2/5/09 We had a lazy day today, having a rest after all the walking we've done in the past few days. 3/5/09 We walked into Centro again to try to visit the Museum of Fine Arts, only to find once again that it was closed! We had a closer look at one of the entrances, and noticed a sign saying that it's closed until 8th May. Centro was very quiet because of it being a Sunday. You may have read somewhere that Rio, like the rest of Brazil, is football mad, and that ...

27/4/09 It rained nearly all day today, plus most of Rio's attractions are closed on Mondays, so apart from a quick trip out to get a couple of interesting cakes and go to the supermarket, we just took it easy, went on the internet etc. 28/4/09 Today we walked into Centro for the first time, to see some of the historical sights and visit the National Fine Arts Museum. The first thing we did was try to find the museum, but we couldn't find it anywhere! The map re...

20/4/09 Our flight to Rio today, via Sao Paulo. The flight to Sao Paulo went well, apart from at the luggage check-in when Dave realised he'd lost the tourist card which you get on arrival and have to fill in and give back on departure. The woman took pity on him in the end and gave him another one to fill in and give to the other people. In the shops near the boarding lounges Dave bought himself an engraved Chilean copper ring and a bookmark, but I didn't buy an...

18/4/09 The long flight went well (11 and a half hours), but neither Dave or I got a window seat so we couldn't get any pictures. I didn't manage to get any sleep, however, so I was horrifically jetlagged by the time we arrived. After all, my body clock thought it was 5 am on the 19th when it was actually 1 pm on the 18th, local time - four and a half hours before we had set off! The food they gave us was lovely. We hadn't been given an exit stamp at Auckland ai...

15/4/09 Dropoff time for the car was 10am, so we were up by 6 and left before 7. The roads were very bendy for quite a while through the mountains, with lots of curves - some quite sharp - one straight after the other. The scenery was mostly stunning, though Dave couldn't really get a look at it due to having to be so careful driving. Instead of going back to Surf 'n' Snow Backpackers, we paid for our last three nights in NZ at the Nomads Fusion hostel nearby. W...