On Christmas day, we drove down to Blumenau, a city famous for hosting the 2nd largest Oktoberfest in the world. It was extremely hot, hitting 95 degrees, which makes this likely the hottest Christmas we’ve ever experienced. We hid out in our air conditioned apartment until evening when it hit a nice 85 degrees before heading out.
Our apartment is right in the middle of downtown. Everything was closed on Christmas day, but we did enjoy a few minutes of the Christmas service at the beautiful, modern and airy church that we can see from our window.
Then we drove over to Villa Germanica, the theme-park-like German village that hosts Oktoberfest, as well as a very lively Natal (Christmas) event. The German village is remarkably cute, with several blocks of small shops and restaurants all built in the traditional German wooden lodge style. It was especially picturesque, all festooned with Christmas decorations of snowmen, gnomes, wreaths, bears, and reindeer. There was a giant tree, with a tree-lighting show, a ferris wheel, and some carnival rides. The other end of the village had a second tree with fake snow drifting through the air.
There were also two large warehouses with indoor festivities. I’ve never had small white rocks used as fake snow get into my sandals before. The halls were vast, with an indoor music stage, multiple food vendors, sitting areas set up as the elf post office and the gingerbread bakery, and even a tiny indoor ferris wheel. Most importantly (for a snowy Christmas in 95 degree weather), it was air conditioned. There were many great photo opportunities, and Baby Bear took on the challenge to photo bomb every single selfie that Mama Bear tried to take.
The next day we tried a uniquely Brazilian/German tradition: the Cafe Colonial. The Cafe Colonial is like High Tea, a European-style mid-afternoon snack. But in Brazil, the focus is on cakes and cookies and tarts which is done as a buffet of course. We went to the lovely Gloria Cafe (and Hotel) around 3:30 for their Cafe Colonial. The tea was just hot water and a tea bag in a cup, but the cakes were all amazing, and this one allowed you to buy per kilo, so we didn’t overeat (much). Mama Bear’s secret talent is cutting super thin slices of cake. Baby Bear decided to just get one cookie and three blobs of jam (aren’t we the luckiest parents?)
Next up, our Christmas present to ourselves… animal fun!