Belo Horizonte is the city with the highest number of bars in the world. There was even an article in the New York Times about it: travel.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/travel/28next.html
Although I don´t recommend the bat in the photo, the article explains the city bars much better than I ever could!
I also don´t agree with the article when they say the best time to go is during the "Comida di Buteco" competition in April. During the competition, all the bars are packed with people, and you can almost never get a table. The best thing is to go after the competition has ended. All the bars continue to serve their appetizes throughout the year.
Here are some of the bars that you can´t miss:

1) Via Cristina.
Rua Cristina, 1203, Santo Antônio, 55-31-3296-8343
This one was mentioned in the article. It features dozens of different kinds of cachaça. (This is the typical brazilian drink, and it resembles tequila a little bit...). What´s interesting about this one is they have a list of the cachaças, and you can drink it straight up, or ask them to make caipirinha with it. Caipirinha is cachaça with lime, sugar, and ice. They charge the price of the caçhaca plus 2 reais (about 1 dollar).

2) Pimenta com Cachaça
This bar was second place in the competition, but I think it is by far the best appetizer. It´s a tomato filled with mustard sauce, and "kabobs" of meat filled with "biquinho" pepper (this is a pepper that is tasteful, but not hot), and provolone chese

3) Butequim Maria de Lourdes.
I couldn´t find any pictures, but you can see some at their website: www.mariadelourdes.com.br/
You should go there on a saturday. That´s when they serve "Feijoada", the typical brazilian food with beans, saucage and different types of meat.

I can´t possibly list all the good bars in the city, so here´s a link to the "Comida di Buteco" website. I hope it helps you get started, even though it´s in portuguse...

www.comidadibuteco.com.br/

Sorry... it looks like I posted the topic before it was finished... I guess I was trying to save...

So we talked about italian and pizza...

3) German Food: Tip Top $$ Apart from the excelent food, this is an interesting place to visit. It was founded in the early 1900s, and there are old pictures of the city on the walls.

4) Meat: Parrilla del Patio: $$ If you want a la carte meat, this is the place to go. Really good argetinian barbecue...
It is located at Av. do Contorno 6061, Pátio Savassi 3º andar

5) Brazilian Barbecue: Ambrozio´s Grill. $$ This is where you can have a very good all you can eat barbecue ("rodizio"). The best meat in town, great appetizers, and a fair price. Located at Av Getulio Vargas, 880

Sorry there were no pics, but I couldn´t find any... I´ll try and be better about this for the bars...

Sence eating is the main thing to do in this city, I´ll divide this into 2 sections. This one will focus on restaurants:

1) Italian Food - Anella $
This restaurant is cozy, and by far the best italian food in town. It is a bit far from downtown, but it´s woth the ride... I recommend the Mignonette, which is pasta with tomato sauce and filet mignon. The entrées serve 2 people.
Location: Av. Ministro Guilhermino de Oliveira, 325 - Santa Anélia
Phone #: (31) 3441-8748

2) Pizza: $ For brazilian style pizza, there´s no better place! I recommend the "À moda da casa".
Location: Av. Afonso Pena
They also deliver, and that´s always a good option.

Shopping in Belo Horizonte:

1) Shopping for yourself or buying gifts:

     a) BH Shopping: This was the first mall in Belo Horizonte, and after many expansions it is in my opinion the one with the best variety of shops, movie theatres and food courts.
     b) Diamond Mall: If you´re looking for clothes and accessories, I recommend this mall. Here you find some of the fancier stores, like Calvin Klein, Le Soulier, Swarovski, and others. The food court and movie theathres are also excelent. It is located at Av. Olegário Maciel 1600
     c) Pátio Savassi: It is the newest mall in town, and it is nice because it´s outdoors. It features nice restaurants, like Parilla and Friday´s. The stores are fancier, and more expensive than the other malls. It is located at Av. do Contorno.

2) Shopping to sell

If your buying things to sell, Belo Horizonte is famous for its clothes production. You can buy all kinds of clothes in the neighbourhod called "Barro Preto". But most of the stores there only sell a minimum of 10, sometimes 15 pieces at a time...

