Guanabara Palace Rio de Janeiro

... black and white tiles, all irregularly shaped and inlaid into the concrete to form random block patterns. It must have taken forever to lay it down and a lot to maintain too compared to boring old concrete. It looks quite old in places so i think they have been this way for ages.<br><br>The only main activity I did while visiting Rio was to to take a city tour on my first day. This was really just a quick church visit, a drive through some neighbourhoods and a ...

... br><br>*Heading to a club in Lapa with Faith and Fiona for a night of forro, a North Eastern Brazilian version of Samba. It is faster than samba with a closed salsa hold. Easy to have a go at, very difficult to be good at! Loved it as all the men ask you to dance, in the old fashioned way, then after each dance everyone moves on. Amazing to meet so many good looking men who can dance, very rare in London... Danced my little socks off all night! <br><br>*Spending time with a ...

... obvious. Light shines through the stained glass windows filling the church with warm colors and a cross with a suffering Jesus hangs down from the center. You can also find more shopping in the center, but this shopping is for the locals, where socks, children's clothes and panties are sold. The buildings in this area are adorable so it's a good place to kill some time. There is a botanical garden in south west Rio, which was mildly ...

... in the 87th minute crushed the dreams of the partisan crowd and ensured we could watch Brasil play in a major tournament final while in Rio. <br><br>With a festive mood in the air, we decided we would leave in the morning for Teresopolis. With our new friends at the hostel, including David (UK) and Chris (Oz), we began downing pitchers of Mary's homemade caiparinhas. While we were drinking and eating a pizza, one of the guys on the computer turned and told ...

... about that tomorrow. And on Thursday we will make some pictures from the Christ the redeemer statue and take a bus to relaxing Parati, an old town in the province of Rio.<br><br>We are not going to write a blog every day (we think), but we have wifi currently, so want to make use of it. Photo's will be uploaded shortly as well...! Sorry if this all is a bit boring, but hopefully I will get better at it.<br><br>Ivo

Get into Rio and get myself settled into a hostel. Have a wonder around and book myself onto a tour for next morning. My flight leaves tomorrow at 10pm. The tour heads up to the Christo on the hill and you really do get an amazing, if not misty view. Plus we went past the football stadium built for the world cup in the 1960's and the Sambadrome where they have just had Rio carnival, just missed it! Its ...

... and it was Ash. I, like a true lady, carried on waiting in the queue to use an actual toilet!! I think the Bristol accent was a clear sign of trouble dont you?! Anyhoo, we quickly detoured back to the hostel for ladette Ash to get changed out of her soaking, sandy clothes. We then jumped in a taxi at 12.30am to make our way to the Samodrome and begin bartering for tickets!! This proved to be a lot harder than we thought and after half an hour of telling ourselves we ...

So this update will be short and sweet. After an amazing week and a half visiting my friend Fernando in curitiba and going to his beach house a few times the time has come for me to push on. Rio is the city i have come to Brazil for its the city i want to see, and its another world wonder i want to check out. i am staying with a local couchsurfing who ...

... into the middle of the city and to the stadium. <br><br>The closer we got to the stadium, the more people were on the streets and in the roads selling huge flags for either team and the more cars we saw with shirts, flags, towels etc flying out of the windows! <br><br ...

... hard to keep your choices to a minimum because everything looks so tasty. But it definitely helps cut down on waste and actually helps you control the cost of the meal. Very different from our American-style "all you can eat" for one price buffets. No wonder we're so fat in America. When you can eat all you want for one price, you're bound to go overboard and eat more than you need, and be wasteful on top of that. The Italian influence is very ...