It seems I am catching whatever Bronchial Cold that Elee has been suffering from in the last week and I choose to avoid most of the ship’s activities happening aboard. I spend a lot of time in my cabin. But the muscles were a great appetizer at dinner!
See you all in a couple days while I recover!
Our tour driver arrives on time. We were hoping to be the first on the bus but we are next to last. All is okay though as I get a seat with availability to take a few photos and am seated next to a man from New York who is a Navy Vet and very pleasant to chat with. He is only in his late 20s and has a fabulous sense of humor! The tour picks up one more passenger and we are on our way!
The road up to Christ the Redeemer is tree lined through a forest with occasional views down on the city. We arrive at the parking lot and unload the bus. Our guide takes us up a ramp and small sets of stairs to a gift shop where he buys our tickets. Then we go back down ramps (hey, what is with this?) to load more busses that take us to the top parking lot. We unload the bus and are presented with a massive stairway. We look off to the side and we are overjoyed to see a sign pointing to an elevator!
We emerge from the elevator to see the final 220 steps to the top. Then we look left and see escalators! Wow! So escalators it is! 4 escalators later and we are at the top looking up at this monolith statue. Our cameras report dizziness as they look up to get their favorite shots! Throngs of people are mingling and getting their own photos (hopefully not as good as ours!). Dozens of people pose with their arms out, posing like the monolith! We join suit and get our own photos. The weather and sun and clouds and blue skies all help as we tour the area. The views down onto the city are spectacular as we walk around!
Our cameras satiated, we travel back down the escalators and elevators and meet our guide who then loads the bus and takes us down the hill. Now it is on to the famous Cathedral that is unique in it’s own right and definitely unique as cathedrals go in the world! It is like a pyramid in the middle of the city! Our cameras are set free for 15 minutes and they make the best of our time!
We now board a new bus and travel to the ‘Selaron Steps’. A famous set of tiled steps named for the designer. Fun place but we only climb a short way. Our cameras capture the marvel of the steps and we then progress down to the bus. Elee and I go down first to get some photos that we saw as we arrived but couldn’t get. We go and take our photos and the tour guide chases us down and tells us we are not safe here! But we never felt threatened (except for a crazy lady yelling at me) yet we go back to the bus.
Next we head off towards Sugarloaf Mountain. The afternoon is waning and we arrive at Sugarloaf an hour or so before sunset. Perfect! We cross the street to get to the cable cars and an actual crossing guard is dressed as a Star Wars character! We get in line to load the cable cars and along with 63 other tourists per cable car we get in. The first cable car ride goes to the top of Morro Da Urca Mountain and we walk through a fairly lush garden (surprisingly) to the next cable car station. Boarding the next cable car, we are first in line to board so we get prime locations in the car! It is a fun ride up as the sun is starting it’s descent in the sky!
We unload and walk around the platforms and marvel at all the restaurants and snack shops at the top! But our cameras rebel at all the shops and drag us towards the railings and views off the top! So we allow them to capture the views as best they can and eventually we force them into temporary retirement while we share a slice of pizza and a beer as a snack! Then, after our cameras convince us to get a final few images, we cue up and ride down the cable cars, once again jockeying for position for our cameras! Nice tourists recognize our cameras and happily make way to give me a prime position!
At the bottom of the first cable car ride, we are back on Morro Da Urca, while we wait for our group to gather, we are still at a decent altitude and we grab photos of the city as all the building lights come on! Great shots! We even see Christ the Redeemer in the distance and get shots from afar as the statue is lit up!
Then our bus starts dropping tourists off at the different pick up points. We tell the guide not to take us to the Porto Bay Hotel where we were picked up. It seems we have met another couple from our ship on the tour and they know how to ride the Metro Trains back to the ship for free! So we go with them and we get back to the ship.
Tonight the ship is throwing a “Carnival” party on board. We think the ship’s timing of some of these events is poorly planned. There are people still not back on the ship yet and those of us that are aboard are tired from touring Rio all day! Good night all!
So where are our intrepid travelers today? After setting my alarm for 6AM, I quickly throw some clothes on, grab my cameras and head up to the top deck! I am greeted by the sight of the Brazilian coast at sunrise. I hang out up top for an hour and a half as we enter the harbor of Rio de Janeiro! Also known as the Marvelous City! The first recognizable shoreline we see is Copacabana Beach and Ipanema Beach. Even though we have never been here before, just by studying the maps it is clear that is what we are looking at. Rows of hotels line the beaches.
The next things we see are Christ the Redeemer on top of a hill and Sugarloaf Mountain. Interesting landmarks recognizable to all whether you have ever been here or not! As we travel further into the harbor, different sights entertain our cameras. Skyscrapers and museums and ships in the port all assault the camera sensors! The rising sun after sunrise gives eerie light to the scene. Low lying fog behind the city buildings make for quite the backdrop for the city. We finally arrive at our dock and the ship does a u-turn with a mere few yards to spare on both front and back. This maneuver would have been impossible in Capetown with the winds we experienced there.
