Cruise Summary and afterpiece

5047.2 miles steamed. well that is what it said on the GPS screen on board but the summary issued by the ship said 4,864 miles. What is a few miles between friends

Final position 23deg 53.71’S 43deg 10.89’ W, alongside in Rio

The last day in Rio was spent on a tour of the city, as much to kill time until the evening flight home as any other reason. We wne across the long Rio/Niteroi bridge to Niteroi across the bay where we stopped at MAC the Niedermeyer designed art museum which looks like a mushroom. The museum was closed so all we were able to do was to photograph it from outside.

(This picture was taken in 2007 when MAC and I visited the museum when it was actually open and we actually did go inside, (we even bought the baseball hat which has, of course MAC on the front!! – OK is is better than having Boston Red Sox on the front!!!).

In truth the exhibits inside the museum were not that interesting and although the design is striking from the outside, it is not that practical to display art as the light enters awkwardly. The building is more a work of sculpture than a practical edifice. (Not juts my view it was also the view expressed by our Brazilian guide.). From there we drove back over the bride to Rio and to Sugar Loaf. At this point, it was a choice, to go up Sugarloaf in the cable car or to go on to an air-conditioned shopping mall. OK I have not been up Sugarloaf, so the obvious choice was to do so. But…….it was in the 90’s and Sugarloaf is not nearly as high as Corcovado which I had been up the day before and which I have been up at other times. So, I by-passed it and wandered around the shopping mall in the cool and feasted on a Bob’s ice cream!! Excellent, of course!! When we went back to collect the Sugar-loafers, the story was that the cable car had got stuck halfway for ten minutes so maybe it wasn't such a bad call after all.

Then we went on to tour the beaches in the bus, including Leblond which I had not been to before. We stopped here for a short while to watch the hang-gliders landing. They jump off a nearby mountain and glide down to a soft landing on the beach. Most were doubles with an experienced pilot in charge and a tourist strapped to his back……maybe next time??

Take off point

In flight

Landing

From there we circumnavigated the lagoon and then went on to the airport and the flight home. We had a long wait at the airport as the flight to Sao Paulo was not until 8 p.m. and we arrived at the airport at 2 p.m. In the event although long and tedious the flight home via Sao Paulo where we had to change planes was uneventful and we arrived more or less on time in a cold (-1 deg C 30 deg F), snowy, but sunny JFK and I was home by 8 a.m.

If I forget the Insignia and even some of the places at which it called I will never forget the new friends I met on board who were so unremittingly kind to me and whose company I will treasure for ever. These were certainly vacation friends for the long term. I very sincerely hope that they all find their ways home safely and that we are able to meet up again soon. I truly wish you Au Revoir in the real literal sense of the words.

That’s all for this blog, thanks for reading.

Rio de Janeiro 9th February 2010

 

Sugarloaf Mountain, entering Rio

Sunrise, entering Rio.

Just a quick note from our day out in Rio. Today, we were joined by Dave and Jill a very nice couple from Minnesota and Palm Springs CA, (summer/winter quarters). We took a ‘free’ H. Stern, (a jeweler who thought we might buy from him!!), cab to Corcovado and went up to the statue of Christ the Redeemer on the small train that carries you there. It was very hot and we did not linger long there. The view was, as usual, spectacular with too much haze.

 

Statue of Christ the Redeemer, Corcovado mountain, Rio

Then we descended by the same train and took a cab to Ipanema. There we checked out the beach and thought it was about lunch time. We found, quite by accident a cafe called A Garota de Ipanema, which is the cafe in which Antonio Carlos Joabim wrote the song “The Girl from Ipanema” The cafe was not too spectacular but the T-shirt will be a conversation piece!

The words of the song “The Girl from Ipanema” by Antonio Carlos Joabim.

The cafe ‘A Garota….’

After lunch we decided that the heat had got the better of us and retired back to the ship to shower and start packing.

Day 19 – Arriving Rio 9th February 2010

This will probably be the last blog post of this trip which I will make from Insignia. I will make a summary of the trip when i get home and I am not being charged extortionate amounts for an internet connection!!

