Monthly Archives: September 2023

Marius Restaurant or a Pirate’s Den?

Posted on September 20, 2023 by julieallen36

Guest blogger- Jane

When I was looking for somewhere a little different to eat for our last night I found restaurant “Marius Degustare”, which was on Avenida Atlantico at the far end where we had walked that day and it was rated 5 stars and 16,969 reviews can’t be wrong.

I knew from the elaborate entrance of bright blue lit palm trees and camp gold covered figurines at the entrance, that I had made the right choice! Inside was a “Pirates Cave” full of quirky lights, lots more figurines, the walls were covered with plates or painted in gold and covered in mirrors. And guess what?…. there were pirates everywhere (they were the waiters) and I should add at this point they were not the jolly sort but were quite surly, some may say grumpy and we thought highly amusing.

We were shown to our table and they explained what happens next. They asked us our nationality and then planted a flag with your country on your table.

Julie did not recognise the flag of the couple sitting nearest to us but could not ask the nice lady where they were from as the whole night she had her iPhone in front of her face taking photos for Instagram. Instead, Julie asked the burly chap who said in a rather gruff manner “Brazil Regional”. We thought he might be auditioning to be a pirate!

This was an all you can eat steak and seafood restaurant where the not so jolly pirates, each came round with trays of meat/fish that had just been prepared or in the case of the steaks were still on a hot stone so you could have it the way you liked it. You did not get the whole steak you got small pieces of meat and then more meat and then more and so on.

These are some of the ones that we were offered that I remember:

Tenderloin, Tomahawk, T-Bone, Porterhouse, Fillet, Ribeye and Sirloin.

The fish platters had these that I remember:

Lobster Tails, Oysters, Squid, Octopus; King Prawns, Sea Bass.

Woe betide you if you were vegetarian, as your list was limited to a grilled mushroom.

This wasn’t everything, oh no, they had an all you can eat and loosely titled salad bar too, on which we found:

Giant mussels, oxtail stew, seafood paella, plus lattice crisps, smoked salmon and asparagus (for the vegetarians) and so much more but can’t possible name it all.

We could have ordered a bottle of wine off their extensive wine list for around £200 but we had a Portuguese red for £35. It was very nice.

As we were eating someone moved around the room and started swinging all the lights and then a bell clanged at that point people started clapping. We had no idea why but being British we joined in.

To get to the loo you had to go up an elaborate staircase at which we noticed couples posing in front of a huge mirror for a selfie so we tried that but the photo had the iPhone in it so I must have been doing something wrong.🤦‍♀️

If it was your birthday four surly pirates surrounded you, clapping and singing happy birthday (yes we all joined in of course) they however finished as quickly as they could so they could back to serving meat and fish without a smile passing their lips!

Then every now and then a man in full pirate gear but wearing white wellies came out with a mop and cleaned up any spillages.

Before we got the bill and prepared to leave I decided to go to the loo. When I got there, I felt something odd underfoot. It was crunchy and smelt of coffee. That’s because it was coffee, coffee beans to be precise, yes honestly, fresh coffee beans strewn all over the floor of a gaudy pink ladies which had a massive pair of pink lips above the toilet.

Well this is new I thought and I ordered an Uber for us to get back to our hotel. We possibly did not do justice to the all you can eat menu but we had a wonderful time and laughed a lot – it was fab!

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Brazil, Rio | 5 Comments

Cloudy Day in Rio

Posted on September 18, 2023 by julieallen36

Ola! It’s been a few days as, as I write this, we have actually moved on to our next destination. More of which later but for now I need to catch up with our last day in Rio.

We woke up to a full on cloudy day and it was 10 degrees cooler at about 21 degrees. Quite a relief..especially after our big night out💃🪩

So…what do you do on a cloudy day in Rio? Well, we decided that we’d get some exercise and take in the sights along the entire length of Copacabana Beach. Our hotel was located at one far end of the beach near to the Fort and today, we walked all the way back to the rock at the other end which is actually an area called ‘Leme. We walked all along the promenade, the other side of the busy Avenue Atlântica. It’s 4km in length and has the famous wave pattern of the Portuguese pavement made in small black and white tiles.