3) Other interesting options:
     a) Mercado Central: Here you can buy a lot of the local products, mainly food and crafts... I specially recommend:
           - Cachaça. This is where you can find the largest variety, at the best prices...
           - Sweets of Minas Gerais: Minas Gerais (the State where Belo Horizonte is located) is famous for its sweets. I recommend milk sweet and gwava seet, my favorites. Preferrably eat them with cheese.
          - Fruits: Here you find the frechest fruits in town.


     b) Afonso Pena Fair: This fair only takes place on Sundays, at Av. Afonso Pena. It is a great place to buy hand made things, from clothes to decoration, to paintings. I recommend you go very early in the morning, or it will be crowded.

That´s it for shopping. I´ll be back with dining, which is the city´s main attraction!

I´m back... sorry I didn´t write for a while...
I thought that changing the country for this next city would be interesting... So I´ll talk about Belo Horizonte now...
Here goes:
I will start with what there is to see in Belo, and please bear with me, because it´s not much... the strong point of this city is eating!! And of course if you go to Belo, you should also visit the surrounding historic cities, but I´ll talk about those later on... So what´s to see in Belo Horizonte:

1) Lagoa da Pampulha (Pampulha Lake)
    This is nothing but a lake. It´s quite beautiful, but wat´s important is what there is around it:

     a) Igreja São Francisco de Assis: This church was designed by Oscar Niemeyer, and in my opinion, it is not very beautiful, but is interesting to visit if you like architecture, art and histoy...
     b) Mineirão: This is the main soccer stadium in Belo. It can hold 130.000 people. If you like soccer, this is worth visiting!
     c) Belo Horizonte Zoo: I have to admit I haven´t been there since I was a kid, and from what I remember, it doesn´t compare to the San Diego zoo... but I checked online and it holds 900 animals, representing 200 species. It does not open on mondays.

2) Complexo das Mangabeiras

     a) Parque das Mangabeiras This park is really beatiful. It is located in one of the highest points of the city. There are trails to walk, and lots of things to do.
     b) Rua do Amendoim (Peanut Street) In this street, if you park the car at the right place, it goes uphill! It´s really interesting!

3) Praça da Liberdade (Liberty Square)
  There you can see the governor´s palace, or just take a walk. It´s beautiful, aespecially at Christmas, when they decorate it...

Well... I guess this is it for today... next I´ll write about where to shop in Belo Horizonte.

If you´re going shopping, I recommend going off the Strip (the Strip is the Street where all the casinos are). There are 2 outlet malls worth visiting:

1) Las Vegas Premium Outlets
  It´s on 875 South Grand Central Parkway
This is a great place if you´re looking for cheap brand clothes, shoes, etc.
It´s outdoors, so during the summer I don´t recommend you go there (temperature in Vegas in the summer can reach 110 F)

2) Las Vegas Outlet Center
7400 Las Vegas Boulevard South
This is indoors, so if it´s summer, or raining (it almost never rains in Vegas), I recommend tihs.

Now, if you like glamour, and can spend more $$, then there are lots and lots of options on the Strip:

1) fashion Show Mall
This is the largest shopping on the Strip. It´s fairly new, and features many name brands. Also available are nice restaurants.

2) Forum Shops at Caesars Palace
This is really nice, because the ceiling imitates the sky, so you think you´re outdoors. It could be midnight, and you might have the feeling that ist´s 6pm... it gets darker, then there´s dawn, but it doesn´t correspond to the actual hour of the day/night
There are some nice shops to visit, and there´s always The Cheesecake Factor (see my first entry)
The food court is pretty decent, the cheese pizza is very good, and there´s a sports bar, where you can watch games...

3) Via Bellagio
These are very expensive stores, like Prada, Armani, and Chanel... but it´s worth going just to take a look...
Oh! Forgot to mention earlier, in the Bellagio Casino, there´s a place called the Botanical gardens. You CANNOT miss this. It´s decarated differently throughout the year to reflect the current season. Decoration is made with real flowers, and the smell is just delicious. I usually find the Christmas decorations the most beautiful ones!

Well... I could go on for years talking about Vegas!! I think I covered the main points...
This is in my opinion ine of the most beautiful cities in the World!
Thanks for sticking with me!

I know I went on and on, and on about the Stratosphere rides... but they´re not the only ones in town... Here are some more that are worth checking out:

1) Roller coaster at the new York New York Casino

2) The Eiffel Tower at the Paris Casino

3) The pirate show at the Treasure Island Casino (aka TI). This is not a ride. It´s free, but really decent. The wait is a little long, but it´s a fun show...

