Rio 1

On Saturday, March 31st, Nara picked me up for a tourist's day trip to Rio.  Nara drove first to pick up her sister Vania, and then off we went to catch the ferry that would take us from Niterói across Guanabara Bay to Rio de Janeiro.  Nara parked the car several blocks from the ferry terminal.  Then we walked.

Fazer means 'to do, to make.'
After all the red tape that Cecilia and Will have encountered,
Will calls this "the government agency of doing stuff."

Niterói Theater Plaza Garden

Theater in Niterói

Niterói's old Post Office Building is undergoing restoration.
It's across the boulevard from the Ferry Terminal.

Tickets for the Ferry

Inside the open-air Ferry Terminal there are places to buy snacks
and wait with up to 700+ of your fellow travelers.

The Ferry Terminal moves people!  When a ferry arrives, large terminal doors slide open and everyone walks down the pier.  It's similar to the crowds at a major sports stadium for a play-off game, only Brazilians don't honor personal space quite the way that I'm used to.  In a matter of 5 minutes, everyone is loaded, seated, and the ferry is on its way across Guanabara Bay.  The crossing takes about 15 minutes.

Smog doesn't obscure the bridge that connects Rio to Niterói.

An Oil Rig in Guanabara Bay
This picture is for Steve Junior!

Rio's Old Treasury Building

From the Ferry, Rio comes into view.

With Nara as our guide, we began our tour of Centro--Historic Downtown Rio de Janeiro.

According to Nara, this structure designates the spot where
explorers and colonists landed.
The concrete marks where the Bay used to be;
smaller boats would tender passengers to the landing.

Old and new coexist in Rio.

Tune in tomorrow for another installment of the Gringa's day trip to Rio!  In Rio 2 we'll take a look at Paço Imperial and more.  I just finished cropping and renaming 129 pictures in Photoshop, so I'm signing off for now.  Boa Noite!