Breakfast overlooking Copacabana Beach - what can I say? They're living on past glories? The hotel is okay I guess, but really pretty ordinary. We do have a fountain in our bathroom though - first time on this trip. The breakfast was very pedestrian. We were collected by the local guide for an 8 hour city tour which included a lot of waiting time. First we waited for the train to go up to where the statue of Christ the Redeemer is. The city was covered in some sort of fog, so all we could see was the statue. The train trip each way would have taken 20-30 minutes. After that we drove past the cemetery where Carmen Miranda is buried. We drove past the Botanic Gardens which are full of trees from Portuguese-speaking colonies. We also drove past the bar where the girl (now grandma) from Ipanema used to drink, and inspired the two men who fell in love with her and wrote the song. She now lives in São Paulo, not the capital but the largest city in Brazil. We also went to San Conrado beach, where people who jump off the mountain with hang gliders land. After that we were taken to a restaurant for lunch where we chose from the buffet and then our plates were weighed to decide on the price! The food was quite nice. We were then taken to Sugarloaf Mountain, which requires two different cable cars to get to. By then the fog had lifted and the views were spectacular! Dinner tonight was awesome - Brazilian BBQ included in the tour. You help yourself to the salads at the buffet and they bring the meats to you on huge skewers and cut it onto your plate. Wonderful night out. Taxi trips were a bit bizarre - doing 107kph in the city traffic; no indicators; answering mobile phone whilst driving. Oh my gosh!