Day 3 - Saturday February 7, 2015
A tour bus picked us up at our hotel. The vivacious and entertaining narrator on board called herself T. T. She spoke seven languages and often broke in a nonsense sing-song chant of "Oh-la-la, oh-la-a, bi-ga-te, bi-ga-te, bi-ge-te," which brought out the smiles. The destination for the day was Petrópolis (in the state of Rio de Janeiro), so named due to the two Peters - Dom Pedro/Peter I (reigned 1822-1831) and Peter II (1831-1889), who were emperors of Brazil. Petropolis was the location of Peter II's summer palace. A tour of the Imperial Museum includes the palace itself.
THE CITY AND SIGHTS OF PETROPOLIS
A tour bus picked us up at our hotel. The vivacious and entertaining narrator on board called herself T. T. She spoke seven languages and often broke in a nonsense sing-song chant of "Oh-la-la, oh-la-a, bi-ga-te, bi-ga-te, bi-ge-te," which brought out the smiles. The destination for the day was Petrópolis (in the state of Rio de Janeiro), so named due to the two Peters - Dom Pedro/Peter I (reigned 1822-1831) and Peter II (1831-1889), who were emperors of Brazil. Petropolis was the location of Peter II's summer palace. A tour of the Imperial Museum includes the palace itself.
THE CITY AND SIGHTS OF PETROPOLIS
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We visited the home of Brazilian born engineer, Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873-1932). Considered a pioneering hero Santos-Dumont designed, built and flew the first practical dirigible airship. He won a prize in 1901 for flying around the Eiffel Tower. Afterward, he constructed (see above and below left) the heavier-than-air aircraft, the 14-bis in 1906. It's claimed the 14-bis, rather than the [Orville and Wilber) Wright Flyer, was the first true airplane since it did not use a catapult and it ran on wheels.
BACK IN RIO