What is The German Forest and whats is its history: 

 The German Forest (Bosque Alemão in Portuguese), from the city of Curitiba, in the state of Paraná, was inaugurated in 1996 as a tribute from Mayor Rafael Greca to the German people who established their roots in the city since the 19th century (since 1833).

 The forest provides a journey that tells a little bit of the Germanic architecture, starting with the Bach's Oratory, which is a wooden replica building of an old Presbyterian church built in the Seminary district, and is also a tribute to the German composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Today, the building is used as an event room and next to it is a cafe that offers small dishes of the German cuisine.

 The journey follows on a wooden walkway leading to a wooden footbridge, which ends at the so-called Tower of the Philosophers, with 15 meters high.

  The towers has this name in tribute to the German philosophers Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche e Hannah Arendt, among others. 

  The Tower has a zigzag wood stair, and it takes to the Hansel and Gretel Trail, that tells the famous tale of the Grimm's brothers. The road is made of stone and the tale is told through illustrations done in tiles distributed along the trail. In the middle of the trail there is a children's library called "The Witch's House" (Casa da Bruxa in Portuguese) or "Enchanted House" (Casa Encantada in Portuguese). The house has approximately 2.700 books, and they receive children to the "Tale Hour" (Hora do Conto in Portuguese), where some characters like witches and fairies do a theatrical reading of children's tales. The library have room for 110 persons. Tourists can only participate if the house has not reached its maximum capacity. At the end of the trail, there is a portico representing the German architecture in Curitiba. The balcony used is the original one.

 My experience: 

 My visit to the German Forest was a bit "innocent", because it was my first trip as a tourist, and I wasn't at college yet, so I still didn't have a admiring and critical look over the tourist attractions. In fact, several attractions that I visited in Curitiba were on this trip I made with a friend, Iara. We have just finished our last year in high school and decided we wanted to travel together before we started college and each one move to the specific cities of our colleges. She went to the city of Maringá, and I moved to Foz do Iguaçu. 

 In Curitiba, we stayed in my cousin's house, and the German Forest was the first attraction we visited.  Em Curitiba, nos hospedamos na casa de uma prima minha, e o Bosque Alemão foi um dos primeiros atrativos que visitamos.  We got there with the tour bus that runs in the city, and we left with the same bus. Iara and I are from the Brazilian state of Paraná - a state that has many descendants of Europeans, mainly Germans and Italians - and we grown up in a small city, so we have a special affect by the germanic culture and by places who has the nature as an attraction.

 We were amazed with the building's architecture and how the local structure englobes the nature and uses it as its favor. I, particularly, really loved the children's library and the Hansel and Gretel Trail, because I love tales and fiction stories.

 The place is beautiful! It's really nice to spend some time there, and the buildings and the flowers are incredible to take a lot of pictures. Unfortunately, our pictures were not as good, because at that time we only had our simple phones to take pictures.

Accessibility and extra informations: 

  Unfortunately, the Forest is not completely accessible. There isn't any signaling for people with special needs and wheelchair users don't have access in all of the tour. The only accessible spaces for wheelchair users are the beginning and the footbridge. The bathrooms are also not adapted for wheelchair users.

 It's also forbidden to take pets inside the Forest, because it is a place of preservation of the fauna and flora. Therefore, the entry of domestic animals would lead to possible conflicts with wild animals.

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 How to get there: 

By bus: 

The lines Jardim Mercês-Guanabara (behind the Nossa Senhora da Luz dos Pinhais Cathedral); 

Interbairros II; 

Primavera e Bracatinga (Travessa Nestor de Castro); 

Touristic bus: http://www.curitiba.pr.gov.br/idioma/portugues/linhaturismo (Click on the USA flag to translate the site). 

By car: Táxi (To call it, you can use the Táxi 99 app), Uber, Cabify, Urbs and rented car.

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Prices and operating hours: 

FREE

The Forest: Every day, from 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. ; 

Cafe: Monday: From 1 P.M. to 7 P.M. / Tuesday to Sunday: From 10 A.M. to 7 P.M.

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 How to get more information: 

German Forest phone:  (5541) 3568-1087 (already adapted to foreign phones)

Official site of the city, about tourism: http://www.turismo.curitiba.pr.gov.br/ (Click on the USA flag to translate the site). 

Tourist assistance center in Curitiba: (5541) 3362-3831 and turismoserv@turismo.curitiba.pr.gov.br (Click on the USA flag to translate the site). 

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 Bibliography: (all in Portuguese) 

http://www.curitiba.pr.gov.br/conteudo/parques-e-bosques-bosque-alemao/268 - accessed in 22/04/18

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