Day 47 - 11/22/23 - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - Day 2

 Day two started a bit earlier when I assembled our group in the Ocean Bar at 8:15am for our 8:30am tour.  Everyone was punctual, so we left promptly and Renato met us outside the pier exit.  Like yesterday, I'll not give a lot of detail about each stop, but we had 5 stops.


1.  Sugarloaf Mountain - We easily got our fast passes and were quickly taken up via tram to Utica Hill and then transferred to a second tram that took us up to Sugarloaf Hill.  From there we could see Botafogo Bay, Copacabana Beach, the entrance to Guanabara Bay as well as clear views of the airport and the Christ the Redeemer statute.  It was clear and a very nice visit.  Back at the bottom, the entry line stretched through the maze and out to the street.  I'm really glad we did it early.





Christ the Redeemer from Sugarloaf about 7 miles away

2.  Santa Teresa - This bohemian artistic area is dotted with 19th century mansions.  We visited a wood craft shop here and I photographed a number of murals as well as the local streetcar.









3.  HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL - This was an unscheduled stop as we were about 1/2 hour early for our lunch stop.  The museum was closed, but we visited the obelisk to pay our respects.


4.  Fogo de Chão Botafogo Brazilian Steakhouse - This was another highlight of the day.  First there was a buffet salad bar and then they started bringing out various cuts of BBQ'd meats until you "cried uncle" by turning a coaster over from the green side to the red side.  Drinks were supposed to be included and I had to intervene and negotiate to get them included.  In the end they were included.  Because of the heat, they also served a generous helping of vanilla ice cream that was really good.  Nobody left this restaurant hungry!

5.  Copacabana Beach - This is Brazil's most famous beach located in the heart of the luxurious South Zone neighborhood.  We had just a brief time there before being driven back to the port.


At the port, we said our goodbyes and Angela and I then walked about 1/2 mile to the small aquarium which we really enjoyed.  We then topped off our stay by riding the giant Ferris wheel next door.  We made it back to the ship by 4:30pm for our all aboard time of 5:30pm.  





After such a large lunch, we pretty much skipped dinner.  However, a Polish couple sat with us and we had a marvelous conversation with this and it was especially interesting to hear their story of growing up in Poland during the times of the labor strife and how the husband ended up emigrating to Australia and his then future  wife emigrated to the USA.  They now live in Dallas but love traveling together. I only had a bowl of lentil soup, some jumbo shrimp, and some potato chips.  But that dinner was nearly 3 hours long; but the conversation was so rich.  Afterwards, another couple stopped us and we continued conversing another 1/2 hour, before fatigue kicked in and the bed was calling.


Angela said I was in bed by 10pm and asleep at 10:01.  But I don't remember anything until waking up around 2am for a bio break.


Tomorrow we're visiting a beach town and it's a tender port.  

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