As you walk along there are lots of street vendors selling their wares and today I was in search of a Kanga (or beach wrap). There were lots of colourful ones to choose from and I finally managed to do some excellent bargaining with a guy to get the one I wanted! Poor man looked really fed up and I thought he’d be pleased that I’d gone back to get it, having walked away earlier!

You also pass lots of the volleyball nets but what was mostly being played was a version called FuteVolley where 2 pairs play each other and can kick, head and chest the ball but not use their hands!

There are lots of the beachside kiosks each with their own theme but to pretty much the same design which keeps it quite tasteful. As this was Friday there were several with live music playing …actually I don’t know…they could possibly do that any day of the week.

At the far end, Leme, it got a bit quieter and I wasn’t sure we should carry on but then we saw more ‘normal’ people and so, determined to complete our stroll, we walked to the end. Here the walkway finishes but a smaller path goes along at the base of the giant rock right by the waves. Now this did look a bit dodgy so we didn’t go along there but stopped and admired the view back. As we were doing so there was a bit of a commotion with people running and 2 guys on a moped speeding along the path bipping heir horn and waving people out of the way. I thought it all seemed rather villainous but it turned out they were life guards as the next thing we saw was a jet ski also with 2 lifeguards speeding along to the waves below the rock where they then proceeded to pull 3 young guys out and onto the beach! I think they’d been diving in to surf but then the current was too much. So that was our bit of excitement and we turned and headed back in the other direction.

On the way, we passed the restaurant that we’d booked to eat at later that day. It was called ‘Marius’ and looked very flamboyant even in the daytime! I’ll let Jane tell you about that later….

We tried to pop into the very grand Copacabana Palace Hotel. However, the top-hatted doorman was having none of it and we got shooed into the next door ‘Momo’s Cafe’ where we had a coffee and delicious ice cream. I tried avocado flavour which was a delicious revelation! Jane had all things banana!

Despite not being very accessible the Belmond Copacabana Beach Hotel is indeed, very grand and has been voted the top hotel in South America several times. It was finally finished in 1923 and celebrating its centenary this year. Over the years it has hosted many famous celebrities including Walt Disney, Brigitte Bardot, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Madonna and Princess Diana. But they wouldn’t even let us use their loo.

In a slight huff we mooched back along to our end of the the beach and walked on to the Fort where there was an interactive Frieda Kahlo show. We decided we didn’t need to bother with that or the Fort itself so went back to our favourite kiosk opposite our hotel where the guy had previously tried to rip us off for 4 beers. The bill should have been £6.50 and he tried to charge Jane £18.33 which she politely corrected having realised his mistake. Recognising us today, he greeted us like old friends!

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Samba at the Rio Scenarium

Posted on September 16, 2023 by julieallen36

Of course we didn’t cancel!!! Hurrah. Strangely, it was me that was more up for this big night out than Jane. So off we went with Raquel (I’ve mistakenly been calling her Rachel up until now) and Raphael. We drove through the rain over to Lapa and a really cool cobbled street full of bars and nightclubs. This area was quite run down until an enterprising chap converted the old mansion into a three-floor nightclub, full of quirky antique collections. It had a capacity to hold 2000 people and the check in procedures are quite elaborate. You get given a card in which your drinks and food orders are recorded and then you settle up on exit.

Once in, Raquel took us to a table right at the front near the live band which she said was very lucky but I think that once again she’d worked her magic with the staff. She knows everyone! We ordered our drinks and while they came we shuffled off to have a good look round. The place was starting to fill up and as we looked at the other party people we began to feel a bit more comfortable. The crowd was like a mix between a wedding, an office Christmas party and a rather tame hen night for someone who’s done it all before. What I’m getting at there is that this was not an uber-cool crowd but rather older people letting their hair down.

