The evening and night at the Sambodromo will be memorable for the heat , the noise, the intense interest, the staying power, the cultural references. When we arived at 9pm the terraces where we had our tickets were already packed with Brazilians in party mood. When each Samba School fill the length of the Sambadromo there must be 2000 dancers all dancing hypnotically to the Samba . We stayed for 6 of the 7 schools - each one takes 90mins, we got home at 5am - early for some. The kiosks along Copocobana are still functioning at that time for the serious revellers.
As Patrick says, our night at the Sambadromo will stay with us forever. What a spectacle! So many people, mostly Brazilians watching as well as participating of course, and they all seemed to love every single minute of it. Northern Europeans like me could do with some of their lack of inhibition, their energy, enthusiasm and get-up-and-go.
Everything was so colourful, loud and in-your-face. There's nothing retiring or diffident about the Brazilians at Carnaval time - or any other time probably, come to that!
The floats were magnificent, if occasionally on the garish side to our european sensibilities and incomprehensible at times. The costumes were consistently wonderful in their variety & splendour and the samba dancing leading ladies in their feathered outfits had to be seen to be believed. Everything accompanied by the constant thump thump of the drums...
You may have seen pictures on the TV or in the press of the London themed parade. We loved the samba dancing queen, guards, horses, policemen etc. The queen's escort in her carriage (Prince Philip?)was one of the Rio bin-men, dressed in his usual orange jumpsuit,who was obviously a very skilled samba dancer. He couldn't resist getting out of the carriage, with his broom, to do a quick routine - much to the delight of the crowd who sang, danced, whooped, cheered & waved their flags from start to finish.
Definitely a night to remember!