A crazy day out!!

After a couple of days at our accommodation working, listening to music, and watching movies, today we booked a day trip to go to see Christ the Redeemer, the Metropolitan Cathedral, and Sugarloaf Mountain.  There were also going to be stops at the football stadium and the Selaron steps, which we'd already been to, but it was still better than trying to organise visits to the main sites independently.

Our pick-up point was at a local hotel, so we wandered down there after breakfast.  We should have been collected at 9.15am, but it was nearer to 9.45 when our guide, Fab (yes, that was her name!) arrived.  Also being picked up were Sydney from New York and Pavia.  On the minibus, we met the rest of our fellow passengers - a group of six (3 couples) from Scotland who were about to join a cruise leaving from Rio and going across the Atlantic, a mother and daughter from Belgium who were due to go on the same cruise, a young couple from Luxemburg, three friends from America who live on the residential cruise ship that had so many problems in Belfast at the end of last year, and two ladies from Czechia.  We were all English speakers.

Our first stop was at the national football stadium, which we had photographed from the Rio Samba Bus the other day.  We were given a few minutes to walk around and take pictures, but nobody was very enthusiastic.  We also paused to look at the Sambadrome through the windows of the minibus.  We were telling people how exciting it had been to watch the parade there last weekend.

From there, we drove to Christ the Redeemer.  This involved driving through Tijuca National Park in the mountains of Rio de Janeiro.  It is the largest urban national park in South America and is home to more than 230 species of animals and birds, including capuchin monkeys, coatis, agoutis, wild dogs, marmosets, hummingbirds and thrushes.  We were dropped off at the visitor centre, where we transferred to official buses to complete the journey to the top.Read more