The girls from Ipanema I

Okay, here's my post on our vacation to Rio. I forewarn you, it will include more photos than you're interested in, and probably more info too. We went during the "off season" and it was cloudy most of the time that we were there. But the climate was very temperate (between 20-30 degrees Celsius) the whole time, and Erin and I had a wonderful time. The above, left-hand picture is our hotel, Caesar Park (the reddish building. We were on floor 13 which I had understood no hotel to have, but maybe Brazilians are less superstitious that I had thought).

The right-hand picture is the first afternoon we were there, we climbed up a hill at the edge of Ipanema Beach, and here's a picture of the beach we were on. We also walked over to Copacabana Beach, but I liked Ipanema a little better. The surprising thing was that the roads were right by the beach, so there was always traffic noise even if you were down by the water. Ipanema was a little wider than Copacabana, so a little less noise.

Here I am playing on the Copacabana Beach our first day. Somehow, standing in the waves never gets old. After playing on the beach for a bit, Erin and I ventured inland a bit to find somewhere to eat dinner. We stopped at the first place that looked good, and were tickled to find out it was the restaurant wherein "The Girl From Ipanema" was written, inspired by the beauty of the local girls walking down the street. We decided that the important thing to eat while in Brazil is meat, so Erin got beef and I got some chicken with fried bananas. Good. Very good. As an added bonus, our waiter told us no less than five times that he loved us, especially after Erin tipped him $6 "Real" dollars (Brazilian money which is worth roughly half of what an American dollar is worth).

I mention our waiter specifically because he's going to enter our little story again, so don't forget him. Next day, Saturday. We attend a little thing called The Caesar Park (our hotel)breakfast buffet. Well first, let me tell you that Caesar Park is a very nice hotel. They have apples on their reception desk, yes, we're talking big time. The Bell Hops bring your luggage to your room, not following you, no, they just know where you are because Caesar Park cares about their guests. In our room, which was overall just really nice (there was a telephone in the bathroom, yo) we had bathrobes and slippers waiting for us. We had a fully stocked minibar (where the juice cost more than the booze, go figure), two big beds, special beach towels, chocolates on our pillows, a local newspaper, and a beach view.