Natal Luz in Gramado

Christmas time is the nicest time to visit charming Gramado. The streets are full of Christmas decorations, all made of recycled plastic bottles and colorful lights in the evenings.
During November-December there are many events going on in Gramado. The holidays program is called "Natal Luz" and it includes many events, out of which the most impressive one is the "Nativitaten". This is a show of a choir, laser lights and fire works, held in the surrounding of an artificial lake. A ticket should be purchased beforehand in Gramado's cinema ticket office, or online. This year the price for a ticket is 40R$.
There's also a parade, a singing tree (a choir singing between a Christmas tree leafs) and many more attractions.

Farroupilha Parade

Farroupilha week will be celebrated tomorrow, Sept. 20th, with a nice parade of the gauchos. The parade passes by the Farroupilha park with gauchos dressed up in traditional cloths, riding horses or decorated trucks, marching bands and typical music. 9:45-12:30.

Theaters in Porto Alegre

There are few theaters in Porto Alegre for concerts, plays and shows.
Teatro do Sesi offers concerts from international and national singers and bands. In the program it says where you can buy tickets. Tickets are sold in different place for each show. Address: Av. Assis Brasil 8787 – B. Sarandi Tel. 0800 518555.

Another theater is the Bourbon Theater which is located at the Bourbon Country Shopping, address: Rua Túlio de Rose, 100 Tel. 32318899. It's new and has shows for kids and adults. Tickets for shows are available at the theater Mon.-Fri. 10:00-22:00 or at Telentrega Opus.

Opus is a "telentrega" (delivery) ticket office. At this moment their site is not working but maybe it will work again one day(-: Tel. No. 32990800 Mon.-Fri. 9:00-19:00.

Teatro Sao Pedro which is located at "Centro" offers classic music concerts and plays in Portuguese. Address: Praça Mal. Deodoro, s/nº Porto Alegre Tel. 32275300.

Parcão - Moinhos de Vento

The Parcão is a nice small park, located in Moinhos de Vento neighborhood. In the middle of the park there is a small pond(well... maybe more like a big puddle) with turtles, water-birds and ducks. Next to it there is a nice windmill ("Moinho de Vento") that during the summer is open for craft work and children activities. In the upper side of the park there is nice playground and an opportunity for the kids (and parents) to meet new people and make friends. Around the park there are two marked paths for jogging - the shorter one is 650m long and the longer is 1 Km long.

I think that the Parcão looks a bit different for each of us - for some it is the place to work out, for others - a great place to go with the kids (with or without a bike, with or without soccer ball) or the dog, others can enjoy reading the weekend newspaper or a nice book (with or without Chimarrão).

From time to time, usually on Sundays, there are free activities at the park, like concerts, children games, working out in groups, dog shows and more.

Live Music Clubs

Among the many clubs around Porto Alegre, we like to go to Sgt. Pepper's or Abbey Road to listen to live music. They're owned by the same person. Both places have their "home band" that sings the Beatles songs on weekend nights. On other nights they have other shows as well, also from international bands (Stanley Jordan was at the Abbey Road recently for the 3rd time). The program is available in their website. The clubs have a very nice atmosphere and you can enjoy a good meal and show at the same time.
Addresses: Sgt. Pepper's - Dona Laura, 329 Tel. 33313258 from 21:00.
Abbey Road - Av. Plinio Brasil Milano, 1185, Tel. 33289516 from 21:00.

Santander Cultural Center

The "Santander Cultural" is an artistic center of Rio Grande do Sul for visual art, cinema, music and lectures. It is a beautiful old building, located downtown in Centro. Among other activities, I like their "Oficina de Choro e Samba". Every Saturday at 14:00 and 17:00 they have an informal, free of charge show of a choro band. People of all ages play music just for the fun of it.
They also have shows of Brazilian musicians and singers for very good prices. The monthly program can be found on their website.

In the lower part of the building there's a nice cafe, in a volt shape and an exhibition of all the Brazilian past coins and notes.
Address: Rua Sete de Setembro, 1028 Centro - Porto Alegre