Rio to Paraty

Rio de Janeiro to Paraty

                                                      Ipanema boardwalk.

After our sojourn to the past in Petropolis, we drove our rental car back to Rio's Galeao airport, a drive that should have taken an hour. But after encountering massive traffic jams and poor signage that led us astray, we got to the car rental agency way late. Budget, however, was kind enough to look the other way.

Our few days in Rio were spent meeting up with a childhood friend of mine and getting re-acquainted with a city that is now enormous in size from when I last saw it (besides, that had been through the eyes of a ten year old - what the heck did I know!).

                                              Rudi, Sandra, Diane and me.

Meeting my old friend certainly was a highlight of the trip. Rudi and his wife, Sandra, flew in for a day from Itu, to join us in Rio. It had been 55 years since we had seen each other and it showed. After introductions we immediately began to rekindle the connection. Yet for a time, the moment had been filled with trepidations because we didn't know how things would work out after all this time. 

We enjoyed reminiscing about the past, talked about our parents and more recent events in our lives. We lunched at a restaurant on the Copacabana beach and afterwards had dessert at a historic confectionary restaurant (Colombo), in the old center of Rio. 

                               At Colombo's enjoying some fabulous desserts and coffee.

It was a truly unique experience seeing such an old friend again, after so many years. In the early evening we said our good-byes and made it a point to meet before another 55 years went by.

The next couple of days in Rio were spent getting more acquainted with the city and making plans for going south to the colonial town of Paraty.

Paraty

                                         The main church in Paraty.

The bus to Paraty took nearly four hours. Part of the drive took us through hillside areas. But at one point we got to the coast line and drove the rest of the way, along a beautiful coast. 

Paraty (pronounced Parachee) has a newer area and a historic zone. Our "pousada", which is more or less a Brazilian B&B, borders the old and new area. With wonderful hosts, great breakfasts and strong, Brazilian coffee - what else could one ask for.

                        Colorful tour boats line the docks offering day-long island trips.

On our first full day in Paraty, we took a boat trip with a big group of people (mostly Brazilians). It was a lot of fun and we ended up spending most of our time with a young Brazilian couple (Lia and Gabriel) from our B&B, who spoke excellent English. 

                             Our island excursion and new Brazilian friends, Lia and Gabriel 

The boat tour took us to several islands and bays where we could swim and relax. Some of the stops were beaches with backdrops of dense jungles. They reminded us of some of the South Pacific islands we've visited. The only things missing were the white sandy coral beaches. Here the beaches had the more typical light browne sand.

                                     One of the stops on our waterfall and cachaça tour.

                   Beautiful Bamboo shutes.

The next day we took a tour of the surrounding mountain area where there are lots of rivers and waterfalls. The tour also took us to some cachaca distillaries.

                                 One of the cachaça distillaries we stopped at.

On our last day in Paraty, we jumped on a local bus that took us across the narrow peninsula to a small, sleepy beach town called Trindade, pronounced "Treendahjee".

                                                       Trindade beach.

Our last evening in Parady we walked along the historic downtown area, browsed in some of the quaint stores and had a traditional Brazilian dinner consisting of fish, feijão (black beans) and rice. For drinks, we had caipirinhas, the typical Brazilian cachaça drink made with limes.    

Petropolis (State of Rio de Janeiro)

After our arrival at Rio's Galeao International airport, we rented a car and drove a straight to Petropolis (a city one hour away in the surrounding mountain side - a place where I lived from when I was three years old to when I was ten). 

My familty left Petropolis 55 years ago, when it was still a small, sleepy town - a place where elite Cariocas (Rio's citizens) had a second home to get away from Rio's sweltering summer heat.

Today it's a bustling city of nearly 150,000, with lots of noise and traffic congestion. We came here mostly as a walk down memory lane for me. It's by no means a tourist mecca, in spite of being a historically interesting city. Petropolis, after all, was the home of the two emperors of Brazil, Dom Pedro I and the II. 

After checking into our quaint hotel, Casablanca Koeler, we started on our tour of Petropolis searching for the flat I lived in that was nearby. On our way, we found the sports club where I used to swim (the Petropolitano), the Bohemia Brewery (where my mom would send me to get brewer's yeast from the vats to help with stomach ailments, and the Palacio Cristal (both very near to where I lived).

                                        We lived in the top flat on the right.

We then made out way to Avenida Iperanga, where I attended kindergarten (and just down the street from the school was where one of my parent's friend's lived. All places were quite recognizeable.

    Diane looking for gold at the end of the rainbow.

After almoco (lunch - the main meal of the day here), we walked along the main downtown streets. Lots of changes were evident, yet it all looked surrealistically as I remember it, but much busier.

On Sunday morning, after a big buffet breakfast, we headed by car to Palacio Quitandinha. It's a huge and extravagant building designed in the 1930's by an Italian architect in a French-Italian style with a lake in front of it in the shape of Brazil. The inside is decorated in more of an art decco style. 