It was a spectacular morning as we steamed into Rio which, although a ‘superficial city’ (all seafront and nothing behind), has some scenic geography on the approach, Sugarloaf Mountain, Corcovado, etc. In some ways, it is a city which I often think, flatters to deceive.

Yes Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches are very nice but they are, in my opinion far from the most beautiful in the world. Rio, has hyped itself a bit beyond its real merits. Still, with the sun rising and the mist rapidly clearing, there is no doubt that, at a distance it is attractive.

When it comes to things to do, Rio shows its limitations. Once those two above have been covered, the city has little else to offer unless you are there at Carnaval and want to experience that sort of vicarious clamor.

For me, I will be glad to get on to the plane home tomorrow evening. Meanwhile I will pass the time in Rio revisiting places I have already been and packing for the journey home.

Asta la vista.

Monday 8th February, evening.

We all convened in the Terrace cafe for dinner.

If you look very carefully you will see the my dumb traveling companions Penguin and Homer the Bear sitting in the center of the table. They joined us for the last night’s dinner and behaved themselves quite well even though SOME of our number made fun of them!! We had another really fun meal with so many laughs it was impossible to count them all. I learnt some unusual facts including how Sam Bucatini was responsible for placing three coffee beans in a Sambucca!!! Harvey is just a mine of knowledge about such things and he is such a wonderful teacher!!

I have been so incredibly lucky to meet up with this simply perfect group of friends on this cruise and I cannot adequately express my gratitude to them for allowing me to participate in the fun events which we have shared together. These are not just vacation friends and I do hope that we have the possibility to meet up again soon and continue the really exceptionally enjoyable times we have experienced together. Harvey and Barbara will be in New York around the 18th March and we are determined to meet up with them at their favorite restaurant for dinner. The place will certainly be rocking for that evening.

It was so sad to say goodbye to Harvey and Barbara tonight as they leave in the morning for their trip to Iguazu. We are going to go to Corcovado tomorrow and will meet up with Joan and Barbara, hopefully for a last dinner tomorrow night.

On departure from Santos we passed the m.v. Repubblica del Brasile which was sufficient to remind me who pays the bills!!

We go to sleep tonight with a strong thunder squall developing outside which may mean that tomorrow will dawn just a little cooler than today. I look forward to entering Rio from the sea and although I have been there before, it is one of the more striking places on earth. It will be a fitting backdrop to the end of the cruise.

Day 18 – Monday, February 8th 2010 – Arriving Santos, Brazil

We steamed into Santos this morning amid a beautiful sunrise. The port is very busy and the largest in South America. The ‘usual suspects’, Maersk, MSC, Hamburg Sud and others were in attendance as well as the Grimaldi (erstwhile ACL), Conro vessel m.v. Repubblica del Brasile. We nearly bought her at the end of 2009 but the deal never took place. I remember visiting her in Tilbury and I thought she was not in bad shape for her age. She is now 21 years old.

Santos is a very large city and the beachfront is under heavy development with high-rise condos. Where we are berthed is probably NOT vintage real estate but we are hoping to take taxi to the nicer part of town, take a walk along the beach and perhaps have lunch at a recommended fish restaurant on the sea front. The temperature, even at this time, is 86 deg F , 30 deg C, so this will be a warm day.

Yesterday we received our disembarkation instructions for Rio so things are drawing to a close here on Insignia. I am going to take a tour of Rio which will include some of the sights I did not see on the last two visits I have made here in the past. The tour then drops me at the airport for the plane home which leaves at 8 p.m. local time on Wednesday, calls at Sao Paulo and then flies direct to (a snowy) JFK, arriving at 6 a.m. on Thursday morning. I am now ready to get home and cold, snow or whatever it will be good to be back. I am sure that our two cats will welcome me with their usual indifference. If I am really lucky they may even raise their heads from sleep for a few seconds before resuming the slumber position. I doubt that they will even relish the fact that I bought cat food in Argentina for them and carried it all the way home. Such are the rich rewards of cat-owning.

