Several months ago, we planned a short vacation to Gramado, knowing it would probably be one of our last road trips before the baby comes. We invited two other ex-pat couples to go with us because Gramado is such a fun little town to escape to. It's about a seven hour drive from here, but we split the drive up and stayed in Lajeado for a night, making the hours seem fewer. The guys took Friday afternoon off of work and we hit the road. We made a quick stop in Soledade at my favorite rock store and then went on to Lajeado. The next morning we heading to Gramado. After checking in to our cute little pousada, the Bela Terra, we went out for an amazing fondue lunch. The first fondue is hot, melted cheese and it comes with bread, soft, cooked baby potatoes, and steamed broccoli. I think I ate a pound of cheese and I justified the madness by saying that I was eating broccoli with it! I was full before they even brought the meat out! The next course was the meat, served with several different sauces. We chose the fondue na pedra, which is fondue on a rock. Basically, you cook the meat by placing it on a very flat, very salted, flat stone. We were given chicken, beef and pork to choose from. I stuck with the chicken as pork has always kind of grossed me out. And finally, because we weren't already stuffed, the waiters brought out the chocolate dessert fondue. Along with the chocolate came several different fruits - strawberries, grapes, pineapple, bananas, oranges, melon, apples, and papaya. As soon as one bowl of fruit was empty, the waiter would refill it. Finally, we finished off the fruit and just sat there, staring at the melted chocolate in the bowl. Apparently, I have no shame. I picked up my spoon and dipped it in the hot chocolate. I seemed to have forgotten that I was full and there was no more space left in my overstretched stomach. Nope, I took a few more spoonfuls of chocolate and ate them plain. It was so good. Needless to say, I was in a little bit of pain when we left the restaurant!! Fortunately, we walked around for a while and then went back to the pousada for naps.
The first weekend of November happened to be the first weekend of Natal Luz de Gramado, the Christmas celebration that the city puts on. It really is amazing. Last year we went to Gramado, not knowing anything about what was happening; we just happened to be there one weekend. This year we went prepared and bought tickets ahead of time for one of the shows. There was a parade in the street in the late afternoon and Christmas lights and decorations were everywhere! Emma loved seeing all the Papai Noels, (Santa Claus), and other characters.
We bought tickets for the Nativitaten show. After a very light dinner of popcorn (that's all we had room for), we walked down to the lake and found our seats in the grandstands. We actually had front-row seats so that was awesome. The show started at 9:30pm and we were not disappointed. The fireworks were better than any Fourth of July fireworks I've seen in the last ten years and the music really was beautiful. Maybe I enjoyed it more because they sang so many of the songs in English. Maybe it was because I love Christmas songs. I don't know, but it was an amazing show. There were tiny islands set up around the lake and each island held one or two singers. The spotlights would shine on each island as the singers sang their parts. There were also a choir and drummers on the mainland. The drummers were illuminated somehow and every time they hit their drums, water would splash up in the air. With the light behind the water, it was just a beautiful sight. I smiled and enjoyed the show. Emma danced around during quite a few of the songs and then stared in amazement at the fireworks. I was surprised she wasn't scared, but she just covered her ears a few times and she was fine. The show lasted for about fifty minutes and I felt like it was worth the ticket we paid for it. I am so glad we were able to go!
