What a day! It all started with an early morning—around 7:30 when me met with Thiago and his Aunt Amelia. We piled into the little car and headed off to Petropolis. We struggled to stay awake because there is so much to see and do here! The ride was only around an hour, but it was enough down time to put us to sleep. Petropolis is a beautiful city! There were more houses and ornate buildings than in Rio. It is a very old city that was settled by German immigrants. Brazil was once under Imperial rule. Our first stop was the Christ viewpoint. Our second stop was the hotel casino Quitandinha which is built in German style. It is the second most famous hotel in the country. It was built in 1944 and many famous people have stayed there.
The next stop was to the chocolate store! One word for the store--YUMMY!!!
From there we went down to the historical district and went to a very unique museum. The emperor built a summer house and now is a museum on the Emperors life. The interesting thing is that all the floors are hard wood, so you have to put on these special slippers over your shoes so that you don’t scratch the floor. Then they tell you to “glide” across the floor. I think it’s their way of getting free labor from tourists so they don’t have to clean the floors.
This pace is surrounded by beautiful botanical gardens. From here went walked down what the Brazilian’s call the “most expensive street in Petropolis.” This is street that has the house of the princess and the legislature on it. We also went to the summer home of the President and went on a small tour through the President’s summer house. Nothing like Camp David at all! First of all, they let you tour it and second of all, it only had two guards! Time was getting short so we headed to the car, but not before we saw a goat pulling little kids around and the house that belonged to Brazil’s version of the Wright Brothers.
We went to Thiagos’s uncles home and had a traditional Brazilian meal of beans and rice with BBQ sausage and breaded chicken and beef. It was incredible! Tastes nothing like what we have in the USA. The lunch ws enough to make our eyes very heavy (or it could be the fact that we are averaging 4 hours of sleep or less and we were exhausted. We laid down for 15 minutes and then it was time to get dressed for the wedding.
A Brazilian wedding...Words cannot describe what it was like but we are going to try. It was in a huge cathedral where the Emperor was buried. Usually weddings are dress up occasions, but this was over the top. All the guys were in suits or tuxes and the ladies were in formals. The problem is that the bride was 1 hr 15 minutes late. It is acceptable for the bride to be late, it is expected. But according to Sonia, this was too late. There are a lot of unique things different about a Brazilian ceremony. The bridesmaids all stand to the back instead of going down the stairs and the parents stand next to the children during the ceremony. The Mother of the bride also holds the Bride’s bouquet! After the couple is married, then they take pictures of the couple and family in front of the crowd. When she finally marches down the aisle, it is the Pomp and Circumstance Recessional! That was interesting too!
After the ceremony we had a 40 minute drive to where the reception was. On the way we passed an Assembly of God church that was having service. It would have been great to stop, but we didn’t have time. It looked like fun!
The reception was at Itaipava Castle with valet parking and a guest list to get inside and yes, our names were on it!!!! Once inside there was almost no way to describe what you saw. There were brigadeiro chocolate treats everywhere—of all flavors.
We were seated in a glass reception hall behind the castle with huge red rose arrangements on every table. They continually brought hors d'oeuvres and drinks around to us. There was no getting up to get your food. They would give you a little napkin and as you held the napkin they would place the food on the napkin. Everything from tiny baked potatoes with Cheese inside of them to breaded shrimp, crab cakes, little pasta rolls--it was an incredible combination of food. As we were eating, we heard the Samba school arriving—which also signified the start of the party!—around 11:30 p.m. This is like a drum line but with much more flair and energy. They were the winning Samba school from carnival 2011 and they went to the dance floor and performed a little concert. Everybody was packed in there to see them and then the 2 carnival dancers showed up. Wow is all I can say! During this time the mother of the bride called me out from the crowd and drug me out to the center to meet the bride and all the cameras and video people were there to capture this on tape. It was wild! Something I will NEVER forget!
After I finally got away from the cameras it was time for chocolate! I grabbed one of everything I could find. WOW!! IT was awesome! I love my chocolate and I got my fill!!!!!!! (I did have to take my extras and put them in a napkin to take with me though!)
About 1:30 we left the reception (it was still going strong!) and made our way back to Thiago’s home. When we got there it was 2:30ish and we finally crawled into bed about 3. After a short nap, we got up at 6:30 and headed back to Copacabana and to our hotel. What an amazing day!!!! From my Petropolis/Brazilian wedding/reception picture window to yours, have a great day!
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