Children's voices pour from the lit windows of the Palácio Avenida each December, and shoppers on Rua XV stop beside the flower beds to listen. Music turns up in odd places here. A theater of steel tubes floats on a lake inside an old quarry, and next door another quarry hosts concerts beneath a wall of rock.
Beyond the stages, the glass greenhouse of the Jardim Botânico rises over French-style gardens, and Santa Felicidade keeps the pasta coming at long Italian lunches. Summers are mild and rainy, while winter mornings can bring frost. A Local Friend can turn your scattered list of parks, quarries and bars into a day that flows across town.
