Petropolistic

I'm back from my 3-day trip to Petropolis with my 8th graders. We all survived and it was a good time. More importantly for me, it was my first real opportunity to get a sense for the history of Brazil. Petropolis was kind of the Camp David for the ruling Portuguese King when Brazil was still an imperial nation under Portuguese control. The royal family had a palace built there in the 1700's. Petropolis is a small city in the mountains of the state of Rio de Janeiro, and the family would travel there during the hot summer months. So today, the palace is a great museum depicting this old world Brazil. We also visited the house of Santos Dumont, the first person in the world to ascend from the ground in an airplane. The important distinction between Dumont and the Wright brothers is that they flew from a raised hill, thus their achievements are complementary but different. We visited a beautiful cathedral downtown that was built over 200 years ago called the São Pedro de Alcântara Cathedral:
Nothing compared to the history of European cathedrals, but beautiful Gothic architecture and an impressive piece of history nonetheless. Yeah, I'm the only teacher who paid much attention to this one. The others are all Brasilians....
We also visited an old casino (although gambling was outlawed in Brazil 6 years after it was built in 1939) and the Crystal Palace as well. All in all, a beautiful part of the country and rich in history. I'm sure I got more out of it than our students.

Of course, when you've got the tour agency running the operation and accounting for the students, there's plenty of time for the teachers to have a leisurly lunch and enjoy the beautiful weather:
On another note, we're getting excited to come back home for a visit in a couple of weeks, evidenced by the countdown chain:
It's been 10 months here, and although it's a wonderful place to live for the most part, there are so many things (mostly people) that we miss and can't wait to come home for. I only wish it were going to be more than a month. All the best to friends and family. Tchau for now.