LARGO DAS ARTES: DAY 27

Today Miguel and Paola Sayad organised a birthday party for me at their home that is at the same place where we stay for Largo das Artes accommodation. Sandra cooked all the meal helped by one of her friends. Sandra is a really warm heart person like a mum to us and she knows well how to express her feelings! At the local market I bought a nice yellow bunch of flowers for Miguel and Paola and for Sandra three white roses mixed with an aromatic local plant that will help to protect her mother from her sickness.

I was so happy to see all Largo das Artes friends arriving for my party included Felippe Morraes, Frederico Pellachin and Miguel and Paola's intimate friends. After shrimps and cocktails sitting nearby the swimming pool we went inside enjoy the rest of the meal.

The chef Sandra served fish, potatoes, beans, rice and broccoli with fresh salad and as dessert a marvellous cake of leche, a sort of caramelised milk to eat together with mango. The dessert was so delicious that I forgot to take a photo of it! You can only imagine it in your palate!

Towards the end of the party Miguel Sayad gave me a beautiful present: a CD of a Brazilian singer called Paulo Vanzolini and Alina Teodorescu a book about how to make essential oils. Alina inserted inside of the book a beautiful feather as a memory from the Carnival parade. I asked Miguel to play the Cd so I ended the party with a little dance and create a little bit of crazy atmosphere ... Tomorrow will be the last day for Alina Teodorescu that she will fly back to London and for Luka on Monday back home to Piacenza, Italy... I will miss their great energy and friendship! As Luka said in all experiences the end has an equal value that the beginning!

LARGO DAS ARTES: DAY 26

Today has been a memorable birthday day spent together with Miguel Sayad, Alina Teudorescu and Luka Moncaleano. During the morning Miguel guided us to visit the best two contemporary galleries in Rio: Anita Schwartz and Silvia Cintra + Box4. 

Anita Schwartz is the Rio version of Anna Schwartz gallery in Sydney although each gallery are not related at all! My preference went for the Brazilian artist Gonzalo Ivo with his sculptures in wood and tempera, Estela Sokol with her painting on PVC and canvas and another sculptor with his artwork on balance made in cement and steel.

Silvia Cintra + box4 is showing a selection of younger contemporary Brazilian emergent artists. My preference went for Renata Har with her installation made of plastic and confetti Carnival, Marina Simao with her transparent canvases and Mayana Redin with the installation 'Global Record'.

After the gallery we crossed the botanical garden where we saw a huge carp in the pond. I thought it was a nice connection with my star sign in Pisces... We stopped for antipasto at Borogodo' restaurant run by Dado Neto,  Ernesto Neto's brother! Here we had a nice snack made of baccala' polpette!

The most exciting part of the day has been to visit the studio of one of the best Brazilian artist in Rio called Gabriela Machado. Gabriela is a tiny woman but with a strength of a lion! Meeting her and her world has been so inspiring for all three of us thanks to Miguel Sayad who made this visit possible!  

Gabriela is such an open minded artist, she had no problem to show us around her studio, telling us more about her ceramic, painting and photography works. She has revealed how much she likes to do art residencies and collect all these minuscule objects. During her travel she does a lot of small paintings as spontaneous sketchbooks of her memories of the place. She has a lot of cats that are sleeping everywhere interacting with her work...

Once exchanged our emails and thanked Gabriela for her amazing welcoming we returned to Borogodo' Restaurant to have a proper lunch  where I tasted the Brazilian traditional dish called Feijoada and had as dessert Creme Brulee with a candle and happy birthday singing at Dado's table!

We finished the day with an another incredible gift: a swimming into the ocean by night followed by a nice visit to Miguel Sayad's mother 94 years old! Her house is absolutely a treasure! My preferred place was the guest toilet room with nice birds singing while you are inside surrounded by frescoes everywhere....what a dream to have a toilet like this!