Petropolis

Waking up feeling rather unadventurous, I thought I would escape the heat of Rio and head up into the mountains to Petropolis, the summer home Emperor Pedro I, Brazil's first monarch.

Despite wanting to avoid adventure, I sure found a lot of it. The tour was an hour late starting, causing us to get stuck in traffic. The mini-bus broke down near a favela, and we were stuck without a/c until a new bus arrived. We tried to open the windows, but they were stuck. Good thing, because when the driver opened the door for air, the putrid smell of raw sewage filled the bus. We decided to sweat it out, rather than endure the smell.

An hour later (and 5 pounds of sweat later) we were on a new minubus. We hadn't been moving for more than 10 minutes when traffic came to a stand still. We crept through traffic for the next 40 minutes before we came to the cause of the jam. A bicyclist had been struck by a car and was dead - right in the middle of the road. There was no sign of police or an ambulance. Traffic just slowly made their way around him.

It was at this point that the a/c in the minibus died - again. We were able to open about half of these windows, and got a bit of a breeze once traffic picked up.

The tour took us to all the tourist traps and "highlights" of the area.

Museu Imperial - The Imperial Museum. This pink neoclassical palace used to be the imperial summer residence. It was filled with paintings, furniture, jewelry, crowns (including the imperial crown) and various personal effects. I can't tell you too much about anything, because all of the descriptions were in either Portuguese or Spanish.

The really cool thing about this palace was that tourists were required to wear felt slippers over their shoes to prevent the floors from scuffing. These had the effect of buffing the floors as you walked. Pretty slick to get visitors to pay to sweep/buff the floors!

Catedral de São Pedro de Alcântara. The cathedral was built in 1939 in French Neogothic style. The 70 meter (230 foot) Imperial Chapel contains the remains of Dom Pedro II, his wife Dona Teresa Cristina, his daughter Princess Isabel and her husband. They were decorating the chapel for a wedding the day that I visited. Since this view of the cathedral appears on nearly every tourist page for Petropolis, you would think the tour bus would have stopped in an area where we would get this view. Nope! I had to sneak away from the tour during lunch to get this great outside shot.


Palácio de Cristal - Crystal Palace. The metal and glass components of the Palace were manufactured in 1879 in Saint-Saveur-les-Arras, The Palace was built simultaneously to the Eiffel Tower, and it is one of the examples of how the Industrial Revolution had influenced the architectonic styles.

While the building seemed like a giant greenhouse or the ideal place to hold a wedding reception, there is actually some pretty interesting history associated with it. In 1888, four years after opening, Princess Isabel granted freedom to 103 slaves. A few months later, she signed a law that abolished slavery in Brazil.

Not being one for sticking to an organized tour, I wandered away from the group a few times. Perhaps that's why they didn't put up too much of an argument when I wanted to get off the bus early in Rio. One building I found appeared to be a school where kids (5-8 yrs old) were learning to dance. It was pretty fun watching them. I also found this cool old house. I took a few pictures, then the guide yelled at me to get back with the group.
Baaaaahhh!