Rio day 2

APRIL 18, 2015 RIO DAY 2

Today starts the final segment of the World Cruise. Rio de Janeiro to Miami. It just boggles the mind how fast this has gone.  Even Bill has admitted it has flown by.

This morning we took the shuttle bus into town.  We were left off by the Copacabana Palace Hotel across the street from the famous Copacabana beach.  We walked along the beach for quite a ways.  We ran into the young honeymooning couple who is on the WC.  They had left the ship and is just joining up again.  They didn’t want to be at sea for 7 days.  They spent a few days in RIO.  We talked awhile and then headed to the Marriott hotel where we were able to get a private English speaking guide and car.  Bill wanted to go to Ipaneba Beach and also to see where the song was written “The Girl from ipaneba”.  Ken Reese in his lecture the other day showed the picture of the girl who inspired the song and showed what she looks like today at age 70 and he truly picked the right girl she is still a beauty!

We drove through Ipaneba and our guide Carlos explained that if we should come back you want to stay in Ipaneba instead of Copacabanna.  That is where all the good shopping is also.  After seeing the beach and the bar the song was written we headed to the St. Theresa section this is also near Cordova (Christ the Redeemer) you would turn left for the statue and right to go to St. Theresa’s is the old old town from the 16 hundreds.  All cobblestone streets and only one car fits at a time.  It is all hills and was very interesting.  At the top of the mountain we went to a museum that was a private house and they knocked it down and replaced it with a modern structure.  There was a huge spiral staircase we went up and got the view of the whole city of Rio.  We did not go into the museum itself.  We stopped along the way for Carlos to show us a section where the poor people live.  It is amazing they just keep building up.  They can not go out as there is no room the houses are so close together.  They just put another level on!  He said that it use to be really bad but they put up more police station and now it is safer.  We headed down and went to see the Tile Staircase.  A local artist started putting tile on this huge staircase.  People were so enthralled with this that they sent him tiles from all over the world.  It took him years to finish it.  Unfortunately, he suffered from depression and when he was finally finished he committed suicide!  It was very colorful!  After this we headed to the New (1964) Cathedral.  It actually looks like an Aztec Pyramid from the outside.  We went in and I was impressed with the stain glass.  There is a cross in the ceiling made of clear white tiles so the sun shines through and it is beautiful. We headed back to the ship.  It was a great tour and we learned so much from Carlos but we needed to be back by 3:45 as we were sailing at5:00 and they wanted everyone back early due to Muster Drill.  We did not have to attend but were still requested to be back by 3:45.  Since traffic was so bad yesterday we opted to go back earlier so that if we did encounter a lot of traffic we would not have to stress.  Today there was no traffic and we were back to the ship before 2pm!  Time for lunch and then Bill headed out to the terminal for wifi.  They are having a sail away party on deck 12 at 4:30 so I will head up there.  Tomorrow is a sea day and the first day of class for our computer course.  As I said before time is flying!  We are having a fabulous time and really enjoyed Rio!  A sea day and then Salvador de Bahia which use to be the capital!!!!!

Bill on Copacabana Beach!

Ipanema Beach

Bar where the song "Girl from Ipanema" was written

Tiled Steps

Cathedral

Bell Tower of the new cathedral

Altar 

Ceiling of cathedral

Government Bldg

April 17, 2015  Rio de Janerio Day 1

Today we arrived to Rio at 12 noon.  I had my workout session with Leanne but Bill took some great pictures as we sailed into Rio 

We have a tour at 2pm.  It is called a  Boutique adventure because it is so limited.  18 lucky guests are going to a private Mass in the chapel at Christ the Redeemer statue.  In case you didn’t know it that is the statue of Jesus you see whenever they show Rio.  We left the pier at 2pm and the traffic was horrendous .  We were told there is always traffic but since today was Friday and it is a long weekend because of some holiday it was much worse.  It took us over an hour to get to the chapel.  The bus took us only so far and we had to take the train up to the top of the mountain.  It took us up through the rain forest.  As we drove up it was quite foggy and you could hardly see Jesus.

