Monday morning we woke up and drove back downtown. There were fewer people, but the streets were still full.
Kevin and Emma playing in front of the Saint Peter Church.
Lately Emma has been giving us the most incredible hugs. She wraps her arms around us as much as she can and then she just squeezes for as long as we'll let her. One of her favorite things to do is to wrap one arm around Kevin and one arm around me and squeeze. Her hugs are about the most precious thing in the world. I can never get enough of her!
This is the Methodist Church down the street from the Sao Pedro church. Most of the buildings in Gramado have a German/Swiss style to them. I love the European feel of Gramado.
This happens to be one of my favorite buildings in the little town! It's not all that beautiful, but inside is some pretty amazing chocolate!! I spent less than my budget and came out very happy. I think Kevin was pleased that I didn't drain our $$ on edible goods!
After wandering around downtown for a few hours, we drove towards the outskirts of town and took Emma to the Aldeia do Papai Noel, or the Village of Santa Claus. The weather was beautiful and Emma was so excited she kept running on ahead of us. We had some discipline and teaching time, trying to explain to her that she can't run off into crowds of people just because there are cool things to see! For instance, telephone booths are still used in Brazil and this one was way too cool not to remember!
We decided to pay to ride in this cute little cart up to Santa Claus's house. Had we known the ride was five minutes long and totally not worth the money we got jipped out of, we wouldn't have done it. We did see some live reindeer on the way, though, and Emma loved them!
As happy as she was to see Papai Noel, she didn't want to sit on his lap alone. I've decided I'm never going to be too old to sit by Santa! Living here has made me realize Santa doesn't just speak English. I'm not sure why it struck me as really funny this year, but when he started talking to Emma in Portuguese, I just stared at him and laughed. He was the sweetest old man and asked me to translate for Emma that he especially likes little American kids.
We walked through the decorated home of Mr. and Mrs. Claus. The German touches were interesting, like the beer steins on the mantle of the fireplace. I actually have one that used to be my grandfather's. Fun to see.
Gramado and surrounding area
In the middle of the Village, there was a carousel for Emma to ride. There were also giant presents and Christmas ornaments for her to play with.
OUR FAMILY:)
Oh yes, and goats. There were a few of them and one actually tried to hit Emma with it's head. We moved on to the second goat. He was much more pleasant.
We made it around the entire village and ended our time with the snowmen. The "snow" is actually wet foam that spits out of two tubes about twenty feet in the air. The pictures are deceiving; we would not be wearing short sleeves and skirts or shorts if there were real snow on the ground!!
Poor Emma, she's going to be five before she realizes what real snow is!!
For now, she'll be content with the wet foamy stuff!!
Emma and her daddy.
They are the two most amazing people I have ever known. I love them more than ever!!
After we left the Village, we went back downtown for some Napolitana pizza under the Rua Coberta. There was a couple from northern Brazil sitting next to us. Once they heard Emma speaking English, they were just enamored with her. The older lady played and played with her and then asked if her photographer could take some pictures of her before we left. Before I really thought about it, I said, "Sure." He snapped a few pictures and showed them to us. I'm pretty confident her picture will show up in the souvenir photo album that the couple is paying for, but I wouldn't be surprised if it showed up elsewhere too! I'll be more cautious next time! As we were leaving, their photographer offered to take this final picture for us. I'm not even sure what the significance of this statue is, but it was a fun photo opportunity.
We left Gramado and enjoyed some chocolate for dessert on our way to Porto Alegre. I'd like to go back to Gramado next year. Maybe I'll buy my tickets in July, though!!
