I have to admit I didn’t really like the song, but I was so curious, I googled it as soon as I got home.  In fact, I had to check the radio website first for the name of the song or who sang it.  There it was:  Ai Se Eu Te Pego by Michel Teló.  Then I started wondering, “We have so many better ones in Brazil… Why on earth would they play this specific song?  What makes it so special that it could enter a market where Brazilian songs don’t seem to have much space?”  Some more research and there was, what I believe, the explanation is: Soccer stars!  I guess it all started with Neymar (Santos), but it got bigger and stars like Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Lewis Holtby (FC Schalke) and even almost the whole Borussia Mönchengladbach team have danced this song while celebrating their goals.

I still don’t like the song, but how come I can’t stop singing it?  Damn it!

I remember reading a book I picked at my grandparents’ house when I was about 11 years old.  As a matter of fact, it was a love story which took place in Berlin during the Cold War when the city was divided into two.  The main character, the hero of course, was a very courageous and skilled man who helped people escape from East Germany into the West.  By then I didn’t know much (almost nothing) about the WWII or the Cold War, but got very curious about the topic and started asking my mom questions.  The story gave lots of emphasis to the fact that families were suddenly split with the construction of the Berlin Wall.  I couldn’t believe it!  How come?  How could people be forbidden from visiting relatives and friends?  How come people were not free to decide where to go?  Hard enough for an adult to understand, almost impossible for a kid.

In Berlin I was very excited about the Check Point Charlie (the most famous crossing point between east and west Germany) and the Wall Museum, where I could see pictures and read about the different strategies (some successful, some unfortunately not) people used in order to trick guards and escape to the west.

Last year, on our way back home from our weekend in Nuremberg, we stopped at Point Alpha, an observation point between east and west, but this time between Rasdorf in Hesse and Geisa in Thuringia.  At Point Alpha you can see how the border control was intensified as a way of hindering the escape attempts from people trapped in the GDR (East Germany).  Looking at the pictures you can see that people had to be extremely creative in order to flee.  I just wonder how much creativity one would need…

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,100 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 35 trips to carry that many people.

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Last Saturday (Christmas Eve) we were preparing a salad in the kitchen when my husband turned the TV on.  The first channel selected was showing an episode of Pippi Langstrumpf (Pipi Longstocking), a very popular TV series for kids in Europe based on Astrid Lindgren‘s books.  I asked my husband if he used to watch it when he was a kid, which he did.  I then told him that Pipi Longstocking wasn’t shown in Brazil when I was a child (neither it is now), but that we had Sítio do Picapau Amarelo (The Yellow woodpecker Ranch), an extremely popular TV program among kids mainly in the 70′s and 80′s based on Monteiro Lobato‘s books.  At that moment the opening song came to my mind and I started singing it out loud.  I love this song and all the others in the series because they remind me of very good moments.  I’m pretty sure the same happens to almost everyone who was a kid in Brazil in the 70′s.  At that moment I wished my husband knew what that song really meant to me.

If you were a kid in Brazil in the 70′s, just enjoy.  If you weren’t, just give it a try.

Adriana Calcanhotto

Vanessa da Mata

It’s a pity they hardly ever play Brazilian music here, except for Sergio Mendes (Mas Que Nada) or Vanessa da Mata (Boa Sorte).  I guess lots don’t have an idea how rich Brazilian music is.  But what else to expect from such a multiracial country, right?  Some of the Brazilian musical styles are internationally known such as Samba, Bossa Nova, MPB (Brazilian Pop Music) and Lambada, but there’s much, much more to it.

Nuremberg is also famous for its Rostbratwurst.  It looks and tastes different from the others all over Germany.  The Rostbratwurst in Nuremberg is thinner and smaller than the ordinary ones, and when you buy them at the Christmas Market, you get 3 of them in one roll.  Although there were different possibilities of eating something at the market, we decided to go to a restaurant called Bratwurst Röslein in order to be protected from the wind and rain and have a place to sit.  The atmosphere was so good, we came back the following day.  The food and the beer also tasted good.  We had the typical Nuremberger sausages and other Bavarian dishes and, of course, a refreshing and delicious Radler (beer mixed with Sprite).  They served a regional Radler from brewery Tucher, which can also be visited by tourists.  The sausages were served on a metal plate, which made me feel in the middle ages, just like in a theme restaurant!

In Bavaria people usually share tables with others they don’t know.  It works like this: you enter the restaurant and if they don’t have any empty tables, they lead you to one where some people are already sitting.  I like it because it creates an informal atmosphere.  The last time we were at Bratwurst Röslein, we ended up sharing a table with an Asian group.  I helped them with the menu and we had some fun with the way they reacted to the food.  If you’re in Nuremberg, give the sausages a try!

Here’s a video showing the Nuremberg Nazi rallies.

And here are some pictures I took during the trip.

Last weekend we went to Nuremberg where the most famous Christmas Market (called Christkindlemarkt) takes place.  The city was crowded and full of tourists, but that was expected when it comes to such a traditional and popular event.  Nuremberg is definitely worth a visit in December.

Besides all the Christmas decoration you can find at the market, you can also give some specialties such as Mettbrot or Mettbrötchen a try (if you have the guts to do so!).  Since raw meat in not my cup of tea, I prefer to stick to delicious candied nuts.

For some more pictures, click here.

For the ones who are interested in some ideas for advent calendars, click here.