Lirio

Spring is coming. My aunt garden. My apartment "garden"

Lovely patio!

All my best wishes for all on board. Newspaper in Brazil is also covering it.

MaryBeth was in my 1st SS cruise several years ago. She is great.

Someone asked me about things to do in Rio. So here it is: 1. Obvious places: Corcovado and Sugar Loaf. For Corcovado I highly recommend the Tram. Sugar Loaf: In fact, there are 2 hills connected by the cable car. The 1st part of the cable car one goes up to the first hill (Morro da Urca) and 2nd part to Sugar Loaf itself. Should you like hiking, there is a beautiful trail to get to the 1st part (Morro da Urca) and from there, take the cable car to the Sugar Loaf. 2. Historical part of the city: close to the maritime terminal. A guided walk tour is a good suggestion. Somes places I like: 1) Cinelandia where is located Theatro Municipal, Biblioteca Nacional and Museum de Belas Artes. You can visit them all these, but in case you a short on time, the buildings themselves are worth seeing from outside. 2) Praça XV where is located Arco do Teles and some small old streets. 3) Real Gabinete Português de Leitura (hidden gem). 4) Pequena Africa (little Africa) walking tour. 3. Historical churches: The most beautiful is Mosteiro de São Bento, walking distance from the cruise terminal. Should you have to choose just 1, I recommend choosing this one. Other interesting churches: Convento Santo Antonio that can be reached by a tram that departures from the cruise terminal. Should you like to see more churches: Igreja Nossa Senhora do Carmo da Antiga Sé and Outeiro da Gloria. The first one is in the historical neighborhood and the second one a bit further, but still close. 4. Museums: There is one just very close to the cruise terminal Museu do Amanhã (Tomorrow Museum) and some others in the historical neighborhood. There is lot of specific museums and art and culture centers in the historical area and further away. 5. Fortress – Due to the war against the French in XVI century and WWI there several fortresses around Rio. 2 are in Copacabana beach, one in each side. Forte do Leme is up in a hill that is reached on foot and a paved road. It is very steep, so if one is not fit, I do not recommend hiking it. The view from the above is very beautiful. The other one is flat and very ease to visit (Forte Copacabana) and the view from the cannons roof top is great. Should you be seriously interested in fortresses, the most interesting are those in a near by city Niteroi on the other side of the bay. But it is necessary 3 hours to visit all the 3 fortress there. One of them you will probably see from the ship while she gest into the Guanabara Bay approaching the maritime terminal. It is Fortaleza de Santa Cruz. 6. Botanical Garden is beautiful and should one is very interested in flowers and plants, Sitio Burle Marx is a must do, but it will need more time because it about 50km from the maritime terminal. 7. Rio is a city for jogging, biking and hiking. Should want more information just ask.

Someone asked me about things to do in Rio. So here it is: 1. Obvious places: Corcovado and Sugar Loaf. For Corcovado I highly recommend the Tram. Sugar Loaf: In fact, there are 2 hills connected by the cable car. The 1st part of the cable car one goes up to the first hill (Morro da Urca) and 2nd part to Sugar Loaf itself. Should you like hiking, there is a beautiful trail to get to the 1st part (Morro da Urca) and from there, take the cable car to the Sugar Loaf. 2. Historical part of the city: close to the maritime terminal. A guided walk tour is a good suggestion. Somes places I like: 1) Cinelandia where is located Theatro Municipal, Biblioteca Nacional and Museum de Belas Artes. You can visit them all these, but in case you a short on time, the buildings themselves are worth seeing from outside. 2) Praça XV where is located Arco do Teles and some small old streets. 3) Real Gabinete Português de Leitura (hidden gem). 4) Pequena Africa (little Africa) walking tour. 3. Historical churches: The most beautiful is Mosteiro de São Bento, walking distance from the cruise terminal. Should you have to choose just 1, I recommend choosing this one. Other interesting churches: Convento Santo Antonio that can be reached by a tram that departures from the cruise terminal. Should you like to see more churches: Igreja Nossa Senhora do Carmo da Antiga Sé and Outeiro da Gloria. The first one is in the historical neighborhood and the second one a bit further, but still close. 4. Museums: There is one just very close to the cruise terminal Museu do Amanhã (Tomorrow Museum) and some others in the historical neighborhood. There is lot of specific museums and art and culture centers in the historical area and further away. 5. Fortress – Due to the war against the French in XVI century and WWI there several fortresses around Rio. 2 are in Copacabana beach, one in each side. Forte do Leme is up in a hill that is reached on foot and a paved road. It is very steep, so if one is not fit, I do not recommend hiking it. The view from the above is very beautiful. The other one is flat and very ease to visit (Forte Copacabana) and the view from the cannons roof top is great. Should you be seriously interested in fortresses, the most interesting are those in a near by city Niteroi on the other side of the bay. But it is necessary 3 hours to visit all the 3 fortress there. One of them you will probably see from the ship while she gest into the Guanabara Bay approaching the maritime terminal. It is Fortaleza de Santa Cruz. 6. Botanical Garden is beautiful and should one is very interested in flowers and plants, Sitio Burle Marx is a must do, but it will need more time because it about 50km from the maritime terminal. 7. Rio is a city for jogging, biking and hiking. Should want more information just ask.

Jogging around Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas today. Winter has gone away early and temperature is around 30C. In 2 weeks, I will be in New Orleans (1st time) for a conference. It will be very busy, but I hope I can visit some places.

