Blogs from Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America - page 7

We just wrapped up Day 6 here at the Olympics and it's hard to believe just how quickly it is going by! We were very excited to get to head to to mini-Marcana Stadium (actually named Ginasio do Maracanazinho). This is one of a few permanent venues that was in place prior to the Games. It also happens to be the closest venue to our apartment, meaning our shortest day on transit so far - amazing! Today was special because it was the first time we were going to be able to cheer on a full Canadian Team. We've cheered on Canadian individual athletes and our doubles teams in Tennis, but today was the first full team we have watched. Before we get to that though, we arrived to an absolutely packed Gym (we'll call it ... read more

Another day is over here at the Olympics in Rio with day #4 in the books. We were up earlier this morning and headed back to Olympic Park. We didn't have a chance yesterday to mention it, but Rio has done a fantastic job with their brand-new subway line (Line #4) connecting the southeast coast and beaches like Copacabana and Ipanema with the southwest coast of the the city (the Barra region). What's interesting is that right now the new line is only used for those traveling with the Rio Olympic Transit Pass as well as a ticket to an event that day. No locals have had the opportunity to use this new subway line yet. The stations are absolutely beautiful, completely finished, bright, modern and spacious. This will be a major legacy for the people ... read more

Day 2 here at the Olympics was a full day of Women's Basketball. We woke up early in order to travel to the Deodoro cluster of Olympic sites. Part of the Rio Organizing Committee's strategy was to spread the Olympic sites out around Rio. The Deodoro cluster is about an hour train ride northwest of the city centre. The cluster hosts all of equestrian events, handball, field hockey, shooting and women's basketball. There is a practice pool there too. The cluster itself actually is completely within a huge military base. Picture the Olympic venues sitting inside CFB Borden or CFB Garrison. To say that security was at a maximum at this location would be an understatement. We felt extremely safe, as we have during the entire trip so far. When you consider we have roughly 30,000 ... read more

While they call it Day #1 of the Olympics even tough competition has been happening for a few days and the Opening Ceremonies were yesterday. It is the first full day of competition throughout the various venues here in Rio and it was also our first day with tickets to an event. The men's cycling road race this morning was a non-ticketed event which allowed tons of locals and visitors to take in the race at various points throughout the course without a ticket. We've been big fans for Italy's Vincenzo Nibali and we were disappointed when he crashed out on the final decent of the day! These guys rode their guts out for over 6 hours on one of the toughest Olympic courses ever, for over 230km, only to lose out on a medal a ... read more

Saudade Those 12 hrs went literally flying ( as we also were on the air), we slept probably 30 mins and watched movies the rest of the time. ( Worth saying, a huge compliment to KLM for being up to date with its film offer, one of the films we watched was "London has fallen" - how up to date is that ). The flight started a bit challenging lets say, as we turned around and saw on the row next to us not one but two small babies, twins actually, not that we mind babies, simply the sound levels can get pretty high at 10,000 feet when their little ears get blocked and they start screaming, these two little fellows did marvelously we must confess. The -oh please not this too- moment came together with ... read more