5.4. Porto Alegre

We were finally sleeping really great when the bus driver suddenly woke us up. We were the last on the bus. We packed our things and got out to get the big bags. It was 6am and we were still almost asleep. We went to a lanchonette/cafe at the rodoviaria and had some breakfast. We stayed there a long time, as I was running back and forth between there, the different billeterias selling the tickets and the tourist informaton. Unfortunately no better news than we already had. The best choice was a bus to Chuy at 23:30, which arrives at 6am. We were very tired but finally descided to take this bus. It was quite some more running around until we got our tickets. We brought our bags to a storage room and took the Metro downtown. It is only one stop but was recommended. We went into the mercado where a lot of people were selling and buying fish. Maybe it was so many because of Good Friday tomorrow. There were also a lot of people selling different sorts of mate-tea and also a lot of other sorts of tea. Radka was already hungry as she did not eat so much for breakfast and so she had a vegan all you can eat buffet. I was still full and just had a juce. We went on to the Praca de Alfandega square and went into the a nice art gallery in a former bank building. The museum next to it was unfortunately closed. We went on to Praca da Matriz with the Catedral and another closed museum. We continued to the Centro Cultural Usina do Gasometro. This is a really cool center for exhibitions and art located in a former powerplant. We saw a cool short movie there called "Felix in Exile" (1994) and saw quite some other exhibits including many caricatures. Leaving the museum there was a really nice light just around sunset which leaves a nice impression of Porto Alegre. We had a beer and a small dinner - beef, fries and eggs. Not really a meal for Holy Thursday (Gründonnerstag), but well, we don't get a nice Osterjause on Saturday. We again passed the market where there were still a lot of people dealing fish. We took the Metro to the rodoviaria and checked into the VIP-lounge of our bus company. Here we have free WiFi and some nice place to sit and write the blog! :)