Rio - Football, Fauna and Flora!

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With the continued absence of the sun, we have had to find other things to do, although we do try to go to the beach if the sun shines even for an hour!

Football: The Maracana Stadium once hosted 200,000 supporters at a single game of football. That, I believe, remains the world record. Nowadays the capacity is less than half of that thanks to an all-seating arrangement. We'd like to go to a game here before we leave Brazil but time is running out! For now we made do with a visit to the stadium. After the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and the Boca Museum in Buenos Aires it was quite a disappointing experience. There is no guide, you just simply wander around looking at a few wall displays, take a lift up the viewing platform of the stadium, descend to the not-so-modern dressing rooms and out onto the pitch. It was okay but there are far better sporting venues to visit around the world.

Fauna: We also made it to the zoo. Whilst not as good as BA's city zoo, it wasn't too bad. For some reason there are always thousands of turtles in South American zoos. Rio's was no exception. The variety of birds and monkeys were pretty good too, but the conditions in which some animals are kept could be better. The highlight was the opening of the new giraffe enclosure where two wonderful animals have just been introduced to their new environment.

Flora: The Botanical Gardens are definitely worth a visit. We spent a good few hours there. Giant palm trees, waterfalls, orchid gardens, Japanese gardens and even medicinal plants to taste, touch and smell. We saw a strange "cannon ball" tree and loads of birds. The red breasted toucans were funny to watch as they flew from tree to tree, occasionally stopping for photos! We finished off with a delicious coffee and brownie in the cafe. Superb!

Now, when is the sun going to shine again? We want to go to the beach!!!!

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Photos

Brazil 2014
Hosts of the 2014 World Cup

Ronaldo
The Brazilian one with the bad teeth, not the Portuguese diving champion who plays for Man Utd!

Gas, Gas, Gas!
Strange window display at the shopping centre

Newly wed giraffes
Seriously, we were there just in time to see the new giraffe compound open. There were TV cameras and thousands of kids, and two cut-out giraffes dressed as bride and groom.

Tribute to Tom Jobin
Now that we know who he is!

The Cannon Ball Tree
Can't imagine why they call it that!

Strange Statue
Make your own mind up about this one!

Danger - No Swimming
But many seem to ignore the signs and the 15 foot waves!

Comments

[barrygahan]

Birthday greetings from Loja
Hi Russ, hope you have a great birthday tomorrow. We'll be off trekking tomorrow so might not get a chance to write then. Rio looks fab by the way, I regret not seeing it on this trip!