wednesday , april 5 , rio de janeiro
ship's log : 11:00 pm (april 4) - pilot aboard
2:00 am - docked
while most passengers left the ship in rio , it was the half-way point of the
cruise for us .
the captain wanted all passengers to leave the ship for a thorough clean-up .
only about 60 passengers were staying on the ship to continue the cruise to
lisbon . (new passengers came aboard for the crossing and all cabins were
filled when we left rio ). we were offered an all-day tour of rio with
lunch 'free of charge' to entice us to leave the ship for the day .
that offer was hard to refuse since it would have cost us US$200 pp for the
tour . so at 8 am we were ready for the tour - and a great tour it was !
after a two hour tour of the highlights of rio , we stopped for a tour
of 'cristo redentor' .
we took the cog-railway partway up the mountain and ascended by elevator to
the platform for a great view of rio .
(thumbnails)
englishman's hill station
'sugarloaf mountain appearing out of the morning mist'
waiting for the cog-railway to take us down again
sugarloaf mountain in the background ,
the little blue speck about half-way up the left mountain is a 'paraglider' ,
hope he said some prayers at 'cristo redentor' first !
not many locals on the beach , 'it's too cold for them
'
look for the paraglider !
enjoying a great seafood lunch courtesy of 'holland-america line'
after lunch it's off to 'sugarloaf mountain' ,
the ascent is by way of two cable cars ,
the first goes to the intermediate platform , the next one goes to the top ,
when looking at the pictures , mrs h said : 'did we go up there ?
i don't think i realized how we would get up there ,
i'll never again do that !'
looking out of the cable-car
we came up that way ? AHHHRRRG !
the cablecar - the only way to get down - or the paragleder !
we were back aboard by 5 pm . what a great day is was !
the pilot is ready to guide the 'rotterdam' out of the harbour
good bye , rio !
we stood on deck for about an hour - rio slowly disappeared in the mist .
ship's log :
- 5:00 pm - port pilot aboard
- 5:17 pm - unmoored
- 5:54 pm - commenced sea voyage