I was at the Edition in 2022 and it is a great hotel and almost everyday a new cruise ship arrived.....Should I be in Iceland again (I hope so) that's my firts option!

Considering all this we are looking for other options to cruise.

Visiting houses is one of my favourite tour, every where, any type of house. This time I pictured handle/knobs:

Fusina (Venice) to Fusina (Venice) – Silver Spirit 9 to 16 of August We made our reservation directly with Silversea port to port. For this cruise we did not get the Venetian Society discount or any OBC. We made our own arrangements for transportations and hotels pre and post cruise. Our trip started with 2 days in Milano, and from there we took the train to Venice 1 day prior to embarkation. We booked a hotel in Venice very closed to Piazzale Roma, where all public transportation arrives), just 2 bridges. Very convenient to go from the train station and to access the People Mover. On the embarkation day we got the People Mover to Maritima Terminal where we met Silversea check in point and where the Silversea bus departed to the pier in Fusina (20-30 minutes ride). Embarkation was pretty ease. When we arrived at the ship, our cabin was ready. It was a veranda suite close to elevators, stairs, and launderette. More convenient, impossible. The amenities were from Seba Med that I didn’t know before. Service can improve. In 2 days, we arrived from lunch and our suite wasn’t service yet and, in the evening, as well, sometimes service was very late. In the pool bar, on some occasions, we aske for a drink an got another one. Food was good or very good in all restaurants we visited, and we visited all of them. We only had the house wines and drinks, and we were happy with that. Included tours: mixed feelings. It saves you from research but sometimes is just staying in a bus. Next cruise I will be more diligent in choosing the tours. Entertainment is certainly a point to improve. I took my dancing shoes, but DJ started very late. First day at 22:30, 22:45; 22:45; 23:30…..and played a lot of Latin music that I do not like….Shows were not motivating….. The ports of call were very good to excellent. All new for us. Trieste (best pastries and ice cream for all trip); Zadar, Hvar (best beaches and trail), Dubrovnik (as crowded as Venice, Game of Thrones, very good street market), Split and Opatija (good beaches). Disembarkation was easy as well. We got back to the same hotel for more 3 days in Venice. In From there we drove to Milano and have more 4 days around the city and cities nearby. The best one was Bergamo. In Milano we had the opportunity to visit an exhibition about Amazon in Brazil, very good coincidence. Now we are back home planning new adventures.

D2D is not offered for all countries, Brazil for instances. One must choose between D2D without flights or P2P with restricted benefits. And the discount for flights in D2D without flights is very low compared to the cost of flights. This means that the difference of D2D without flights and P2P is due to the difference in the restrictions. Usually, I have a land trip either before or after the cruise that I do on my own. Because of that I always arrange my flights. I consider that D2D is only suitable for those taking only the cruise.

I prefer close to laundry. No noise at all.

@ Silver Spirit. La Dame wine pairing. We had the house wines, not pairing.

@Silver Spirit. Today was Informal (Formal Optional) what ever it is!

Today we came to Venice by train. Daughter is so happy……It is her first time in Italy. We are doing the basic things. In Milan: Duomo, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Galeria Vittorio Emanuele. Tomorrow is boarding date. Cant wait to be at the Spirit.

I know them all! I will make some comments soon.

@jpalbny I swear that I tried to travel with only a carry-on, but I failed. First of all, my daughter has an endless list of requests from Brazil….So the carry-on is all hers… Second, I was very impressed with the long discussion about dress code, I brought several flip flops to match the colors of the clothes…… Third, I was very concerned about the chair hogs, I brought more books, more sunglasses and more socks……. I will try harder next time.....

Our vacation started this way: We were on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Sao Paulo and from there to Milan last Friday. The flight from Rio to Sao Paulo was cancelled. We were transferred to a flight from Rio to Porto, Porto to Lisbon, Lisbon to Milan later in the same day. The flight from Porto to Rio had a 3-hour delay and it wouldn’t be possible to get the connection to Milan. So, we were transferred to a flight Rio to Lisbon and then to Milan, the next day. Got back home. Finally, everything went smoothly and on Sunday we arride here. Daughter came from NZ (27-hour flight from Auckland to Dubai to Milan) without any problem and enjoyed her day without us in a walking tour. Tomorrow we are heading to Venice.

Thank you. We are boarding in a week. I will do some research.

Hello from Rio de Janeiro. The main event of Carnaval is the parade. But there a lot of popular get together on the streets follwoing bands so traffic sometimes can be hard. Be carefull with your schedule. Because these popular bands on streets, pick pockets are all around be carefull with yours belongs. In Sambodrome (for the parade) there are some options starting with stadium type (arquibancada), chairs on ground level (frisa) - red in the photo below and camarote which is the most exensive area (covered, private bath, air conditioner, and usually bar with food and drinks). In the picture below camarote is in between arquibancada (upper part, not convered) and chairs in the groun level. I strongly recommend you get a guide or use the SS service. I do not go the the parade anymore, but if I would go, I would contract an agency to get the ticket, to pickup at and bring me back.

My daughter (who lives in NZ) loved the idea of the traim trip! It is now in our list. Maybe sooner than later.

yes, in Rio deJaneiro, at Copacabana beach several years ago (2006).

Has anyone done "Secret Itineraries" tour in Palazzo Ducale in Venice?

I know the feeling. Hello from Rio de Janeiro......