Today was our last day in Rio. We woke up early, packed our things and headed for a final swim on Copacabana beach. Both the weather and water were again amazing - such a great place. Simi enjoyed a final Coconut juice on the shore as I soaked up some sun (she was a bit too burnt to join me so she enjoyed the last of the beach umbrellas).
We got back to the hotel and checked out around midday. We then got a ride down a few beaches to Sao Conrado. I had wanted to see Oscar Niemeyers house, Casa das Canoas. It was only open Thurs to fri; 1pm till 5 so we had a small window of opportunity to see it. We got there in good time and drove up into the hillside. Was so dense and lush with trees. Was a cool drive up past the favelas then immediately up into more lavish houses. We finally got there and found the house closed. Our Portuguese speaking driver argued with the people on our behalf, but it was no use. They said they had a party there last night so it wasn't open for visits today due to cleaning. True South American style - punctuality and efficiency arnt exactly there strengths. Was peeved off but oh well.
Still, we were able to snap a few shots of the outside from over the bushes and fence. Our driver felt really bad for us and was clearing trees and bushes out of the way for us to take better pictures. Such a funny guy.
He then drove us right across Rio city to the Centro area to visit the Museum of Art Moderna. The drive across town is quite spectacular, you go through tunnels under mountains, over flyovers and around spiral freeways. We also got a glimpse at the preparations for Carnival, with all the grandstands setup. Pretty big!
We finally got to the museum, it was a really cool building, all off form concrete, elevated on triangular concrete portal frames.
Was pretty cool - very minimal - as was the art collection. Ridiculously tiny it was, we were only there for 20mins or so it was that small. Such a big building too. Anyway, we had some lunch then wandered down the boulevard to Flamengo.
We saw some pretty interesting parks and monuments along the walk. Sim didn't enjoy it so much; her sunburnt legs were giving her grief whenever the sun hit them. Ive nicknamed her "Pink Pins". We walked in the shade for most of the way, checking out some interesting buildings along the way, before getting a bus back to Copacobana.
When we got off, we walked the whole stretch of Copacabana avenue (the shopping street not the beach front). I love this part of town, so leafy and shaded, Sim enjoyed that too. The temperature here, two blocks back from the beach, is 5-8degrees cooler, and the breeze flows up the cavernous streets. It's really very pleasant. The streets here have a really nice density and vitality to them. So cosmopolitan!
It's now 4:30ish so we stopped for a drink, then some time at the Internet cafe. This place was weird, full of Brooklyn accents- run by Americans and seems all of their customers are American too. I got a bit of a headache from being in there, so loud!
Anyway- it's almost time to go to the airport and fly out of here. We say goodbye Rio; goodbye Brazil and goodbye South America. It's been an amazing experience here. So much fun and so eventful. We will definitely be back.
Now to the airport and an overnight flight to San Francisco via Miami - not looking forward to this part!
Obragado and Ciao!
- Blog from iMat
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