Gramado at Long Last

We had big plans for Grammy and Grandpapa.  We were going to spend 4 days in Gramado, a quaint mountain town with a strong German-Swiss heritage.  The scenery is supposed to be gorgeous, the town lovely, the food amazing, and most importantly, the chocolate supreme.

 

Unfortunately, I have never in my life seen a traveler have as much trouble getting to their destination as Grammy and Grandpapa had trying to get to Brazil.  It started with weather-related delays, and carried on with cancellations, mechanical problems, taking off and actually returning to the airport with plane trouble, a brief overnight in a hotel on the way, new flights with delays and finally arriving 3 days later.  In addition to this our whole family was waiting 6 hours from home to pick them up, getting what seemed like hourly updates on the status of flights.

 

In the end, we had one night in Gramado, and it rained pretty much the whole time we were there.  But I could see the charm, the draw to this town, and in our limited time left in Brazil, I hope we make it back.

 

Because of the weather we sought out indoor activities, including the "World of Vapor" steam museum.  Although it was small, it was amazing.  Perhaps my standards have been adjusted significantly, but it was one of few times in Brazil when have I looked at DaddyHealy and said (aside from the Portuguese) "I feel like we're in the US!"

 

In front of the museum was a recreation of an actual event that took place in France, a train driving right through the front of a station.

 

They even had a cute little steam train (thankfully covered) that gave rides, rain or shine, around a little track in the yard of the museum.

One of the things Gramado is known for is fondue, which we could not possibly pass up!  It wasn't cheap, but it was a full experience.

The appetizers were a fantastic start.

We of course enjoyed an ample amount of cheese fondue with a variety of dippers, bread and broccoli being the kids favorites, I was rather fond of the tiny new potatoes.

The main course was called "fondue of the stone" and they brought a blazing hot stone out with thin cuts of various raw meats to cook on the stone in minutes.  There were also 14 different dipping sauces.  It was hard to translate all of this for everyone and remember what he was saying too.

What would a fondue dinner be without chocolate for dessert?

You can see everyone was well fed.

We stayed at a Pousada.  It is the Brazilian version of a bed & breakfast.  The establishment is a bit bigger than just several guest rooms in someone's house.  But compared to a hotel, it was small, quaint and family owned and operated.  The breakfast bar was very typical of this type of place, fresh fruit, french rolls, pastries, cheeses, ham, salami, jams and butters, a few hot items and yogurt.  It's a good breakfast for us, one that the whole family always enjoys.

This Pousada in particular is one I would love to return to.

 

Because of it's location in southern Brazil (far from equator) and in the mountains, the flora very much resembled what we are used to in the mid-western US, only more grand.  This picture cannot even begin to do justice to the amount and size of the hydrangeas.