We had Mass in the chapel at the base of the statue.  There were 18 seats.  Fr. Tom from  the ship said the mass and he said when we leave we should all exhale and hopefully blow the fog away.  Well we all did this and low and behold we were able to see the statue perfectly.  Talk about the power of prayer and faith!  I must say it was truly an awesome experience.  I am so glad I signed us up for this over 6 months ago.

We also had a night time tour to go to a nightclub and watch the Samba dancing.  I cancelled this awhile ago as I thought it might be way too much in one day.  Well as it turns out it was a good thing I did cancel as we did not return to the ship till almost 6pm and we would have had to leave at 6:15pm.  I would have been panicking!

We came back to the ship and had dinner.  There was a local show called Carnival of Rio.  It had a lot of Mardi Gras in it.  It was okay.  We had an early night and headed up.  Tomorrow is another day in Rio!

Chapel where our Mass was held in the bottom of the statue

view after Mass

Before our Mass you could hardly see it.

WE'VE BEEN GONE SO LONG DON'T WANT YOU TO FORGET WHAT WE LOOK LIKE!

April 15 & 16 @ sea EnRoute to Rio de Janeiro

The last two days have been sea days and although some people think they might tend to get bored on the ship it is not the case with us.  We are so busy.  Between trying to get to some of the lectures, knitting class which I have decided is not for me.  I will finish my project but since my fingers are always numb this has been a challenge for me.  2 Hour computer class and in between I need to eat and visit with all my friends.  Before you know it is 4pm time for a snack to hold us over till dinner (8:30pm).

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0UR VINTAGE ROOM EXPERIENCE

OH NO NOT ANOTHER PHOTO!

Our Everything Apple course is really great.  We are learning so much about our IPADS, IPHONES and IMACS.  Sometimes it is so frustrating but then when Stan has a problem with his computer or iPad not doing what he wants we all laugh and realize we aren't the only ones.  The lectures have been great.  One of the lecturers was the first woman secret service agent.  Her name is Kathryn Childers and she was assigned to guard the Kennedy children after JFK's assassination  and she spoke all about them and what it was like being the first women agent.  She married and realized she could not have it all so she quit the secret service and moved to Texas with her husband and became a TV anchor women of a talk show for quite a few years until her son was diagnosed with Epilepsy and she quit to take care of him.  He is doing well and all grown up now.  She then became a lecturer.  One of her lectures is Don't retire, reinvent or redo!  She has led an adventurous life.  She was traveling with her sister as her husband who was a world famous physchiatrist is suffering the beginning stages of Alheizmers.  They are both fascinating to speak with and I had tea with them one afternoon.  Our college had an evening cocktail party last night and since Kathryn lives near Stan and Mary she was invited so I had time to chat with them again.  They are getting off the second day in Rio.  I can't believe how fast this cruise is going.  We have only one last segment when we reach Rio!  Time does march on when you are having fun.  A few photos that the photographers have taken of us recently!

April 14, 2015

Buenos Aires Day 2

We slept in this morning as we were so late getting back last night and the stores don't open till 10.  After breakfast we took a taxi right to the shop.  Our jackets were ready and we are very happy with them.  Bill did not pose for a picture so I only have one of me. The coloring is a real red but with the sun coming into our room it looks a little more pink.  After we got the jackets we came back to the ship and sat in the terminal since there was free and pretty fast (compared to the ship) it was fast internet!

One of the pictures is Bill and our friend Allan.  He was updating 2 iPhones, and 2 iPads!  I was happy to get up one day's blog with pictures.
That has been the only frustrating thing on here the internet is awful.  Worse than it has ever been!
We are having a great time.  Our college "Everything Apple"course is coming along.  Tomorrow we will be at sea as we head to Rio!

Bill and Allan didn't even know I was taking a picture!  Engrossed!

