not terribly expensive.  Well that's all for now, I should be finishing up my newest make tomorrow, I just have sleeves and lining to do.  Until next time, here are some more pictures of the park.

And some caged chickens graffiti, which has been there for several years and still makes me smile each time I see it.