Although I did not witness it, I understand that New Orleans unexpectedly won the SuperBowl and although I am a fan of neither team nor the sport itself, that seems like a good result for a blighted city and from the news reports they are celebrating in good old “Nawleans” style. Well done to them. I always prefer the underdogs to win.

After being taken in the morning by a shuttle bus to the so-called ‘passenger terminal’ we took two cabs to the beach area of Santos. There we walked alongside the beach alternating in sun and shade. The temperature reached close to 100 deg F., (38 deg C). the beach is wide clean and very attractive. It is bordered by high rise condos and is very redolent of Copacabana in Rio although the shops and restaurants along the roadway are not quite so high-end. It is said to be the longest stretch of beach in the world. All in all a very pleasant beach-front.

There are showers at regular intervals and a lot of staff cleaning, sweeping and hosing down the paved areas. The beach was not too crowded and there was a gentle surf. I am not sure how people can go on the beach in swimwear with the sun so strong.

Despite the not very flattering descriptions of Santos in the ship’s literature, we were all quite impressed by this part of the city although I am sure that there are also large areas which are not so nice

We then strolled back to the restaurant Vista Ao Mar which had been recommended. It is a fish restaurant and they served up a great meal of fish and octopus, preceded by some interesting appetizers and accompanied by cold beer. All very welcome in the cool of the air-conditioned interior.

The fish….

…. and the octopus.

My companions, Joan and Bill, Harvey and Barbara and Bernie and Michele very kindly picked up the tab for my share which was very nice of them indeed and I am most grateful both for their kindness and friendship during the whole cruise, it has really made it for me.

I think we were all quite full and retired back to the ship for some afternoon siesta and to look forward to our last night at sea on board Insignia. Tomorrow, Harvey and Barbara will leave the ship and go to a hotel before setting off for Iguazu Falls. Joan and Bill remain on board and also set off for Iguazu later in the week before returning to attend the Carnival Ball, the highlight of the Mardi Gras/Carnival celebration. Bernie and Michele will stay a day or so in Rio and come home on Friday.

Sunday 7th February, evening

What an evening!!! We had a wonderful drinks party in Harvey & Barbra’s stateroom with food partly provided by the ship as well as some cheese and salami that I bought in BA. I doubt that I, or any of us have laughed so much for a long time.

One of the butts of the jokes was my penguin and his bear friend. I have no idea why these two young friends should be the cause of such mirth. Although being in close proximity for nearly 19 days may have established an unhealthy relationship between them, I am sure some therapy when they get home will straighten them out again.

Here we all are, before dinner.

Then we retired to the Polo steakhouse for a dinner which was even more entertaining and amusing than the pre-dinner drinks. The laugh levels reached close to incontinence and we had what I think for everyone was a really great time. I have been SO lucky with the friends that I have made on this cruise and I really do think that they will not just be fleeting acquaintances. I am so grateful that they included me on their activities and it has certainly made the trip eternally memorable.

Here we are at dinner.

It was, without doubt, a night to remember.

Tonight, the ship has focused on the SuperBowl. I have tuned in to it briefly in my room. Fortunately there are commentators who are much better players than those on the field and for me, the best player is the guy in the black and white striped shirt who has lovely arm movements. After watching the rugby the other day, I can see the difference between the two sports. Someone has just been penalized for ‘unnecessary roughness’, I do hope he wasn’t also rude to the other player and didn’t have bad breath too. I am expecting someone to be sent off for inadequate deodorant or badly adjusted clothing before the game is over.

Tomorrow we arrive in Santos and our first brush, on this trip with Brazil.

Day 17 (cont’d) – Sunday 7th February 2010 (Super-Bowl Sunday – yawn………)

The day has started bright and sunny and the temperature is rising and with it the humidity. Looking at the pictures of Washington DC which is in physical, meteorological gridlock instead of the usual political gridlock is quite a contrast but it is 3-4,000 miles away so it is ‘sufficient unto the day’ that I will have to deal with the US winter weather. As I am a ‘winter person’ who does not do well in the heat above about 23 deg C or 75 deg F. the return to the cold holds no terrors in fact I am looking forward to it.