April 13, 2014

Today we are in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  We have been here before and we each had leather products made.  I had a swing coat and Bill had a jacket.  Since we have both lost weight they are way too big for us so our first order of business was to go to Uru Leather in the Recolleta Section of the city to pick out new jackets.  We took the shuttle to the hotel and from there we took a taxi to the leather shop.

I found a fabulous lambs leather jacket and it is being made in RED!  Tomorrow we will go back to pick it up.  Bill is having one made in a dark dark brown.
After the leather shop we took a taxi back to the shuttle stop and walked around a little.  Not really looking for anything so we went back to the ship.  When we were here in 2010 we had a private guide for a couple of days and we saw lots so no sightseeing for us today.

We went on an excursion this evening to La Ventana Tango and we made dinner reservations for after the show at 10:30 at a place we ate in when we were here the last time. La Cabana .  We told the tour guide that we were not going back on the bus that we had dinner reservations he looked at our paper from the ship with the name and address of the restaurant and he told us they will pass by and drop us off.  That is great!  One less thing to worry about.
Tonight's tango show was a little different from the last one we went to and it was really nice. We were not allowed to photograph it though so sorry no pictures!  Since we are always ready early we headed out to the buses and we had a seat on bus 1.  We were the table right up by the stage.  When the gauchos started to dance and use those things not sure what they are called I was holding my breath!  This was too close for comfort.  It was a great show.
Dinner was also great.  Bill wanted to order the porterhouse steak and the waiter said that was for 4 people so he ordered the chateaubriand for 2.  It came with potato crisps and grilled veggies, we each had a bottle of water.  Bill had a double espresso and the biggest flan I have ever seen and the bill was $101.  Amazing.  We did not get back to the ship until after midnight.  Another over night and I love having them as we don't have to rush back to the ship.  Tomorrow we get the jackets Yeah!!!!

They got us on stage and took this picture!

Just part of the menu  we were getting 12+ pesos to the dollar.  Good buys

I had one little piece of this.  It was huge!!!!!

April 12, 2015 World Cruise Shoreside Event Montevideo Uruguay!

April 12, 2015

Today we had the second of the two shoreside events for full World Cruisers.  The event was called Pueblo Gaucho which was a celebration of 19th Century Uruguay.  It was held at Estancia La Baguala, In Montevideo Uruguay!

We met at the pier at around 10:30 AM and we were transported in buses to the grounds of Estancia La Baguala which is one of the oldest and most legendary estancias in all of Uruguay.  

The day featured a recreation of 19th century Uruguay through the decor, cultural dance, traditional Uruguayan dishes along with the beautiful countryside that could be seen from this property. The canapés were plentiful as well as the champagne, or wine!  Everything I tried was fabulous!  There were so many hors d’oeuvres and then they served a BBQ lunch.  I did not have the dessert but it was 3 different things on the plate.

I was extremely pleased as they were letting some people get up on the horses and I was able to get up.  Now I haven’t been on a horse in at least 15 years between my hip problem, knee problem and the weight just compounded all the above.  This was a wonderful day with fabulous food, entertainment, scenery and beverages.  You could not ask for anything more.

Loved it!

First time on a horse in about 15 years!!!!!

April 11, 2015

Last Night was a special show called Crystal’s got Talent.  And let me tell you these guys and girls were fabulous!  Triccie Matalog who was the Liberian but is now an Engine Administrative Assistant sang and wowed the audience.  Next up was an Armando Tejada (an Able body Seaman) Followed by Carlito Reyes (French Polisher)  He makes all wood on ship shine! Then John Pauldo DeVeea (Galley Utility)  Wow these guys are in the wrong department.  Next up was John Michael Carandang (Galley Chef or is better know as the egg maker and pasta maker in Lido )when he started to sing “Stand by Me” everyone was up on their feet.  What a voice!  The last act was our great deck guys, Clark, Bryan, Nat, Nino and more and they danced and they were fabulous also.  We enjoyed this show more than any other show on the ship (except maybe Billy Joel)  but seriously they all really have talent and it was great time.  They all got standing ovations from the audience.  It was a great way to end our 7 straight sea days!