More fabulous Rio De Janeiro

On our way from the ship to the hotel our guide was telling us about the terrible traffic here. We have already experienced it downtown, but he was telling us that it is so bad coming into the city in the morning that they turn some streets into one way streets just for the rush hour(s) to accommodate it. The trick is that the times change depending on the day of the week -- or the whims of the traffic police, as we found out when we tried to go to our hotel. We had to drive around for half an hour because they had extended the one-way time and the alternative route would have taken longer than the half hour. Also, in preparation for the Olympics in 2016 they are doing major renovations city wide, including building additional metro stations which requires long term closures of many key streets.

After checking in we went with another English couple to the Christ the Redeemer statue. This required a taxi to take us to the staging place in the Tijuca Nacional Park. As cars aren't allowed all the way up to the Statue you can go by Funicular (they call it a train) or by shuttle bus and escalators. The lines for the train are typically very long, unless you have pre-purchased your tickets, so we opted for the shuttle route. The requirement to drive these 15 passengers vans must be that you were a Le Mans driver in a former life. The road is narrow and winding as it snakes up the mountain and they drive it on two wheels at about 60 mph--screeching around the hair pin turns so that you get brief glimpses of stunning views before your vision blurs!

Today the escalators were broken, or out of electricity as the sign said, so we had to walk the last 220 steps to the top. I did mention that it was 34 degrees (100 ) and very humid.

Still the sights from the top are truly amazing! We looked way down on Sugar Loaf, which we did yesterday--and which I thought was the ceiling of the world then. Plus the statue itself is beautiful. The body was poured in place and the head and the hands were attached. While we were there a guy got down on one knee and proposed--complete with ring. The crowd cheered him on--and she said yes!

Going down the mountain our driver came whipping around a corner and there was another van whipping around coming up. To avoid each other there was much squealing of tires, screeching of brakes and screaming from the passengers. A little too much excitement for us!

Our hotel, the Sheraton, is the only one actually on the beach and we have a lovely room overlooking the pool and Leblon and Ipanema beaches just beyond. We spent a very relaxing time down by the pool watching people dive off the rocks and kicking the ball around. We managed to lift our books up and to shift our chairs as the sun moved around.

Ipanema beach is just around the corner and we went there for dinner and an evening walk. It was still in the mid 80's and energetic sorts were playing a kind of beach foot volleyball where you can use your feet, chest and head, but not your hands. On the lake, which is a few blocks inland, we saw the illuminated floating Christmas Tree which is the tallest in the world. They wait until Mexico City puts theirs up and then they add a star to this one to ensure that it stays the tallest.