zig-zagging the old narrow streets of Rio

Finding the tea room was the easy part. Deciding how to order was a whole other ball of wax. Stumbling bumbling non-Portuguese speaking tourists, we couldn’t tell where to order, where to pay, what to order, and where to stand or sit if we got through parts one, two, and three.

I found a gentleman who seemed a likely candidate to ask: “excuse me, do you speak English?” A little, he said. So I continued asking what the dealio was and how things worked.

The food choices were endless, from the savory to the sweet – empanadas to flan and everything in between. Some people we heading upstairs to sit down for lunch. We really only wanted a snack, something cold to drink, and maybe a sweet. To make a long (and funny) story short, we decided we were safe in ordering a Coca-Cola, nothing to eat.

Okay, we got that far safe and sound. Paid our 4 BRL. But then, which line to stand in to GET the Coke was not apparent and the one woman we did hand our chit to, frowned, and handed the receipt back. Strike one.

She pointed around the corner. There, another long line. We waited and watched, and followed suit of others. Like the Soup Nazi. Hand the chit in. Step to the left. Receive the drink. Move to the table. Phew. In every instance we have ordered a soda, we are asked something afterwards, god only knows what, and as of yet, we haven’t a clue. We clearly irritate them by not understanding what they are asking.

We’ve love to go back, but with a local!!

The gorgeous ceiling window

Equally gorgeous tile floors

Mmmmmm

Of course, little did we know we’d pick a TEXTING TAXI CAB DRIVER, and not a keypad phone texter, the kind of phone where you have to hit “1″ three times to get the letter “C”!! He was careening to begin with, to add to the texting scenario, so we were happy to get downtown alive.

Our first stop, we hoped, was Theatro Municipal, a spectacular building that houses the Opera, Ballet, and Symphony. But completely fenced in….no way to enter the building. We thought it odd, and looked across the street at the art museum, and library…same thing, each was fenced in.

Come later to learn, and NOT from our ability to speak fluent, or even broken Portuguese, but only after finding someone who spoke English, in January of this year, several buildings collapsed around the Theatro, killing many people. Fearing the Theatro might be compromised structurally, it is closed until such a time as it can be evaluated.

NOT the case for the art museum, Library and Cultural center. A Carnivale-like event is taking place tomorrow and the fence is to guard against damage to the antique buildings.

We got inside the Library and thinking first of my sister, the librarian, we signed up for the tour for English speaking visitors at 1pm. Pam, that’s as far as we got. We regret to inform you we never made it back by 1pm!! Sorry.

The etched-glass in the library windows

Rising 1300 feet above sea level, Sugar Loaf got its name from the conical clay molds that its shape resembles.

Much to our guide’s surprise, there were no long lines today. Because we opted to go at lunch hour and the peak of the heat, many people were waiting until the end of the day (which is said to be the most beautiful time to take the ride up). Fine by us.

This is the 100th year of operation and the fourth generation of cable cars. Generation one, the yellow car, sits atop the mountain. No thank you.

There’s a separate cable system for a utility car and a job that I can’t IMAGINE having. I mean, just LOOK at the man standing up in the car. I would have passed out in fear. It was hard enough for me to look down from the safety of an enclosed car!!

The journey to the top of Sugar Loaf involves two two separate cable car systems, a dog-leg right from the top of Morro da Urca. Urca is a beautiful and very desirable residential village below, the residents of which have exclusive rights to use Red Beach.

One of the many heliports

The village of Urca as seen from Morro da Urca plateau

A Portuguese fort seen from the plateau

Going up……Tram Redux

From atop…..views to Copacabana Beach, Red Beach, Botofogo beach (where the Yacht Club resides) and all of downtown.

The regional airport

Below, the rock...a one-time prison. At high tide, oops, bye-bye prisoners.

Looking over to Copacabana Beach

Red beach, for use by residents of Urca

The cable car arriving is the one we'll take back down

Going Down, third floor lingerie

A view over to Corcovado

Just checking. Looks good to me.

We did a lot more today than we have energy to post about, including taking a tramway (thankfully one that didn’t rotate, if you remember my Palm Springs experience) to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain. We also went to Saint Terese and, and, and…..more tomorrow.