2013: Rio de Janeiro day 2

Day 44 17 February

Rio day 2

Making the terminal this morning was a snap; we walked off the ship, through an ampty terminal and met our team for the day; Renaldo (our driver from yesterday) and Marcia our guide. Quickly we piled into the car and finalized the itinerary for the day. It being a Monday we planned to avoid the busy areas of town.

We rode up through Centro, Chilero, past the palace of Princess Isabel and the neighborhood of Urca at the foot of Sugarloaf. This provided a good look at the bay and yacht harbor, opposite the side we visited yesterday. Back to Centro (Central district) to old town where the first government buildings were built and many early colonial buildings still are in use. We walked past several churches, administration buildings and commercial buildings, down narrow cobblestone streets past restaurants and shops, under balconies of upper apartments, to the square of Candelaria Church. Caught our car there.

We took the freeway cross-country then up into the mountains to the imperial city of Petropolis. Imperial City? Emperor Dom Pedro II (second self proclaimed Emperor of Brazil) founded the city in 1843. This lasted until 1889 when an independent republic was created. Before heading to the Imperial Palace – now museum – we walked the avenue lined with German and Swiss style homes and up to the Catedral São Pedro de Alcãntara to visit the tomb of dom Pedro II, his wife and daughter and son-in-law.

A short walk and we arrived at the gates of the museum/Palace and found the gates closed. The guard told us it was closed this day because it is the day after Carnival. (The curators must have been hung over.) Not being the type to pass up an opportunity for a taste of local food, we seized the extra time to go for a Brazilian churrascria lunch. The Lago Sul was the perfect fit with a view of the lake and the Bavarian style hotel with the green hills behind a nd then course after course of fresh roasted meats brought on skewers, platters of side dishes and cold beer all served by attentive staff. We were pleased our driver and guide accepted our invitation to dine with us so we chatted and ate and had, perhaps, a better time than wandering a museum.


Lago Sul restaurant

view from Lago Sul

Back down the mountain on those hairpin curves, down the freeway and back to the city. We were dropped with Marcia downtown to shop the old district, narrow pedestrian streets crossed with avenues of rushing traffic. We found the items we needed and were met by Renaldo and whisked back to the ship, arriving aboard at 1615. The culinary staff had prepared a Brazilian barbecue on deck tonight, with grills, smoke, mountains of food and music. Still full from lunch barbecue I could only look, sniff and waddle. The next morning there were no leftovers; the crew ate well.

Sailaway was to be at 2100 with a “see the lights of Rio at night” event on the aft deck. Close to that scheduled time the Captain reported via PA that our departure would be delayed until 2300. It seems that we were to be refueled this morning and the fuel service sent a small tanker over; too small to refuel us. We sent it away and requested a larger supply. That showed up at 1900 this evening and began pumping. By 2100 the job was not completed. By 2300 it was not completed. Finally, at 1:35 they pulled away and we got underway. The lights of Rio at 2am are not so fun.