Brasilia Day 4

Our day started with checking out of our hotel and a quick Uber back to the Planalto Palace. We missed the changing of the guard yesterday, so our hope was to see it today. According to the Internet, the guards change every two hours, so yesterday we waited until an odd number hour, and they didn't change, so we got there before 10:00 to be at the palace for an even hour. Sadly, they didn't change on the even hour either, so maybe the Internet wasn't up to date about the changing of the guard times. We were a bit bummed to miss it, but fortunately it meant that we were right across the street to the National Congress for our tour at 11:00. When Allan was checking his confirmation email, he realized he accidentally rebooked on the wrong day! We quickly called them and managed to find someone who spoke English. The English tour wasn't until 12:00, which was too close to when we needed to leave for our bus, so we got booked on to the Portuguese tour at 11:00.

Still on the phone giving our details, we walked from the Palace up the sidewalk past the Congress fencing, and back down the long ramp to enter the building. We got checked in with plenty of time, and they also gave us a postcard to send from the building for free. It was a nice touch. When the tour started, We walked with our small group to the main foyer. The carpet was a puke green color, which was strange, but there was a lot of statues and artwork in this main entrance area including a blue and white mosaic wall with light streaming in from windows at the Three Powers Plaza. In one of the small rooms off of the large green room, was a room displaying gifts from foreign governments to the Brazilian government. Some of the gifts were beautiful and thoughtful, and others weren't (looking at you France and UK...). Some of the gifts were broken, and through our transcription of the tour guide and a sign nearby the broken items, we read that there was an insurrection, and citizens stormed the Congress and destroyed many things in 2023. We were surprised they still ran so many tours a day despite this.

Our tour continued to a blue carpeted area where offices and entrances to main debating halls are. We walked through the Tunnel of Time which has a detailed history of Brazil's government from start to finish. We had to move quickly through this area and didn't get to read the displays, but it was like a mini museum down the hallway. Culminating the hallway, was a replica of an old room with old microphones and desks where former congressional members would have sat. It was a nice touch.

Some people in our group were not great at listening to our guide when he wanted to move us on, so we quickly went through the chambers for the Senate and the House of Representatives. The bowl shape and dome shape were clear. Underneath the dome is the Senate and under the bowl is the House of Representatives. The Senate had a really interesting ceiling designed with aluminum sheets for decorative purposes as well as acoustics. They also have a worker who vacuums the hall and likes to leave shapes and designs in the carpet.

The chambers were our last stop on the tour, so after it was finished, we waited for an uber to get back to the hotel. We quickly grabbed our bags and got another uber to the bus station for our loooong bus to Rio. The bus to Rio was set to be about 21 hours, but we were making frequent stops which was both good and bad. We got to stretch our legs, but the journey was taking much longer than it was supposed to. We also had a rude guy in front of us who decided to bring a leaky cooler full of ice for his beers that proceeded to leak under his chair to our chairs and down the aisle of the bus... But at least his beers were cold. Around 2 or 3 am, the bus emptied out a fair bit, so I moved across the aisle (by climbing to avoid aisle lake) so we could spread out a bit and try to get some sleep. It was a long bus, but the last one we have to do for at least a good long while if not for the rest of our trip. A small price to pay for Rio Carnaval!Leggi altro