My next entry will be about shopping, and will be the last on the Vega section of this blog. Then I will return with the next city, which I haven´t picked yet...

Other shows that are really good and always there are:

1) Celine Dion
   She performs at the Colisium (which was built just for her), at the Caesars Palace Casino. The show is worth going to even if you´re not a fan... The stage is amazing, special effects are really good, and she sings a lot of songs that aren´t hers...

2) David Copperfield
   ok. I didn´t go to this one... I´m not fond of magic tricks... I get desperate trying to find out how they did it, and end up not enjoying the show at all... But this is supposed to be really good...

3) Mama Mia
    I didn´g to this one either, but I really wanted to. It´s a musical, with all ABBA songs... People who saw it said it is really good!

4) We Will Rock You
    It´s a fairly new show... Again, I didn´t go, but heard it´s good. Songs are from Queen.

One that I went to, but don´t think is worth the money is "The Blue Man Group". It´s an OK show, but too slow, a little boring, and way too much expensive for what they present. I don´t recommend it...

Also not to miss in Vegas are the shows in the Casinos. Here are some that are there throughout the year:

1) Cirque du Soleil - Misthère
    It´s at the Treasure Island Casino. If you´re only gonna see one, I recommend you pick this... It´s a circus, but so much more beatuiful and entertaining... it´s fast paced, the clowns are hilarious, and it´s a guaranteed great time! 5 out of 5

2) Cirque du Soleil - Ka
    If you can afford to go to a second Cirque du Soleil, I´d pick this one. It´s slower paced, almost like a ballet, but it´s one of the most beautiful things you´ll ever see. The stage by itself is a show. it moves, and at one point, it becomes vertical. 5 out of 5

3) Cirque du Soleil - "O"

   This is the most famous of them all... it´s also more expensive. It´s a good show,  but the clowns are not funny at all. The fact that there´s a pool on stage, and then there isn´t, and then there is again is pretty cool, and definitely the high point of the show. I´d give it a 3 out of 5

Ok. Here´s a list of things you can´t miss when in Vegas:

1) The rides on top of the Stratosphere tower:
    - The roller coaster: It´s on top of the tower, but it is not too scary. The worst part is when you´re entering it... after that it´s not too exciting. I grade it at 7 out of 10
    - The Big Shot: THe picture sais it all, righ? Just a reminder, that is on top of a 100 story builing!!!
   I recomend doing it at night... it´s even  scarier...
    - X-Scream: OK. I have to admit. I didn´t have the guts to go on this one... Too scary. It´s
      actually a roller coaster, but it goes outside the building!!! And the seat belts are not thosethat go on your shoulder... They´re on the waist only!!!! 

    - I don´t even know what to say about this one... You hang, in the air, outside the building, looking down!! No words...

Now... if you don´t like adrenalin, there are plenty of other options:

1) The most importatn one, that you can´t miss, is the fountains at the Bellagio. It´s free, and during the summer there´s a show every 15 minutes... It is, by far, the best free show in town!!

2) Another free show that´s worth going to is the Freemont Street Experience. It´s a light show with music in the ols Las Vegas...

Well... that´s it for now... I´ll be back with more tomorrow...

Just to complement the last entry, here´s a picture of the Stratosphere tower:

The restaurant is on top.

Las Vegas is a city everyone should visit. And if you´re planning to, here are some tips:

Where to eat:
I´ll rate $ for cheap, $$ for medium, and $$$ for expensive.

1) My personal favorite: Atlanta Bread Co. $
    The creamy tomato soup is to die for, but I recomend any soup/sandwich combo. The roast beef sanduich is really good.

2) The Cheesecake Factory $$
    It´s inside the Caesars casino. The food is delicious, the shrimp is perfect, but what is really good is the desert. Any cheesecake you order will be the best you ever had.

3) Top of the World (Stratosphere) $$$
    This is a more expensive restaurant, but the food is excelent, and the view really makes it worth going to. It´s on the top of the Stratosphere tower, and the restaurant rotates so you have a view of the entire city. It is absolutely gorgeous!

This blog will give tips about cities worth visiting around the world. It will include tips on shopping, restaurants, and places to visit. Hope you enjoy it.