2/10/2008 Good Bye Rio

From: Sherman Rootberg
Date: Feb 11, 2008 7:26 AM
Subject: 2/10/2008

2/10/2008

Good Bye Rio

At about noon we left the dock. Us special people, the ones who were Gold or Platinum, were invited out on the front deck to watch and party as we departed. There were the usual multitude of servers walking around with any kind of drink you wanted and along with the appetizers, they were grilling sausages and chicken wings right there on the deck. The other passengers could watch us from several locations but could not join us. That would piss me off if I was paying the same or more and was not entitled to the same amenities. And then they stick it in their faces? I don’t know. All the lines do it though.

We cruised around different areas of the bay and finally past Sugar Loaf and then we headed straight in, to Copacabana Beach. Again, we have had unusually good weather. It rained heavily through most of the parades, until we got in. That night was the final competition and that was the first time it cleared up. We had sunshine almost all the time we were here and today was no exception. The beaches were swarming with people. It looked like there was not an open inch.

We did get some new vital information from our guide the night before. She told us, the people from the other provinces or states in Brazil are jealous of them. They claim that no one in Rio works. All they do is go to the beaches. The Jesus Christ statue stands on top of the mountain with arms outstretched. He is watching to see if anybody ever goes to work. Should that ever happen he will bring his arms together and clap his hands.

We stopped in front of Copacabana Beach and they did two 360 degree pirouettes with the ship. While we had been moving the wind kept us cool but now it was getting HOT. We couldn’t take much more of that so we went back to the cabin and watched from our balcony for a long time as we were leaving the harbor and the area around Rio.