Thursday 17th December;
Well our amazing trip comes to an end today, and we will leave for the airport around 7.30pm this evening. This morning we head of to the Maracana Stadium for a tour, the Macarana as our friend Judy thought. A private car is hired on the basis of waiting and returning us as well. The hotel doorman suggests this might be better than trying to hail a taxi outside, given that it's opposite a favela, well I guess he would say that, gets him some commission I'm sure, but it certainly made it easy for us and the driver spoke pretty good English as well.
With 30 or 40 others we join the one hour guided tour of the stadium, visiting the press area, the VIP area, the dug-out and one of the dressing rooms; it's an impressive place with plenty of ghosts, especially the loss to Uruguay in the 1950 final. Interestingly the 2014 semi-final lost 1-7 to Germany was not played here, only the final between Argentina & Germany.
Lunch back at the roof top bar/pool and it seems guests take second place to the renovation work going on and the photo-shoot going on. Folks from the US Track & Field management team are here also, checking out accommodation in readiness for the Olympics next July/August. I suspect they will not be recommending the Caesar Park. For a supposed 5* hotel the overhaul and decoration is incredibly sloppy, worse than DIY, ;et alone professional decorating, but hey this is Brazil as JB kept reminding us, Rio is "jerry-built".
With 30 or 40 others we join the one hour guided tour of the stadium, visiting the press area, the VIP area, the dug-out and one of the dressing rooms; it's an impressive place with plenty of ghosts, especially the loss to Uruguay in the 1950 final. Interestingly the 2014 semi-final lost 1-7 to Germany was not played here, only the final between Argentina & Germany.
Lunch back at the roof top bar/pool and it seems guests take second place to the renovation work going on and the photo-shoot going on. Folks from the US Track & Field management team are here also, checking out accommodation in readiness for the Olympics next July/August. I suspect they will not be recommending the Caesar Park. For a supposed 5* hotel the overhaul and decoration is incredibly sloppy, worse than DIY, ;et alone professional decorating, but hey this is Brazil as JB kept reminding us, Rio is "jerry-built".
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