A favorite quote-

"You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old. "
George Burns

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Touring Rio

On Tuesday we decided to take a tour of Rio de Janeiro which included the huge statue of Jesus Christ that you always see on television
 We left from this hotel - the Rio Othon Palace.  It was highly secure with bodyguards all over the place talking into radios held descreetly in their hands.  All wearing suits and looking like they belonged in Washington DC guarding the president.  But since there were 160 delegations from all over the world for Rio +20.
 This is the    soccer stadium in Brazil, where World Cup games are played.  It is being reconstructed for the summer Olympic games in 2014
 You've heard of Carnival?  Where apparently this is where the majority of this happens.  The floats and performers go down the center between the two sides of the stadium.  It holds 90,000 people and goes on for blocks.
 For some reason this upside down ice cream cone structure was on our tour.
 It was a lot prettier inside.  Beautiful stained glass windows on four sides.
 The best part of the tour was the statue of Christ the Redeemer way up high on the mountain.  The small road to it goes through a "Favella" which is a Brazilian slum area.  These tracks are for an electrical train, which is also under reconstruction right now.
 The view from up on the mountain.  That area that looks devoid of buildings is actually a huge cemetary!

 Isn't this a cool picture?

 This is a lagoon - fresh water that connects to the sea.  We had dinner at a nice restaurant at this lagoon the night before.
 We had to climb 220 steps up.  It was easy.

This mountain is surrounded by a jungle.  If you look closely you can see one of the monkeys!


No comments:

Post a Comment