8 years ago I visited Sao Paulo in Brazil for the first time and to be honest – I didn’t like it. At all. I didn’t feel safe, I spent almost all my time there in or around the hotel and so I decided, not to go back.

Some weeks ago I had to go back though and so I embraced it and tried to give the city a second chance. It was a very short stay anyhow and so I planned on having a good time with my co-workers having great cocktails, good food, treating myself to a massage at the hotel spa and so on.

Not only did I enjoy it much more this time, I really came to like it quite a bit. One reason for that is due to my spontaneous idea to go and look at the city from above. Staying at a rather high hotel in the Morumbi area, I wondered if I would get the chance to get roof access and so I went to the reception and asked for the manager. The look on the receptionists face was priceless – she immediately asked if everything was all right but I assured her that I just had a request for the manager. Once I introduced myself and showed her my credentials (my business card that is), Bianca (the manager) was more than happy to promise me, she would make it happen! Only 2 hours later (I had stated that I wanted to go up there for the sunset), I got escorted up by a member of the security staff AND someone from the concierges who had actually never been on the roof of the hotel and didn’t want to miss out on this opportunity.

Once up on the roof – this one was a rather flat roof with only a massive window cleaning crane – the stunning panorama unfolded and I was literally in heaven! It was a perfect evening – sunny but with great clouds. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t have my D810 with me (I didn’t want to risk getting it stolen), but as usual, my D7000 did a great job in capturing the mood.

The word had spread very quickly among the hotel staff and after 40 minutes on the roof (the sun still being up), we had to go down again. The security guy however agreed to go back up with me a little later for the real sunset (he couldn’t stay up there with me for the whole time and I wasn’t allowed to be there on my own…which was fine). So we went back down and so many from the hotel staff approached me and asked me about my photography…I kind of felt like a celebrity. After talking to Bianca’s boss about what I was allowed to do with the images, I went back up – this time with another guy from the concierge desk who also wanted to take a look. I spent another hour shooting and admiring the panoramic view from up there until the sun had set.

It took me a while to edit the photos but after I was done, I sent them over to Bianca so she could use them and ended up writing with the Marketing Manager of the hotel. She loved the shots and said, she was going to use them! We’re talking about a Hilton here!

So – this goes out to the whole Hilton Morumbi team: THANK YOU SO MUCH for making this second stay in Sao Paulo a really memorable one! I can’t wait to come back – with a better camera and the proper gear! And now enjoy the shots from the Hilton Morumbi roof.