Vern: In the morning, we walked around the gardens of the last emperor Don Pedro the Second's palace (no obvious link to the boozy coffee) but didn't go in because the museum didn't take bank cards, so we crossed the road to the Yellow Palace (the town hall) where a bilingual young clerk gave us a free tour on the condition that we signed the guestbook. We learnt you can paint concrete to look like oak or marble and that one seemingly must have a moustache to be ...

Vern: After not being able to go to Ouro Preto (actually not being able to come back), we decided instead to go to the charming mountain town of Petropolis. As we packed our bags to check out of our hotel, we saw something unusual shining in the sky--the sun! Yes, that glowing ball in the sky decided to come out as we were leaving Rio. We thought we couldn't let the opportunity pass us by so decided on an impromptu beach day before we went to Petropolis (only abo...