Curitiba, Brazil – April 1, 2011 …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………….This may be a repeat. If so I'm sorry. I also hope this one formats better. We arrived in Curitiba at 5:30 a.m., which was earlier than expected and a rude awakening to most of us who were sound asleep. Luckily it was the final destination so we didn’t have to rush too much to get off the bus. These night buses really are quite enjoyable and even I, with the help of a Gravol, can sleep on them. The seats recline to about a 30 degree angle and there are foot rests that come up so you’re lets and feet are up as well. The only problem is that the seats are made for tall people who can actually reach the end of the foot rest. For those who can’t reach the end, like me, you keep sliding down all the time which makes sleeping an exercise in strategic planning. Luckily, after a lot of failed attempts, I did manage to get comfortable and get enough sleep to keep me going during the day in Curitiba. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….By the time we caught taxis to our hotel and checked in it was at least 6:30. Some went to bed at that stage but I got showered and ready for the day, had breakfast at the hotel and then went to the post office. Now this might not seem important but in fact it was a couple of weeks overdue. I had a bag packed and ready to mail in Buenos Aires and was going to do so on the day this tour started. That happened to be a public holiday in Argentina so nothing was open so I’ve been carrying the lovely bag around ever since. It was nice to finally get rid of it. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….After the post office we went for a quick walk around the main square and located the Hop On Hop Off Bus. I then returned to the hotel, packed my things and headed off for the day on the bus. The bus was pretty old and noisy and there are no headsets so you just had to try and hear the commentary over the bus and street noise. Needless to say, I had trouble hearing anything. As it turned out they really didn’t say much so I didn’t miss a lot. The brochure had a couple of sentences in English about each stop so I could generally follow what was going on. The commentary I did hear didn’t add a lot to what was written and in a lot of cases there was no commentary provided at all. The entire journey was to take 2.5 hours but I got on at 10:30 and got back at 6:30 as I made a few stops along the way. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………….The first stop was at the Botanical Garden. The gardens themselves were more like a park with different areas for the trees and plants of the various districts of Brazil. There were literally no flowers so not exactly a garden as we think of it. The main area leading up to the “greenhouse” was a beautiful maze of shrubs and flowers (mainly mums of various colours) and fountains and paths. All around the outside of the park there was a path and it was obviously very popular as a jogging area with the locals. The main building is a high metallic structure totally covered in glass so you in fact have greenhouse. It has two floors and was very tropical in nature. Between it and the museum there were some flowers. I took several pictures but I really didn’t recognize many of them. There is a small lake between the main building and the museum and all of it seems to be tied in some way to the University. The museum was very small and only gook about ten minutes in total. As might be expected, it was about the native plants in the area. The gardens were on a hill so they also provided a good view of the city and just how big it is. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….The next stop was at the Municipal Market. It was noon at this point and there were supposed to be lots of restaurants around so I decided I’d try for lunch at the market. However, after wandering past a few dozen smelly fish stands I decided I’d rather eat somewhere else where the smells weren’t quite as strong. The market itself was totally enclosed in a large old building and all of the stalls were full. There were lots of fruits and vegetables, nuts and beans. Of course there was the fish and also meat of every kind imaginable. Some of the larger vendors took up a lot of space and others were smaller. They all seemed to specialize in one thing and did that well. Everything looked very fresh and delicious but I decided to move on to another stop to get come more food. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………Sometimes the buildings were very colourful in yellow, blue, orange, etc. Areas of the city were low two to three storey buildings and other areas were total high rises. The Teatro Paiol is now a theatre but back in the 19th century and before it was an ammunitions or gun powder storeroom. The original structure was a high brick circle with arched doorways and windows and a second-storey round dome. It looks like an old military building but I’m sure it makes a wonderful theatre space for theatre in the round. It actually reminded me of the one in Krakow whose name now escapes me but I know I went to a lovely concert there one night back in 2006. Back to Curitiba, there are many theatres in the city and they have a fringe festival going on this week. I didn’t see any of the plays but the place certainly seemed to be crowded. ……….…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….My next stop was at the Oscar Niemeyer Museum. I didn’t know who Oscar was but I decided to give the museum a try. It turns out that he was a very famous Brazilian architect who designed some really fascinating buildings her and around the world. He designed the “Eye” of this museum and it really does look like an eye even though it is to represent a certain tree that grows in the area. . The tree has a straight trunk that grows very tall. Then the branches come out and curve upward a few feet. The leaves then come out and curve down a few feet so it really does look like the tree that you see throughout the area. The museum basement has a section dedicated to Niemeyer’s work and he really did create some masterpieces. He didn’t believe in straight lines so everything is curves and I can hardly wait to see some of the real things in Sao Paulo and Rio when we get there. ……………….…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….There were nice exhibit halls on the second floor and luckily four of them were closed as they changed exhibits or I might never have gotten out of the place. It also helped that two others were temporary exhibits of modern art and it never takes me long to go through those. I just never understand it and always wonder why anyone thinks something like white, orange and brown plastic pails all lying on their side linked together like a snake makes a piece of art. There was one kind of interesting one though. It was called the chicken Olympics or something close to that. It was based on the summer Olympic Games and the various sports were presented but with headless, plucked chickens as the athletes. Strange as it sounds, it was very well done and quite fun to look at. The remaining exhibit halls displayed the works of John Graz, Alfred Anderson and Arcangelo Ianelli. The first two sounded familiar and I enjoyed the artwork on display. The third one was a Brazilian artist who just recently died and this was a tribute to him. His work was pretty simple and mainly consisted of geometric designs or solid colours with shading into other colours. It was a very small exhibit but enjoyable. ……………………….