July 25,

0700 I awoke, and Jeff had been awake since 0600. We got around having breakfast of the last of the melon and toast with coffee for me, and Jeff had hot chocolate. My coffee has lasted quite a while, which seems to happen if you don’t use it.😂 

When we finished, we went out to the ferry dock. We wanted to try to book a ferry boat for Wednesday. The ticket counter told us to show up on Wednesday and book then. Okay. We wanted to see if we could see a suite on the ship, but the ship was not in port yet. The ticket taker said it would be in on Monday. Again okay, but seemed to be striking out. While we were doing all this couple of people were trying to get us a tour. We stopped at one and booked a one day tour for Tuesday. We had been wanting to do a tributary river tour for a couple of days, but nothing was working out and we noticed that the river is flooding with dangerously high water levels, so maybe this is best.

That mostly taken care of, we left the dock area, going back to our place. We had to do this because we didn’t have enough money and we had more back at our place. With the amount needed we returned to the dock and paid the whole amount for the tour. Whew! Then we saw the Cathedral was open so we went into it. The Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora da Conceicao, which translates as Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of the Conception is right out front of the building we are staying in. The Cathedral sits on a large square of property in the town. Anyway, inside a banner said the Cathedral’s first construction was 1695!! It also said the completion of the new construction was1877. It had a large marble(?) altarpiece with an almost glowing painting of Mary.

We left and went to a grocery store for more drinking water. We have noticed there are no convenience stores around. This may be due to everything being shipped in by boat? Questions. Anyway, this city is a working city, and a bit rough on the surface. But you can see the foundations/bones of many buildings were once grand. Now they seem to be crying out for restoration. We took the water back to our place and chilled out, cooling off until lunch time. It is warm here – low nineties, plenty of humidity, and we are close to the equator.

Around 1230, we went back out to Fiorentina Restaurant. We ordered Medalhao ao Moldo Madeira, which translates as Medallions of Filet Mignon in a Madeira Sauce. It came with mashed potatoes, and rice in a cream sauce. It was a very tasty meal with a bottle of Uruguayan wine. The meal cost us 254.87 BRL, or $50 with a tip. After we finished, we left and went to the Teatro Amazonas, which is an Opera House. When we arrived we paid 20 BRL or $3.93 each for a tour that started in just ten minutes. That was lucky! The tour commenced and our guide, Louisa, said the Opera house was built in 1896. The city was only 100,000 people at this time, but rubber had been discovered in the Amazon. This city quickly developed due to this and the Europeans coming over here. Of course, the monied people wanted entertainment and a place to be seen and see others. The building’s interior was made of imported items Limestone, Marble, and three kinds of wood: Oak, Maple, and Walnut. The only local product used was wood – Mahogany. The main hall was stunning with seating on the main floor and then U-shaped three tiers of box seating. Louisa told us the views and hearing were limited in those box seats, but it was all about the prestige of having the box seating that mattered. The ceiling was painted as if looking up at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower base. That was different. Then four sides of the painting were dealing with the arts. Then we went to a portrayal of the actor’s dressing room. Two original pieces – a spittoon, and an artist lamp were displayed in this room. Next we were taken to the Ball Room, again decorated with elaborate paintings, colored glass chandeliers, and the wood floor was inlaid with flower patterns. Louisa then allowed us into a box seat room with the amazing view of the main room and stage. Lastly we went by a Lego made replica of the theater with 30,000 Legos. We enjoyed the tour.

We left and meandered back to our place by way of a milkshake stand. We shared a 10 BRL ($1.97) chocolate-Nutella shake. Back at our place we settled in for the evening, having a snack supper of cheese and crackers. Good day in Manaus!