Rio de Janeiro – Petropolis (FEB 26)

Petropolis is where Brazil’s imperial family went in the summer to escape the heat and humidity of Rio.  To get there requires ascending about 2,400’ of what we New Englanders would call a mountain, but in comparison to the Andes, Brazilians refer to as a “hill”. 

It was slow going as we left the terminal.  Our bus along with several others was in a queue that had to cross the path of some floats on route to a street parade venue.  One float – one bus – one float – one bus…

Marine terminal complex and mall

We headed north.  Several miles later, and still in the city, we passed the sheds where floats were made and stored.  The distance the floats had to cover at a crawl to get from these sheds to their venues made the logistics of moving them all the more impressive.

North of the city, we climbed up the “hill” on a twisting road.  As we ascended in our big, air conditioned touring bus, we tried to image making the trip 150 years ago.  It was probably in ox-drawn carriages over rutted dirt roads at an excruciatingly slow pace.

The absence of pictures of the trip to Petropolis is a combination of overcast skies, rain, a moving bus and not liking any of the pictures that I took.

Arriving in Petropolis, our first stop was Quitandinha.  Opened in 1944, and at the time called the grandest hotel casino in South America, it was an international magnet for the rich and famous.  The bubble bust only two years later when Brazil outlawed gambling.  It hung on as a hotel until 1963 when the upper stories went condo and the ground floor became a variety of shops, activities and function spaces. 

Our next stop was lunch at a Brazilian churrascaria (barbeque). Waiters came to tables serving all sorts of meats and side dishes. The meat was carved off a skewer onto my plate, the long, sharp knife at times seeming awfully close to facial parts I preferred to retain.

These two guys really wanted me to take their picture.

Our first destination after lunch was the imperial museum, housed in what was formerly the residence of the imperial family. 

To protect the wooden floors, everyone had to don a sort of over-sized pair of slippers.  These were one size fits all.  They were held in place by non-adjustable strap across the arch of your shoes, necessitating a shuffling motion to keep them on.  The museum must save a fortune on floor polishing. 

Photography was not permitted inside the museum. 

The pink color of the exterior was the official color of imperial government buildings.  The empress liked it, so the emperor decreed that all government buildings would be painted that color. 

Our next stop was the city’s cathedral.

Our last stop was the "crystal palace" at one time used as the imperial botanical garden.  Once a year, a major orchid exhibit was held there.  During our visit, it was empty.

Driving around Petropolis throughout the day it was understandable why the city remains a popular get-away. 

Recruited by the emperor when their ship stopped in Rio on route from Europe to Australia, much of the city’s design and the oversight of its construction was done by Germans. This gave the city a distinctive personality and many blonde-haired, blue-eyed inhabitants.

After rolling back down the mountain, I mean hill, we made good time until the outskirts of Rio where we encountered a massive traffic jam.  It was caused in large part by a major highway being closed to permit the movement of Carnaval floats.  Eventually we picked up speed for the rest of the trip into the city. 

We discovered that getting near the ship was not the same thing as getting back to the ship.  We were within about 500 yards of it when the bus when into a tunnel, traveling a considerable distance before emerging well away from the marine terminal.  We were the victims of more road closures, necessitating a lengthy detour back to the ship, passing a sizeable street party along the way.

Eventually we made it back to VEENDAM, three hours after departing Petropolis, which was twice as long as the time it had taken us to get there. 

We settled in for the evening.  About 7:30 PM we watched passengers going to this evening’s Sambadrome parades head ashore.  We will be doing the same tomorrow evening.