…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….The last exhibit hall was in the eye itself. You walk through a tunnel to get there and in true Niemeyer style the tunnel is all curves in shape and in the path it follows. You then take an elevator up tot eh third floor which is in the eye. The exhibit hall is very nice and under the curved roof it looks even better. There were side exhibits which were also interesting as the ceiling of the structure just seemed to fold in around them. You never actually see out of the eye to the outside but it was a very interesting space. As in another art gallery he developed, I don’t think any of the walls are stationary so you simply set the walls wherever you want them to best display the art that is being exhibited. I remember liking the art in the eye but I can’t actually remember whether it was based on a theme or not. I’m sure it was a variety of artists but the only name I recognized was Andy Warhol on one piece. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….My last stop was at the Torre Panoramico, which is a communications tower with a viewing platform where you can get panoramic views of the city and surrounding area. Because it was cloudy and overcast I really didn’t see anything more than the city in every direction but it was good to see because I had no idea the city was so big. I’d never even heard of Curitiba until this trip! The city has lots of parks (more than 50 square meters per inhabitant) and thus it looks quite green in about 75% of the views. The other 25% may have the same number of parks but it’s covered by high rises so the parks are less visible. There seem to be two distinct areas to the city. The first is a low part where all buildings are under four or five storeys high and normally only two or three. They are packed very close together and I’m assuming this is the old part of the city. The high-rise buildings are obviously higher and they also seem much newer. There is just a straight line or street down the city where you could walk down the street and have all high rises on one side and nothing on the other side. It seemed strange when looking at it from the tower but from street level you might not notice the distinction. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Anyway, I took lots of pictures as I moved around the observation deck. The last side I got to was over the high rises and it was a totally different picture, not just because of the higher buidligns but also because there was a storm moving in and the clouds were incredibly black on ominous looking. As I stood there the storm moved closer and eventually there was thunder and lightning and high winds and an incredible amount of rain. It was neat to watch it rolling across the city and to listen to the wind whistling around the tower. At times the observation deck was actually shaking as a result. I waited as long as I could to watch it but eventually had to go catch y bus again. I had a brief walk in the rain to the bus stop but didn’t get too wet as there were awnings and things to duck under. The bus schedule was obviously a bit off as I waited for about 45 minutes for the bus to arrive. However, it was dry so that’s what mattered. ……………………………………………….…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….I got back to the main square and got off the bus. All I had left to see was the Cathedral so I wandered over to it. The Cathedral is right on the main square, Placa Triadentes, and it looks very nice on the outside in an almost white stone and with two high spires all in a gothic style. Mass was on but they were allowing visitors in so I got to at least see the main church area. Parts of the cathedral are under construction so it’s definitely not as nice as it might have been. The inside was reasonably plain but it was still nice. From there I wandered back to the hotel to join the others for dinner down in the old town. ……………………………………………………….…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….There are many pedestrian streets in the city, including the one that our hotel is on. That is great for getting around on foot but it does mean that taxis can’t pick you up right at your door so get some extra exercise walking to get a taxi. Luckily both coming and going the weather was nice so it really wasn’t a problem. Rua Des Flores is a main pedestrian street not too far away, and it was probably the first in the city. These pedestrian streets are always busy but especially during rush hour. It’s amazing how many people are streaming down the streets and no wonder there are so many businesses open on the streets. And the streets are nicely designed with cobblestones (old) or new stones with black and white designs on them so they look nice as well. And there are benches and trees around so you can sit and people watch in the shade. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………….The city, as well as the rest of the country, was settled by Europeans from many different countries. There are specific areas of Curitiba developed to honour the Germans, Italians, Polish, etc. and these are now important tourist attractions. Of course they have to outdo each other so they keep improving all the time. The Polish area is seven authentic looking log houses in a forest. The German section includes the Hansel and Gretel Trail and an enchanted forest and tower. The Italian section of course features a lot of restaurants. All of these are on the Hop On Hop Off bus route so lots of people go check them out. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………. A lot of big old buildings have been converted for other purposes. For example, the old train station is now a railway museum, a glue factory was turned into an arts centre and, as mentioned before, the old gunpowder storage area is now a theatre. As a result the old buildings are still there for everyone to see and they are quite lovely. There are also many new buildings such as the Niemeyer Museum mentioned previously and the Opera House. I did not go to the Opera House but it sounded fascinating and looked quite beautiful in the pictures I saw. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………………………………….The whole city is quite a cultural city and was awarded the Latin American Capital of Cultural in 2003 and it’s easy to see why with all the theatres and event locations. Their Fringe Festival was underway and some of the group managed to catch one of the shows. It was of course in Portuguese but they still enjoyed it because it was quite funny and everyone seemed to be enjoying it. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………………………….The city has a population of 1.5 million people. It is 908 metres above sea level and has what they call a hot temperate climate. That apparently means an average temperature in their summer (December to March) of 21 degrees Celsius, which really doesn’t seem all that hot to me. It would have been an interesting city to spend more time in and I guess that means I’ll just have to return some other time. ………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Okay, this didn't post quite as expected. As I tried to format it again in blogger I think I noticed some repetition but I'm posting it anyway. Hopefully it makes sense. Oh! These last two sentences were written before I decided to try the periods as paragraph markers. Now I’m not sure if this has actually been posted before. Someone told me that one of my blogs got posted three times so perhaps deleting them when they don’t format properly really isn’t a good process. Hopefully this isn’t the fourth posting of this one!!!