Thursday was the opening game of the World Cup, and after lunch most every Brasilian was prepared to watch the game. Almost all the stores were closed, and people flocked to the bars as early as 2pm to get ready. T. Mona, her family and I watched the game at one of their good friend's house. He hosted a barbecue and had a lot of people over to cheer on Brasil.
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| Game about to start |
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| Kick-off! |
I was
secretly cheering for Croatia inside but definitely couldn't show it. Haha. It was really fun to watch with all the Brasilians though. So crazy and passionate!
The next day I walked downtown and explored the area by myself. First up:
Praça da Liberdade (Liberty Square), one of the main squares in BH. Lots of trees and fountains, and even a jogging lane. The city is very pretty; it's the third biggest city in Brasil, but it doesn't feel very metropolitan. They have a lot of green areas, squares, and parks.
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| Clear skies, beautiful day |
The area of the Praça da Liberdade is called the
Circuit, and is Brasil's largest cultural complex. It has several museums, spaces and cultural buildings. I forgot which building this was but it was designed by Oscar Niemeyer, one of Brasil's most famous architects, best known for designing Brasilia.
From there I walked further downtown and visited the
Parque Municipal Américo Renné Gianetti (what a long name, known simply as the Parque Municipal). It's a huge park in the city center with three ponds, more jogging lanes and exercise spots, playgrounds, etc.
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| Boats at one of the ponds |
Nearby the Parque Municipal is the
Palácio das Artes, a building which has theatres and galleries, and constantly hosts shows and exhibits. When I visited there was an exhibit of Sebastião Salgado, a renowned Brasilian photographer. There were prints from his latest book, Genesis, which was "
the result of an epic eight-year expedition to rediscover the mountains, deserts and oceans, the animals and peoples that have so far escaped the imprint of modern society" and they were
amazing.
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| Palácio das Artes |
I walked back to Praça da Liberdade and went in the Memorial Minas Gerais Vale (it was still closed earlier in the morning).
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| Memorial Minas Gerais Vale |
It was a small building dedicated to showcasing the cultural and historical heritage of Minas Gerais. It was really nice and interactive, but it was all in Portuguese. I can read and understand a bit because of my Spanish, but it got tiring after a while.
There was a small exhibit though of more of Salgado's work so at least I got to enjoy that.
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| Salgado's photos |
I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the games on tv, including Spain's very embarrassing 1-5 defeat to the Netherlands.
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