The Green Bus

Warren with "the girls".

A couple of weeks ago we had the fun of going on a city tour bus
through the streets of Curitiba.
Because I had been having problems with my knee we hadn't been out to see too
much of the city on our own so it was a blessing to be able to do this.
We had been wanting to do it, Marcellie had been wanting to take us
and one Sunday a girl from the church gave us tickets
not even being aware of our desire to go.
It was such a blessing.

Thank you Natalia!

A school class on the walking street.

First Marcellie arranged for us to have lunch downtown with a
classmate of hers that grew up in Albany.
He actually graduated the same year as Josh
but from West Albany.
Too bad for him!

Then we "dreamed" in some of the stores in the area
while we waiting on the bus.

Settling in for the bus ride. As you can see the top of the bus is open.
It was the perfect day to go. Sunny but not to hot.
The girls bought us the hats,
afraid we would get sun burned.

Our guides and good friends:
Marcellie and Helo.
(Helo is John's sister-in-law)
Both are beautiful inside and out!

One of the parks in the downtown area.
Notice the sidewalk sweeper.

Hey, a little "fixer-upper" for me.
But then, Warren isn't so much into electrical work.
Better pass!

One of the city sidewalks.

The building of an apartment complex.
Thought you may want to see the "bones".
These guys are putting the stucco over the brick.
They had a pulley rigged up with a bucket on the end
and would pull it up to them with the cement in it.
They were on the 3rd floor, I believe.

One of the magnificent buildings that are being restored.
Curitiba is considered the European city of Brazil
and you will find much of that influence in the buildings.

I love it!

The picture doesn't show the "I" on igreja
which means church.
The bottom line means
"God is love"

The Tubes
explained later.

Although Curitiba is light on the graffiti,
every now and then you run into some areas that are full of it.
Some of it is almost a work of art, others -
not so much!

This is what they call a "tube".
It is one of many around town and is actually
the bus stop!
People can enter these and change from one bus to another
without buying another bus ticket.
Curitiba is known for it's public transportation system.

And this is one of the reasons you want to take
public transportation!
And this wasn't even rush hour.

This is the side of the tourist bus.
I took the picture to show you how close we are to the ladder.
We (the bus) are in the middle of a turn at a major intersection.
The ladder is in the intersection with a man on it repairing something.
The ladder is leaning on the electrical wiring that runs across the street.
We (the people in the bus) could have easily reached up and grabbed the wires.

We remained stopped in the intersection until he was done with his repairs.
We could not have finished the turn without
running over him.
No OSHA here I guess!!!!

Finishing our afternoon with a light snack at an outside cafe.
Beautiful weather + beautiful people + a beautiful city=
a truly memorable afternoon.

Thank you, Marcellie and Helo!!!!!