"Don't wake me up -- I am enjoying this dream"

On the 11th of April, our friends from Sao Francisco do Sul come to Joinville.  Schemmel, Rita and Mike pick us up at the hotel to visit the Gymnastic Club of Joinville.  We have found that many typical buffets is this area of Brazil weigh your food each time you visit the buffet, and then you are charged so much per kilo.  It is a system that works.  You get what you like, and there is very little waste!

For dinner Schemmel invites me to his "Guys Only" weekly gathering. This is a group that votes members in, based on 100% approval by all the members. It was a friendly group of Joinville's finest!
Attached to the restaurant was a 4 lane bowling alley. The narrow dark wood, which was about 16 inches across, is where the ball must stay.  If the ball deviates to the linoleum, it is basically in the gutter, as there is a 1/4 inch height difference between the wood and linoleum. The pins had a small rope connected to the top of the pins for resetting the pins!
A German looking hotel, as seen from our hotel room.

On the 12th of April we relax and visit a few things in Joinville.

We started out with a visit to the bicycle museum in Joinville.
Interesting bicycle fender ornament.
The museum also had a few motorcycles in their collection.
A 2 stroke BSA!
And then to the palm lined avenue of Joinville.

We finish the night with some Bossa Novas and one of the best steaks I have had on this trip.

Friday, the 13th, and we are heading from Joinville to Curitiba, Brazil.

I found that I was a little more cautious than usual!

We had to leave our fine quarters at the Bourbon Hotel of Joinville.

And for the 1 1/2 hour ride we climbed from near sea level to about 3,000 feet through this type of terrain.

The roads have been good in Brazil!

Curitiba is very modern. These triple section busses are entered from the "Tube" platform on the left.
The bus pulls up, and the ramps immediately lower from the bus, passengers load and unload quickly, and off the bus goes!
Walking around town, we passed a Yamaha dealer. They had some models that I have never seen in the U.S.A. This was a 660cc 4 stroke enduro type bike.
And a V-Twin cruiser/sport bike!

The old historic section of Curitiba.  Sure wish the sun was out so you could see the colors!

Antarctica is a major brand of various drinks in Brazil, including beer and guarana sodas
Although Curitiba is very clean, every so often you see this done to a building! It makes you wonder how it is done, with out the people being caught!
Are the entire upper floors vacant, which would allow somebody to get inside the building and do this kind of damage. This is not typical throughout the city of Curitiba.

On the 13th we took a tour of the city in a bus.  It was identified in our travel book, as one of the best city tours in all of Brazil.  The tour visits 25 major sights in Curitiba.  We took the tour, with the GPS running, in our pockets.  We marked the things we wanted to return to, in order to spend more time at the sight.  The picture (below) is of the Oscar Niemeyer Museum.  Oscar is the most prominent architect in Brazil and was responsible for many of the buildings in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil.     (Oscar Niemeyer Information)

This tower section of the museum was closed, but we were told that there are theaters, exhibits and a restaurant in the eye shaped structure.

The tour has 25 stops, and you can get off the bus, and then catch the next bus and resume your tour. Sandy, enjoying the typical Brazilian lunch.
Again, the historic section of Curitiba.
Curitiba and the surrounding area of suburbs has almost 3,000,000 people. One of the things I wanted to see was an 11 story apartment building. What is special about the building is each floor is a complete apartment, and it rotates so you can take any room and spin it to any direction! Nobody could tell us where the building was located, so we went to the top of a 325 foot tower, and scanned the horizon with a 12X telephoto lens. That is the building, with the yellow thing on the roof.
We could not get inside the rotating apartments, but found these pictures on the internet.
This is the computer interface, where the owner can pick times and directions of where you want your apartment to be located!

Brazil is the country of high rise buildings!

Curitiba is at an elevation of 3,000 feet and has a very nice climate.

After the tour, we purchased tickets for a Joao Bosco concert, which was held in this old restored armory building.
Inside the building, which is now a theater, there are old pictures of the building, showing what it was like many years ago.
We had no idea who Joao Bosco was, but it was EXACTLY what we were hoping. Brazilian music, including Bossa Nova's! (Joao Bosco Link)

On the 15th, we took the bike, with the GPS, and visited the things that we wanted to see more thoroughly from the bus tour of yesterday.

The first destination was the Botanical Gardens of Curitiba.

The Gardens are in the center of the city.

Very nice................

The next stop was the "Wire Opera House". Across the street from the Opera house was this accordion player, attracting customers into the restaurant.

The "Wire Opera House" is actually a "Pipe and Glass" Opera House.

It was built above a pond, with it's own natural waterfall.

Then we rode through the nicer residential neighborhoods of Curitiba.

Then we visited the Italian section of Curitiba, called Santa Felicidade. We checked out the cemetery to see if the names were actually Italian!
They were.............

Then we visited the rotating apartments. If there were rotating homes in California, I would be interested!
And the building is located on a hill, so the view was great!

We finished the day with dinner at a Mexican restaurant.
On the way home, we passed the Oscar Niemeyer Museum.
Looks like Disneyland of the 1960's.

On Monday, the 16th, we visited a small car museum,  I thought that Willy only made jeep type vehicles!

Sandy and I stopped for lunch.  I paid the bill and put the change in my wallet.  One hour later I wanted to purchase new jeans.  Reached for my wallet.  IT WAS MISSING!  Credit cards, ATM card, drivers license and about $300.00.  Could not believe I was pick pocketed!  I was pissed.  I was depressed.  I was angry.  Sandy suggested that we return to the restaurant where we had lunch (a few miles away).  I was thinking "What a waste of time".  I had to get on the telephone and call banks and credit card companies!  I asked the gentleman at the restaurant, if I had laid my wallet down.  The answer was what I expected...... "No" he said.  But he suggested talking to security.  Again, another waste of time.  The security guard got on his radio, then asked me my name and the color of the wallet.  I told him "Dale.... and the wallet was brown".  He suggested that we visit the security office.  Again, what a waste of time!  You can't imagine my surprise when we walked into the security office and another gentleman held my wallet up!  I could have hugged the guys (I did).  Somebody found the wallet on the floor and turned it in.  Everything was intact, including the cash!  I gave them each a nice tip.  My faith in the citizens of Curitiba was 100% restored.  My confidence in my own judgment is questionable!  We went back to the store and purchased the jeans.

After I purchased the jeans, I returned to the mall to take a picture with one of the security guys. What a relief, not having to spend the rest of the day on the phone calling banks and credit card companies!
The university across the street from our hotel.

On Tuesday, the 17th of April, we depart Curitiba for Sao Paulo, Brazil, which is one of the largest cities in the world!

The scenery was great! 

Rolling terrain, the entire distance.

There are very poor areas, but not like I was expecting. It is tropical and many people do live off the land.
We took a break at a road side fruit and drink stand.

The bike and Sandy are holding up well!

This roadside restaurant had 8 off road vehicles returning from the Amazon Basin.......

Outskirts of Sao Paulo.......
We had a friend in Sao Paulo, Dov, suggest the Radisson Hotel. Good suggestion........   Sandy is happy!
I was happy.... It has high speed internet....
The view from our hotel room.... Helicopters landing and taking off from all the high rise buildings....

We finish the evening with a visit to Dov and Beth, in their beautiful home in Sao Paulo.

This is a picture from their balcony!

Lights as far as you can see..... The view looks almost like it is computer generated!

That is it, through the 17th of April, 2007!

"Don't wake me -- I am enjoying this dream"

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