Saturday 25^th February 2017

My birthday!

Birthday present of a rucksack rain cover – let’s see when it is needed first. Rousing chorus when I arrived at breakfast from the various Pommy, Aussie, Kiwi and Canadian entourage.

City Tour – bit of a wash-out really. Drove around in a nice bus to find that the Cathedral was closed due to Carnivale season, as were many of the shops ‘downtown’. Everything boarded up.  Loads of remnants of all-night street parties going on, and not sure whether some were just starting to party or were still going from the night before. Luckily due to my blocked nasal passages I was spared the other street party aftermath. Visited the Lapa staircase (Escadaria) where Gorge Selaron, a Chilean Artist, spent his life collecting tiles, then laid them up, along, and around the previously dilapidated 215 Lapa steps.  Sadly he died on his steps in 2013 (told you that step exercise was dangerous).  Iain was happy taking photos of the outside of the Praca Maua (Museum of the Future) which demonstrated some of the fabulous architecture which was variously on show around the city.

What was shocking though was some beautiful old buildings just being left abandoned and rotting.  
Also our inability to visit the Olympic stadium and buildings which have been left deserted. Probably some government initiative/austerity measures somewhere down the line….