Feb 07

Well after an early start in London leaving 17 Hotham Road at 5am we made it to London Heathrow airport in a record time of 30min while our Somalian taxi driver kept us entertained racing through rainy London (us currently is my mum and myself - yes indeed). No real surprises at the airport - what a surprise, but that´s what you expect checking in to Munich 2 hrs in advance, or?? I managed to loose my first traveling item at Munich airport - my beloved pink water bottle, but managed to keep the rest and arrived nearly 24 hrs later in Rio after a marathon London - Munich - Sao Paolo - Rio de Janeiro flight with a backpack weighting nearly 22kg. Well, i didn´t carry it there, but the way from the taxi to the check in felt like it. Also, looks like i am not only carrying my own pack, but also mostly my mothers who definitely doesn´t like hers. So the packing was - so far - my biggest mistake. I am already planning to send stuff back with my mum in a month - also, because clothes here are just fantastic. Anyway, i am already jumping...back to arriving in Rio...

So finally on the 15th early morning we checked into our Copacabana hotel, had a short nap and started to explore the wonderful beaches around Copacabana, Arpoador and Ipanema. Our room was fairly dark and only on the 3rd of at least 10 floors. So still thinking it is miserable and cold outside i walked out of the hotel in Jeans and a longsleeve, not expecting 35 degrees to hit my face. NICE ONE! Obviously, i managed to get a sunburn on day 1 as i missed to put any sun cream on my back.

In short our Rio highlights:

Day1: 15/2 Beaching and walking on Copacaban, Ipanema and Arpodoar
Day2: 16/2 Moved to new Hotel Florida on Flamengo Beach, walking around Flamengo and Botafogo Beach
Day3: 17/2 Zuckerhut, Pao de Azucar or Sugarloaf
Day4: 18/2 Arcos de Lapa (Bonde was closed), Cinelandia (more Carneval)
Day5: 19/2 Day time: Jardim Botanico; Evening Highlight: Carneval at the Sambadrom in Sector 6
Day6: 20/2 Recovering from all the Carneval

21/ 2 Leaving for Buzios (see next trip)