how do I look

...posing in front of a traditional building (a fake one, but nevertheless).
Strange, but I felt a lot more German in Blumenau than I ever did in Germany. Perhaps because I was always wondering: is this due to German influences or result of the hybridization of the place? Like: no dogs, no dirt in the street, cars actually stopping when you try to cross the road (which definetly NEVER happends in Sampa).

Anyway, I'll say 'chaozinho' for now. And I'll try to post more regularly from now on, though I can't promise ;-)

the christmas tree of my dreams

exposed in the glass museum. You just have to polish it once in a while.

my padaria

Ok, this is not really Blumenau, but Sao Paulo. Anja came to visit me and here she is in my favourite padaria (bakery). They have this huge amount of self-serve-food and up there where we are seated no one disturbes you trying to sell some more coffee etc. So we spent about three hours there sipping one cappuccino after the other just talking talking talking.

o desfile

OK, in total I took about 150 pictures of the desfile, but I won't put you through this. So I selected just a few pictures so you can get a first impression (and come over here next year).

signs in the street

Ok, just in case, you don't know where you are going, check out the second and third line of this sign. Nice isn't it?







And of course some of the streets still remind you of the German colonization. Like the Antiga Wurststraße, which today is namend XV de novembro. That's where the desfile will take place.

Oktoberfest = festa da cerveja (beer festival)

Which means that beer is definitely involved. Either in the beergarden or in one of the brewerys (here: cerveja Eisenbahn) . They are very proud about brewing their beer following the rules of the Deutsches Reinheitsgesetz (German law of purity for beers), which dates back to... I don't remember, but its VERY old (older than this country anyway). Pleas note the nice flowers we are wearing while tasting the Eisenbahn ;-) Well, while Anja tastes the Eisenbahn.



Of course all beverages are served by traditionally dressed young ladys. Although some of them don't look THAT German after all. But that's the special charme of Oktoberfest in Blumenau. To see proper Bavarian Girls you just will have to stay in Munich.

Blumenau: as German as it gets

This is one of the typical German houses in Blumenau, namely the tourist office. And what do you see in front of it? Baianas (Brazilians from Bahia, a north-east province) selling baiano food to the Blumenauers. That's very typical for the European-Brazilian mixture present in south Brazil.






And this is Vila Germanica. On the Oktoberfest-location they built up this line of typical houses to host tourist stores and of course the annual Oktoberfest.