Scenic Sunday - Rio

I did not spend much time in Rio before it became my second favorite city in the world.  With so many wonderful things to see and beeches to enjoy.  How could one not love this city.  One of the great things to do is take the trolley up to the Christ Statue and enjoy the city view.  This weeks Scenic Sunday is dedicated to Rio as the videos are shot from the Christ Statue overlooking the city.  Enjoy 

 I would love to know what your favorite city in the world is and can you guess what city out ranks Rio de Janiero for me?  Leave a comment...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmM2xR9qlyo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf9AvhZsh90

Rio de Janiero - Day 10

Travel to Goiania

OK – so disappointed this trip must come to an end. The city of Rio de Janeiro is a new friend of mine and I

can only plan to come back again to take in more of it’s majesty and glory. We pack and Margarete and I take off for a quick wear and tear on the soles of our shoes. Nothing eventful happened on this walk, just thought it was a little funny we were so tired of walking that we decided to take a quick walk. Well, we hale a tax and head to the airport. As we take off, I have a window seat this time so am treated to a great view of Rio, Copacabana, and Ipanema as we head south down the coast. Beyond Rio, I am intrigued by Joa, Vidigal, Sao Conrado as we view them from the plane and soon feel a tickle inside to explore this country and learn more. I look forward to my next adventure.

Please let me know if you would like a personal tour of Rio -I would be happy to share this beautiful city with you! All inclusive packages available--

See my about me page for contact information or leave a comment.

  

  

 Could it be Sao Paulo? (our layover destination) You will have to keep watching to see.

    

After the two short airplane rides we arrive in Goiania again and head home to begin laundry and take it easy, basically recover from our trip. Home, no matter where it is! What a beautiful place it is! (Go to Rio de Janiero - Day 1) or (Read about Goiania)

Rio de Janiero - Day 9

Our last day of touring Rio! We know our plan and that the boat leaves at 11:00 but we start a out little early since I think we are a little anxious because this is our last day and we ant to see as much as we can today. We stroll along the beach and decide to peek in at Amsterdam Sauer. Remember earlier in the week when we were whether to head to Cristo Rendentor (Christ the Redeemer) and the gentleman (Conrad Wolf) on the street called his friend who was on the mountain top and found out that the view was worth going that day. Well, he works for this store right next to the Copacabana Palace Hotel and had invited us to come take a look. So, this became our first stop and what a wonderful store. A little out of my price range but the jewelry was beautiful, all of stones found in Brazil. After a quick look around we headed up stairs and were awed by the spectacular sculptures of birds. All carved from those same rocks found in different parts of Brazil, the artwork was truly a nice unexpected find on our journey this morning.

 

           

 

After our visit to the store is over, we head to the Metro and hop on the train to head towards Guanabara Bay. It takes us downtown and we head toward the wharf to get our tickets for the two boat excursion we are interested in for today. We are a little early but later appreciate this fact as other who arrive after us don’t get tickets on the second boat due to it being sold out. We wait for our trip and have coffee and browse the Brazilian Navy Museum.

  

  

12:30 comes and it is time to board the boat to head to Fiscal Island. Glittering like an emerald in the bay, it seems to have been dropped into the bay. On the island stands a castle completed in 1889 that takes up every square meter of the island.

It is in this castle that the “Last Ball of the Empire” occurred here later that year. The grand ball was celebrating the empire’s accomplishments, where Dom Pedro II (Emperor) even attending this lavish occasion. Days later the Empire would be overthrown in a bloodless coup and the beginning of the Republic would begin. OK enough about the history of this island, it is time to head there. As we wait for the boat to push off, a group of middle school students board the bus making a ton of noise end of the empire prior to the republic state. e and posing for photo every chance they can get. Their excitement is our demise as we were looking forward to a quite boat ride and it is now nothing near this. They seem not aware there are other passengers on the boat and we can only hope they have a separate tour guide once we arrive at the island. We arrive on the island and are happy when there are several tour guides and we are assigned ours without the teens. The tour will be in Portuguese so I am
           


  

handed a booklet with information in English to share with another visitor from Cologne, Germany (who speaks English). We become good acquaintances by the end of our journey on the island. The palace is filled with extravagant columns, festoons, and arches, most definitely reminiscent of the empire of Brazil. The murals by Frederico Steckel adorn the walls and the clock in the tower (from Germany) is surely amazing and delightful. We are guided around the castle and learn of the history as well as some things about the Brazilian science station in Antarctica. It is a beautiful start to our day. The tour is over and we investigate the castle on our own. I continue my conversation with my new Germany friend,  she shares about her travels as she has family in Brazil and Australia.
    
  
 
         

As we wait for our return ride, I notice a couple of teen girls from the boat ride earlier hanging around us but don’t pay it too much attention. Soon it is time to board the boat and a group of the girls are by me again listening and whispering. Finally one asks if I am American and when I say yes they all decide they want me to speak English and have their photo taken with me. It was my 16 minutes of feeling like a rock star I think as all the girls from the school soon ascended on me for a photo. Honestly I could not stop laughing as it was ironic that earlier I had thought them rude and inconsiderate of anyone else around because of their enthusiasm and now it was pleasurable. Go figure!

