Trip to Gramado

Gramado is a small city 2 hours away from Porto Alegre.  It is a lot like Park City, Utah.  They have a famous film festival there every year. It's up in the mountains of Rio Grande do Sul. Gramado was settled by Germans and Italians, and many of the buildings look like Swiss chalets. The city is famous for good chocolates.  There are many upscale shops and restaurants. We have a small branch of the church established in Gramado. As you drive up the mountain to the city, the roadside is full of flowers they call hortensias and we call hydrangeas. I've never seen so many hydrangeas. The city and country-side is filled with them.  At Christmas, the city goes way overboard with Christmas decorations and lights.

We visited Gramado on our preparation day after Christmas. The mission president and his wife were driving there to interview the missionaries and we rode along.  It was a lovely trip and we wanted to share some pictures with you.