I must say that the write up in the ship’s daily newsletter called ‘Currents’ regarding both Santos and Sao Paulo make me wonder what on earth possessed the cruise line to call there. Santos is described as “ ………a city which has seen better days and, as a destination for travelers, is of limited interest”. That really gets you going doesn’t it? Of Sao Paulo “It can be an intimidating place….but if you like big cities it is worth a visit.” It goes on to say “The residents constantly complain of street violence, traffic problems and pollution….….Reports of crime in the city have increased and it is now said to be less safe than Rio”. Well, sounds like a really exciting place to be mugged. The organized tour spends almost all its time on the bus according to the description of it, because the traffic is too heavy!!!!! Bearing in mind that, in docile little old BA, one of the passengers from ‘Insignia’ on an organized bus tour had his wristwatch removed (cut with a box cutter) from his wrist by a thief as he was getting off the tour bus, one can only begin to imagine what they may have in store for us in Santos/Sao Paulo. What ere they thinking?

Breakfast was out in the open (but shade), on the after end of the Terrace Cafe and as it is Sunday, some of us had a Bloody Mary or a Mimosa. We also opened one of the jars of ‘Deedle Dee’ jam which I bought in the Falklands. The jam is made from a berry of the same name which looks a bit like a red-currant. Its taset is not unpleasant. The temperature is 28 deg C or 82 deg F and I think we are in for a warm day.

The usual menu of ‘entertaining treats’ is on offer today including the ‘Superbowl of Trivia’ which promises to be the culminating episode of the long-running trivia quizzes which have taken place throughout the cruise. The anticipation for this event is almost palpable. It seems that the appetite for trivia is totally elastic, does this say something about modern life? Perhaps ‘triviality is the new reality’, who knows? Certainly, the only news channels available on the vessel, CNN and Fox avoid hard news like the plague and the programs seem to be driven far more by the presenter than by the content, the latter of which is kept deliberately ‘light’. I have yet to hear anyone ask a difficult question of anyone else, a combative question, perhaps but not an intelligently phrased question to which the answer needs to be more than one sentence. If the news is trivia, then it is only to be expected that its consumers will be interested in trivia too. At the moment, the uncrowned queen of Trivialand, Sarah Palin, rules the airwaves. She can see Trivia from her house. End of sermon.

Tonight should be a good night to take over control of the ship and steer it away from Santos as, I assume, many people will be watching the Stupidbowl, sorry, SuperBowl. I wouldn’t ask for a ransom for the ship, just the avoidance of Santos!! I am hoping to attend a course on ‘Swahili for Dummies’ during this evening football-watching period as I am sure such knowledge will serve me well during the World Cup in South Africa. Phrases common to the British soccer stadium such as the chant “Here we go, here we go, here we go”, helpful advice for the players, for example  “Nutmeg ‘im Kevin” or pertinent observations about the visual acuity of the match officials in the form of “Oi! ref, where is your dog and white stick?” or even a waveringly lyrical version of the ballad “You’ll never walk alone”, all expressed in the native vernacular will do much to endear me to the locals, I am sure. Also, expressing my sentiments in a lesser known language will avoid the hostility I might incur from those around me when England play USA on June 17th. when my loyalties will be tested to the full. Now that the captain of England has been discovered ‘in flagrante’ with the significant other of one of his teammates, the internal dynamics of the England team should be as interesting as the maneuvers on the field of play.  This could be the first case of a red card for adultery. If the England players had been more strategic thinkers, they would have committed adultery with a significant other of a member of one of the opposition teams, not one of their own. There is still time…………..

The half-time interval at the SuperBowl is to be performed by the last mortal remains of the ‘Who’. The Geritol-fuelled duo will arise from their walking frames and try to pretend that they are 50 years younger than they are. Sure they were great once but perhaps it is time to hang up the guitars and the dirty T-shirts It is probably salutary to think that the players in the game which they will punctuate are possibly old enough to be their grandchildren. How many of the live and TV audience watching will even know who they are?

More from today, later.