Once at the dock, we go back to the room and change for the day. It is 8:30AM and people are being allowed off the ship. We don’t need to be back on the ship until 11:30PM tonight so we have plenty of time! I have 3 pairs of “Port Pants” that consist of shorts with multiple pockets in the front. My wallet and ID safely stored in a velcroed pocket, money in another pocket. Camera batteries and camera cards in a third pocket and everything else in a forth pocket. Back pockets are empty. Never carry anything in back pockets when traveling in foreign cities. If you have pockets secured with velcro or zippers, that is best! Dressed for the day, we head up to breakfast and then back to our cabin for our cameras!
We set off the ship around 9AM and get directions to take the small train shuttle into town to do some local shopping for sundries again as we decide upon items that would be useful. We bring the items back on the ship and then head back out to meet our tour.
Getting to our tour consists of hiring a taxi for $40 USD to take us to Copacabana Beach where we will meet our tour. We arrive around 11AM and there is a restaurant next to our pick up hotel and we sit and have an early lunch of Brazilian meat stew and ceviche. Both an excellent start to our tour. We are to meet our tour at 12:15PM.
Our day has just begun but I’ll leave you here until tomorrow to see our day in Rio!
Just a normal At Sea day for us. What is a “Normal” day At Sea? You ask? Well, it begins with the normal daily routines that we all experience every day. Commonly we feel the ship’s movements and always take a slightly wider stance with our feet to accommodate the ship’s movements. So then, once ready to face the day, we go either to the restaurant to be served breakfast, or, as is our normal, we go up to the buffet and pick out our own selections to dine upon. Maybe an omelette? Or some salmon on a bagel? With capers? A cup of coffee or tea for sure! Maybe juice and some fresh fruit? Bread and rolls of your choosing? Even little sweet desserts!
Then, after breakfast, there are many activities to choose from! Painting class? Creative writing? Perhaps you’ll write a poem today! The must do Morning Trivia Game in the Purple Turtle Lounge! We have a Team formed and we even win once a week or so! There might be a Lecture in the Palladium Theatre telling us all about the upcoming ports! The info about the dock we’ll be at is very useful as that tells us how to get to and from our ship once we are in port!
By now the morning is waning and it’s time for lunch. Again it’s a choice of the restaurant (On this ship that would be “Buckingham”, named after the Palace in London. This is a British ship, after all!) or the buffet in “Borough Market”, named after the premiere market in central London.
Now that you have satisfied your stomach at lunch, it is now time for the afternoon activities. Perhaps it will be a round of table tennis? Or take a choir class? Maybe join 30 or more others for a game of Whist? If you like to knit there is a group to join. Or join an Arts & Crafts and make a bracelet or necklace!
Every hour there is a different game to play! Carpet Bowling! Indoor Curling! Outside on the top deck you can play a game of ‘Smite’! Cornhole anyone? We call the afternoons, “Summer Camp for Adults!” Want to learn to dance? Dance lessons in the observatory! Afternoon Trivia at 4! Perhaps you want to learn the Ukulele? Classes are 2-3 times each day!
Then there is more afternoon and evening Trivia. If you’ve had enough fun and games, then it is time for dinner. Once again, choose from the restaurant or the buffet! Perhaps you may order “Toad in a Hole”!
(I do have to admit, despite the appearance of the above plate of food, the taste of the sausages was quite bland and I am certain they were left over from the unchosen breakfast sausages! LOL) The sausages in question were very bland, reminiscent of flavorless hot dogs cooked in a Yorkshire Pudding which was tolerable.
When your bellies are full once again, it’s time for a show in the Palladium Theatre! The show runs twice each evening to accommodate your dinner times. Then more game shows in the Purple Turtle. Once or twice per week, you can watch a movie under the stars!
Then, if you’re still awake and energized, you can dance the night away in the Observatory followed by the Disco until the wee hours of the morning! And have I mentioned that all of the lounges throughout the ship have cocktail waitresses and waiters milling about to take your drink orders all day, be your choice of juices, soft drinks plus any and all of your alcoholic desires! There are 11 bars on the ship so you’re never more than a few steps away!
Once you make it back to your cabin for the evening, you can watch tv to lull you to sleep as you prepare for whatever day lies ahead! I hope I haven’t left anything out! Good night all!
Today, to add the a normal At Sea Day, the Senior Officers on the ship have a cake decorating competition that is fun to watch! Then it’s another normal yet busy day at sea.
So good night everyone!
We arrive in Tristan Da Cuhna this morning, the most remote inhabited island on earth. Unfortunately, there is a two meter swell in the ocean, too much to load tenders to take us ashore. So the captain takes us around the island and our cameras work busily to capture the sights.
Once we finish circling the island, we pause near the town while the captain once again checks the sea swell. Still two meters. So, while our cameras happily document the island from afar, the captain makes the decision to proceed onward towards Brazil.
Tristan Da Cuhna is the most remote INHABITED island on earth, being more than 2000 nautical miles from the next nearest civilization. It is one of three sets of archipilegos, Tristan Da Cuhna, St Helena and Ascension Islands. All are part of the United Kingdom. Tristan is an active volcano that last erupted in 1961. The island was evacuated then and not resettled for many years. At the current time there are only 250 residents.
So our ship sails west toward our next destination, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We go about the rest of the day as a normal ‘At Sea’ day. Trivia, lunch, whist, games, and Ukulele lessons fills the day. Then it is off to dinner and the show tonight is a set of fantasy romantic musical pieces by the entertainment crew.
Goodnight all!
Around the World in 80 Trips (Or Less) 