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So, Petropolis - Retreat of the King of Portugal after he ran away from Napoleon & was "fighting" from Brazil; and now - retreat of the wealthy from Rio - And very nice it is too...
So, after a fair amount of stress organising buses there, buying an overpriced disposable camera, etc... I went off to the mountain getaway. Honestly, the journey there would have been worth the price of the tickey - as cheesey people say. It was amazing to be travelling through the remains of the (once vast) Atlantic Rainforest - and it was beautiful - is not a little spolit by the fact there was a sodding big road running through it- but never-the-less a very good experience.
So, I arrived at the former residence of the King of Portugal & was greeted by a very majestic (surprise), oppulent (again) imperial (!) European-esqu palace with lovely, lovely grounds. So, after donning the obligatory fluffy slippers (to stop ruining the amazing marble, parque - spelling?!?!?, floor) I wondered around the palace. Highlights were: the old paintings of Rio - even more beautiful than now! and the crown jewels were pretty impressive aswell. But my favourite was defineltly the grounds, full of lovely plants, trees, etc...
After wondering around the town & generally enjoyoing the ambience & lovely buildings, I occupied myself with working through a ridiculously sized meal. Lots of prawns & way too many beers. After successfully getting home (a big deal after the beers) I reflected that I would have been alot more impressed by this town had I not been round Europe myself, but despite this it was lovely & very strange to have a corner of Europe in the middle of a rainforest - & i think this was the most charming aspect, loads of lovely building stuck in the middle of wild forest!
Adeus xxx
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