Rio Getaway Part II

This morning we had a nice walk on the beach, then continued what became our trip's mission: locate Team USA World Cup Havaiana flip flops in sizes 8, 9 (x2) and 11.  It seems they only have this item in size 8.  And, boy do they have lots of those.  The rest of us will just have to order online I guess.  Anyway, after the flip flop debacle, we went onward to an adventure in Rio's Santa Tereza neighborhood in search of interesting things to see, and some fancy stairs.  We ended the day with an amazing Italian dinner on the covered patio of a great restaurant while it poured down rain.  Another fun day!

Another original Starbucks name to start the day.

Bom dia from Ipanema beach!

Ipenema's signature Portuguese tile pattern.

Colorful buildings in the Santa Tereza neighborhood.

After this, we began our search for the fanciest stairs in Brazil, the Escadaria Selarón.  We found out later that we approached it from the wrong side.  Clues were there, as passersby told us to take off our watches and put our phones away.  Then there was the tell tale warnings spray-painted in Portuguese ("Cuidado!  Area de assaultos!") with fun spray-painted English translations ("Watch out!  Area of steals!!").  Anyway, we almost turned back, but I just had a nagging feeling we were almost there...and I was right.  Note to self, next time approach from Lapa at the bottom.

Mosaic celebrating Brazil in 2010.

My friend and I in the only photo taken of us together on our whole trip.

The view down into Centro.

The house of the stairs!

Even a tile from the NW.  You can bring tiles for the artist to add from all over the world.  There were tiles dated all the way back to the 50s!  It was really a gorgeous and interesting place.

This shot was a miracle, as there were about 50 people clammering to have their picture taken right here, and there's not even an errant foot to be seen!

 This photo, though full of randos, does give a pretty good perspective on the scale of this pretty cool place.

 We attempted to watch the sunset from this cool vantage point in Ipanema, but we were rained out.  We had a really fun weekend in Rio, and I am looking forward to going back in a few weeks with Eric and Kylie!