Passeio Publico

Public Walk

Another adventure this past weekend.  The whole family did a test run of a trip that the girls and I need to take this week to make sure we got the right buses and transfers. Yes, I'll give you that the bus system is pretty great here - you can go almost anywhere.  However, figuring out how to do that can be extremely frustrating.  It took Mac and I four different maps (one paper, 3 online), about 1 hour of detective work and the help of a nice bus tube attendant to figure out how to get from our house to the terminal we wanted.  And we only made one mistake. 

As we went to the far northern terminal on one of the lines, we got to see a whole lot more of the city than we had before.  On the way back we stopped at the Passeio Publico, or Public walk.   It was the first public walk in Curitiba, opened in 1886.  My map describes it as "an area of leisure" with paths and lakes and bridges.    Here is the gate, which my guide tells me is a copy of the gate of the cemetery of dogs in Paris.  Why?  I don't know.  One of the girls, I don't remember which, pointed out the irony of the "no dogs allowed" sign at the gate.  Guess only dead dogs can go in.

 

Inside the park is a bird zoo.  There were several large enclosures with pelicans, flamingos, duck, doves and other birds.  Then there was a whole row of cages of tropical birds.  Pretty neat.

Nearby the park was another plaza with some more public artwork.  I'm not sure what this is all about.  I'll have to look it up.

I guess I'll also add to this post that Maggie has learned how to whistle, since I got a nice picture of it. 

This was pretty neat - the first 7000 times she did it.  She whistles all day, every day, and every time she finishes she asks "did you know I can whistle?"  Um...yes.