The River of January...The Marvelous City

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Rio de Janeiro truly was a Marvelous City! We were in Rio de Janeiro from November 17 to November 25 before we joined the Tocorime at Gloria Marina. We went to the Modern Art Museum (known as MAM), Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado mountain, the modern Metropolitan Cathedral, and a soccer match at the Maracana stadium, to name a few things!

We stayed in the Flamengo, Centro, and Botafogo areas of Rio generally with a few sidetrips to Barra and Copacabana. Christ the Redeemer was spectacular, the sun provided a halo for the statute and a Catholic mass was occuring in front of the statue when we arrived.

Imagine 90 000 screaming fans at a Brazilian soccer match (not a typo, 90 000 is correct)! Brazilian culture is definitely centered around soccer! The match was between two neighborhood leagues within Rio and was not even a championship match, just a regular season game, apparently most of the games packed like this! There was more partying, hooting and enthusiasm at this regular season match than during the Edmonton Oilers stanley cup run last year!

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Photos

Flamengo Beach
Flamengo Beach was located about 300 meters from our hotel. We walked along this beach many times during our stay and we watched many variations of volleyball and tennis!

The Soccer Field at Maracana Stadium
Maracana Stadium is the religious center for Brazilian Soccer!

Crazy Soccer Fans!
Brazilians take soccer much more seriously than even the most devote Canadian hockey fans! We normally cheer during the goals at NHL hockey games, these fans cheer throughout the entire game without relenting!