Rio de Janiero

 We had an amazing city tour of Rio De Janeiro today. We disembarked the ship at "last call" which was 9:45 AM.  We met our tour guide Michael and loaded up his car.  We went to Ipanema Beach, had lunch where the "Girl from Ipanema" song was written, then to Copacabana Beach, then Sugarloaf Mountain for amazing views!!  

 We also stopped off at an impressive Catholic church from the 1970's. It looks like a space capsule and was in fact modeled after the Apollo 13 capsule. 

 Finally a visit to a nearby lookout to see Christ The Redeemer.  Quite a sight even from this distance. We decided not to take the cable car up to the base of the statue since that would have taken three or four hours from start to finish.  

We wanted to see as much as we could of Rio in even hours. It was a great plan since when we were at Sugarloaf we ran into a couple who were in our ship and they had gone to the base. They said it was like being at the Sistene Chapel with crowds.   I've been in that kind of crowd and it's not my favorite.  So this worked out perfectly.  

We got to GIG at 4:45.  Went through security with our carry-ons.  No checked luggage this trip. We quickly found the Star Alliance Lounge.  We knew they had showers and asked for a reservation.  Luckily the lounge was nearly empty and we were shown to our individual shower rooms right away.   That felt good after a rather warm day and 8300 steps.  

Now having some liquid refreshment as we wait for our gate to be announced.  Boarding will be about 9:05 PM.  They have a dinner buffet so maybe and something although we will also have dinner on the plane.  But might want to sleep.  Decisions, decisions