Brazil Day 29 - Back to Rio on the bus
Not much to report today as I spent most of the time on the bus. After a seemingly luxurious lie-in to 8am, I had a decent breakfast in the hotel knowing it was unlikely I was going to have anything decent for lunch. I was booked on a 10:30 departure from Sao Paulo to Rio, a 6-7 hour trip. A taxi to the bus station was about £10, and I spent the next hour looking intently at people to figure out if they were going to try and nick anything, which nobody did.
No problems with my ticket this time, and I was straight on the bus into the luxo area at the front again, seat 9 again, with a great view out as the world went by. I locked my Peli case to my seat and relaxed into the trip. This gave me time to reflect on the atmosphere here in Brazil after the two semi final games. The papers are still full of the 7-1 thrashing by Germany, and the new revelations that Germany were asked at half time not to humiliate the hosts (any more!).
So the local team are getting a massive and repeated pasting in the press, deservedly after that performance. According to the family I am staying with, they will be supporting Germany in the final, definitely not Argentina. There is a football-hate relationship with Argentina much as there is between England and France, or England and Germany, or England and Argentina - they simply cannot stomach the Argentinians winning, and especially not in the Maracana, in Rio, in Brazil. Unthinkable. I reckon they'll be OK and Germany should win it, but it's been a quite crazy world cup so far so who knows. From my perspective I can't find myself in support of either Germany or Argentina, but from a picture sales perspective Messi with the trophy is the money shot.A relatively uneventful bus trip through lots of rain and thick fog in the mountains ended with me deployed into Rio's bus station. The signs for taxis pointed out of the bus station to a very dark, unlit area with a bunch of people folornly trying to hail taxis while laden down with all sorts of luggage. A couple of unlikely-looking youths were attempting to "help" them. Not for me thanks. I turned round and headed back into the terminal and went to the area where taxis drop off, and picked up one straight away with no problems at all.The trip to my apartment which took 15 minutes a few days ago took an hour this time as the traffic was totally snarled up. Heavy rain earlier in the day had cause chaos which was still very much in evidence. Still, the taxi ride cost less than £10 - taxis in Rio are cheap.After a bit of banter with my hosts, I headed out with BenQ and Kieran and we tried a new nearby restaurant called Julius Brasserie. Superb it was too. I had excellent sea bass with parsnip puree, prawns and fresh veg for £15. It was gorgeous - delicate and flavoursome, such a change from a lot of the stodge I've been eating recently.
It's quite an unassuming place, but now my new favourite in Rio. If it wasn't chuking it down with rain the view would have been very nice over the little beach opposite to the other side of the bay, but you'll have to wait for another time to see a pic of that. In the meantime here's a shot of the place.
A very pleasant evening with the guys, some nice beer (Brahimia trappist style) and lovely food. Tomorrow is an admin day - sorry Mike, no beach girl pics again - I have loads of receipts to get through and sort out. In the meantime I wait patiently for the confirmation or not of my place in the final on Sunday. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed....And thanks for all your comments - they keep me going! 5 days before I fly back.