Jorge Selarón started the decorations unofficially in 1990. He gets tiles from all over the world.Lulu and I are spending a week in Brazil. She will be making a presentation in Sao
Paulo in a few days but right now we are spending a few days in a hotel on the beach at Ipanema. After caipirinha or two I am ready to profess my love to my "Girl From Ipanema."
Caipirinha - the unofficial drink of Brazil literally means "hillbilly." It is a mixture of lime juice and alcohol made from sugar cane. they are quite strong and go down rather easily - and strike fast.
Our trip was shortened a day when our plane could not leave Tallahassee due to mechanical troubles. We tried again Thursday - but instead of going thru Miami - we flew via Dallas. Our plane form Dallas took 10 hours - Lulu flew in Business Class and had a full bed - a computer terminal - fancy foods - and Bose noise reducer headphone. I slept back in coach sleeping sitting up and being entertained with an etchosketch. Tomorrow we fly to San Paulo on a small local plane taking off from a small airport right near downtown on the bay.
Ipanema is a beautiful crescent beach facing south next to the Copacabana Beach. It is spring down here now and the water was relatively cold.
Yesterday we took the cog rail trolley to the famous Christ the Redeemer statue. It is 2300 feet above the harbor and the statue is 130 feet tall. Ever since my Geography classes in grade school - I wanted to visit it. Skies were cloudy and temperatures were in the 70s - but we had good views.
Today we hired a guide that that drove us around town from 8 to 12. He took us to several highlight and left us downtown to enjoy lunch at Columbo's and visit the National Library among other places.
It is 6:30 here our time - one hour ahead to back home. We are listening to FSU play Duke on the Internet.
Lulu looking down on Ipanema in the background. that is a horse racing track.
Christ the Redeemer over looks the harbor and Sugerloaf - a volcanic neck.
This pictures does not do justice to the 120 foot statue - made of concrete- covered with soapstone.
Christ the Redeemer
We did not go up Sugarloaf this morning because it was too cloudy.
This aqueduct carried water into downtown for years - now it has a trolley running over it.
These are the Lapa Steps - decorated in tile by Jorge Selarón
The 2014 World Cup will be at this stadium in Rio - also the 2016 Olympics.
We have breakfast on the beach at our hotel in Ipanema.
Coconut drinks on the beach.
Our first Caipirinha - a mixture of limes juice and sugar cane alcohol.
Ipanema Beach - a bit like South Beach in Florida and Waikiki Beach.
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