We board the boat and off to the main port we go.We have an little over and hour to wait until our tour of Guanabara Bay but the hour is short and soon we are off.  First passing close to the airport we had arrived in Rio at not long ago and will be departing from tomorrow.
 I surely don't want to start thinking about that.  It is an extremely relaxing afternoon on the water and a totally different view of the city we have spent the last days exploring by foot. We begin to plan out next trip to Rio as we pass by sugar loaf, fortifications at the entrance of the bay, some well known beaches on the opposite side of the bay, the Niterio Contemporary Art Museum, The Bridge crossing the bay built in honor of President Silva. There is plenty of photos to take. As we pass by the huge oil rig I think of the devastation in the gulf and hope this never happens to this beautiful place. Soon our boat excursion is over and we are goon back on shore.  We grab the Metro back to Copacabana.

 

             

              

We have decided to try Greek food at a restaurant near the apartment and spend the evening walking along the beach. The Greek food leaves something to desire so I won’t mention the name of the restaurant and after eating Margarete and I head to the water front for a little

 wading in the ocean. I have to share this story as we spent some time wading and after a while decided it was time to head back (as Luiz was waiting). We said 3 more waves and we are out of here. 1st wave, 2nd wave, then the third wave came in so hard and so much further then any other wave in the whole time we were there that we got caught off guard and got all wet. We laughed with amusement as what an appropriate way to end our stay at the beach. We head back to the room and on our way we come across the first signs of the animated movie Rio on the beach. Of course there is posing to be done. The final stop is for fruit salad and then off to get a good night sleep. Last night of dreaming of beach adventures for a while.  (Read Rio de Janiero - Day 10)
     
                                         



Rio de Janiero - Day 8

Another cloudy day and what are we going to do? We discuss what we are going to do today and it is decided not to head to Pao de Acucar (Sugar Loaf) as the the skies are gray and cloudy. I guess the blue skies we are looking to enhance the view from the famous peak will have to wait until my next visit to Rio. Yesterday during downtime / computer time, I did some searching for things to do and found that there is a Carmen Miranda museum in Rio and so I suggest heading in that direction. I also suggest heading to Fiscal
Island to check it out and we decide that is a great option for tomorrows adventure and put Carmen on our radar for today.



A quick bus ride and we find ourselves in the Flamengo neighborhood where the museum is located. We walk around to see more of the amazing architecture and history abound. We soon find the Carmen Miranda Museum and enter to find some of her costumes and the story of her life. Carmen was an internationally known samba singer/dancer who was born in Brazil. With accolades on Broadway and Hollywood, she is well known for the hats she wore and these elaborate costumes.        An interesting tid bit from what I read, is that her work experience was in a hat shop in Rio. I found it interesting that she spent most of her career in the United States and the Brazilian public criticized her for being Americanized. I will leave the rest of her story on the walls of the museum for your reading when you visit the museum yourself. On the other end of the museum there was a television playing some of her shows. We decided to sit for a while and enjoy the entertainment. We kept saying we would leave after this one but the next clip was worth staying for and needless to say we stayed a little while.

 

 

 

 When we finally leave, we proceeded to explore the Flamengo neighborhood and all its beautiful art-
deco buildings. We have spent sometime exploring this neighborhood but with over 300 acres of parks

and middle class neighborhoods, there is plenty for us to wander around without doubling a single step. I fall in love with flowering trees and plants as they add splashes of color throughout the Flamengo neighborhood as well as other areas I have visited in Brazil. We stop to eat at a cute little restaurant Fornalha (stove). (at least this is what I believe it was called). It ended up being the second true unique find of the day. With no English menus and having only been open a little over a year, the food being excellent with great service and a well decorated restaurant as well.

 

 

 

 We continued on our journey and came across another large Catholic Church we had seen several times from the bus and decide to take a peek inside. Currently being refurbished, it was interesting to spend a moment watching the ladies brush the delicate details of the church. I think to myself, I wonder just how many ornate Catholic Churches there must be in Rio. You could probably spend a whole week just touring them all if that is what interested you.

 

 Margarete takes the lead at this point as she had been to this area before and knows of an old used book store. Her cousin had lived in the neighborhood and Margarete had spent some time in Rio visiting her. It was a beautiful store with a wide range of used books. This day was turning out the be a good change of pace. After the book store we headed toward the Metro and returned to Copacabana.

After freshening up at the room – we headed towards Princess Isabela Avenida and had dinner on our mind. Along the beach past the Avenida into the Leme neighborhood. The restaurant "La Fiorentina" is well known as a celebrity hot spot (though we won't be seeing any this evening). There are signatures on the walls as well as photos to prove they have ate there. We get a seat by the  window and enjoy some

people watching as we nibble on some appetizers. What is on the menu for the evening is pizza as that is what the restaurant is known for. It is a nice evening and a great way to wind down as we enjoy our meal and once again decided that a walk on the beach is in order. Despite the over cast skies, it is a wonderful night to be along the ocean enjoying the cool breeze and people watching. It is again a beautiful

night despite the over cast skies. Tomorrow we will be doing some boat tours on the bay and I am excited for the change of pace. (riding in a boat verses walking). It is time to retire for the evening and get ready to greet another day. I cannot believe we have been in Rio this long but am also disappointed it is about the end. (Read Rio de Janiero - Day 9)