Little Germany: Part I

 Welcome!

 

Bet you thought I was in Brazil, huh? Well, so did I, until today made me think otherwise.

I'm splitting this post about my travels into several parts because otherwise I think I'll overwhelm y'all with photographs!

Little Germany: Part I

Today I was picked up by C.C., friend of a wonderful woman I met in Austin who just happens to be from Porto Alegre. This woman just happens to be the only Brazilian in a capoeira group that also contains a friend of mine, who just happened to see a post I put on Facebook about going to Brazil and got the two of us in touch with each other. And after that meeting this lovely woman got me in touch with C.C.

Life can be really cool that way sometimes. Or really, lots of times.

C.C. brought along her friend M. and the three of us set off in her car to explore mountain towns a few hours outside of Porto Alegre.

First stop: Nova Petrópolis

We took a stroll through the Parque Aldeia do Imigrante, the Village Park of the Immigrant. What immigrant, you ask? Why all the German immigrants who came to southern Brazil in the latter part of the 19th century, of course.

We saw a few of these Germans...

Their creativity...

And the buildings they used to live in...

...where I nearly kidnapped a kitten to come live in the hostel with me.

But s/he seemed a little attached to the peacock. So, a bit forlorn, I parted ways with the lovely creature...

We then ate lunch in a rather German-looking place. It was tasty stuff. The dessert table was a little insane, offering us something like 20 different choices. Yes, I got seconds.

Then we got back into the car and continued our adventures...stopping not much later for a necessary photo opportunity. ;-)

 

And then onward, to Part II!