The once casino, then hotel, now condo units Quitandinha was the largest hotel in Latin America. It had quite a history, particularly with such ilustrious guests such as Errol Flynn, Orson Welles, Lana Turner, Greta Garbo, Walt Disney, Eva Peron and many others.

On our return from Quitandinha, we stopped at another house my family had lived. As soon as we got within a mile or so of the neighborhood, I began to recognize the area, the streets, the park and some of the shabby store fronts. We drove right up to the street, turned onto it and there it was - the house I lived in from when I was about three. We lived there for four years. It brought back lots of good memories I had playing with my neighborhood friends who lived just across the street.

                             This is the first house we lived in when we moved to Petropolis.

Later in the afternoon, after a tasty lunch of grilled chicken, rice, broccoli and feijao (black beans), we visited the Imperial Palace where the two emporers of Brazil lived. No photos allowed inside but here's what it looked like outside.

                                     The Imperial Palace of Dom Pedro I and II.

Our last stop for the day was a visit to Casa de Iperanga, an old Victorian style home built in the late 1800's with an elegantly designed garden. It was owned by a wealthy coffee merchant, Jose Guerra, whose descendants still run the property. Although it had obviously seen better days, we got an informative, private tour of the house by the great-great nephew of the original owner. One of the interesting aspects of it was that it was one of the first homes in Petropolis to have electricity. 

                                                        Casa Iperanga.

Our last day in Petropolis was spent mostly on walks through town, taking in the scenary of a city I'll probably never visit again but one that was once an integral part of my youth. It's a place that's at once familiar and yet foreign to me.

                                                       Palacio Amarelo

                      Having a "cafezinho" or espresso.

                                   The cathedral of Sao Pedro de Alcantara.

Bottling 2013 Zinfandel Wine

Several of us met Sunday morning at Gary's to bottle 35 cases of our 2013 zinfandel wine. We had a lot of help thus the work went quickly. After setting up the equipment and ensuring everything was clean, we proceeded with the bottling.

The three red thorny things are bottle rinsers/drying trees. Towards the back of the garage are bottle fillers, a corker and the labeling area.

Above, the pump pulls the wine from the barrel to the stainless steel tank. 

From the steel tank to the left of John, the wine is pumped into Enolmatic bottle fillers.

Jeff cleaning the bottles with SO2 and hanging them on the drying tree.

Empty bottles set up to fill, John manning the bottle filler station and Steve corking. Karl, in the middle, is production control - ensuring the bottles are filled correctly.

The rest of the bottling crew putting on labels and boxing the wine.

John, taste-testing the final product.

After loading up our cars with nearly five cases each, we had a barbecue. We sampled the new wine, and had salad, deviled eggs, backed beans and huge hamburgers. All-in-all, a very productive day.

Amsterdam - 2015

Amsterdam

We stayed in Amsterdam for the remainder of our trip, after returning from our visit to Erika in Bernau, Germany. Our main focus was to be with Isla, although we did spend time with our friends, Maarten and Ineke.

We had a comfortable Airbnb just down the street from Meredith and Elliot. Even though we often ate dinner at M&E's, it was very convenient to have our own place with a kitchen.

Living room of our flat.

In spite of the cool weather (near freezing), we often took Isla for walks either with the Ergo or using the stroller. But it took a bit of preparation to get all bundled up. And we got lots of opportunity to sit and play with her.

All bundled up ready for a walk.

Taking Isla for a stroller ride in Sarphati Park

Isla loves to stand up but needs a little help staying up.

Meredith has gotten used to multi-tasking - doing such things as cooking while keeping Isla engaged. Carrying Isla in a sling is one way to make that possible.  

Isla keeps a close eye on what mom's up to.

One of the activities we did was to visit the Hermitage Museum where they were having an exhibition of Dining with the Tsars.  

The porcelain services were works of art.

This was the "Cameo" service consisting of 1000 place settings. 

Fans, used by women were also used to communicate messages.

The Amstel River runs through Amsterdam. It's very scenic, with great walking and bicycling paths and is used by boaters and rowing enthusiasts. On one of the sunny days, I ventured out for a bike ride along the river.

The Amstel River

We spent a couple of days at Maarten's house in Purmerend. One morning we woke to find a light sprinkling of snow on the ground. Later that morning, Maarten showed off his skill at an archery tournament.

Snow in Purmerend.

Maarten taking aim.

We also visited Ineke's home in Loosdrecht and had dinner there. During the afternoon we checked out her "cabin on the water", a quintessential Dutch houseboat.

Dinner at Ineke's home.

Ineke's houseboat.

Maarten and Ineke on a walk in Purmerend

During the last couple of weeks in Amsterdam, both Diane and I caught severe colds. Mine seemed worse.  Unfortunately, the colds limited our activities. But they didn't prevent us from enjoying the family. One of our favorite things to do was preparing evening meals and sitting around the dining table. 

At home with Elliot, Meredith and Isla.