After our little walk round we sat down and enjoyed the first band. This is samba music so lots of drums and beats and the singer looked like the guy out of Fine Young Cannibals. People were dancing and swaying but we sat drinking our mild Caipirinhas which was our new favourite cocktails made with cachaca (rum?), sugar and lime. It’s the National drink of Brazil. Poor Raquel tried to encourage us to dance but we held back. This could be a long night!

However, once the band had finished the wedding disco started up…with ABBA’s Dancing Queen, Michael Jackson and ‘Don’t Stop til you get Enough’ and I finally gave in and got up and danced with the crowd to The Bee Gees and ‘Staying Alive!’. Jane was having none of this forced-fun and held out until finally, she could no longer resist when Mambo No 5 came on. Now we were in the swing of it and sang out loud to Shania Twain (Man, I feel like a Woman) and the Macarena.

We took our seats and listened to the next band. A regular lady singer who sang all about the perils of love. Everyone seemed to know the words which Raquel explained compared love to a pain in your elbow. The songs seemed to be extremely long and we drank another couple of Caipirinhas. I made friends with the group of girls on the next table. They were sitting beneath the sign that had the Guardian article on it declaring this to be one of the top 10 bars in the world. I got up to take a closer look and ended up making friends. They explained that they were all from somewhere in the south of Brazil and they were very elegant and friendly.

The Guardian article was quite appropriate as it described the bar as somewhere where ‘Even awkward English girls with no sense of rhythm end up dancing’. How very rude.

After the second band finished we decided it was time to leave. Lovely Raphael was waiting for us in the car and we all laughed together about the evening as we drove back to our hotel. What a fun night it had turned out to be and I’d highly recommend it to anyone visiting this vibrant city. It was about 11 o’clock when we left and high time these OAPs were in bed.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Brazil, Rio | 6 Comments

Rio’s Botanical Gardens

Posted on September 15, 2023 by julieallen36

This was to be a day of two halves. In the daytime we’d be a couple of OAPs, claiming our Senior’s discounts to get into the Botanical Gardens. By night, we’d be going back to our youth and nightclubbing in one of The Guardian’s Top 10 Bars in the world!!

At breakfast we met a nice man from São Paulo, who told us he was good friends with Richard Branson. He was in Rio to visit the arts festival here ArtRIO and was keen that we should attend. However, we had other plans for our day on our own…making our way to the Botanical Gardens in an UBER. It all worked really well and I must say Jane is an absolute genius at sorting all of that out as I haven’t got a clue!

Today the weather was due to go off and rain was forecast for later on. However, it started swelteringly hot and the gardens are pretty big. We had a list of the top things to see here but I struggled to get to grips with the map and scale of the place. This meant we went up some random paths just to see what we could find.

First up, the very hot Cactus Garden where the fuchsia pink dragonflies really caught out eye but we’re hard to photo.

Next up was ‘Monkey Alley’ (our name) where suddenly one, then more and more, small Capuchin Monkeys appeared amongst the foliage. They’re very cute and come quite close as they try to cross the pathways. This wasn’t even on the top list of things to see!!

We walked a bit further among the 8000 different species of trees and our next spot was 2 Toucan’s. They were quite hidden but the flash of yellow is unmistakeable! Rachel had told us that she’d only ever seen one here in all her time of visiting so it did seem quite a privilege! They’re smaller than I expected but absolutely beautiful.

One of the best things to see is the Orchidarium which is home to some of the world’s most rare orchids and there are over 1000 orchids cultivated and preserved here. There was a tiny Japanese lady taking care of them and it looked as if this magnificent display was her life’s work. Bless.

By now we were starting to flag in the heat so we were glad that we found the cafe next to ‘Monkey River’ (real name) and cooled off with an iced tea and a sub-standard Natas! We did feel totally revived and went on to find the huge ‘Avenue of Palms’ which is lined with 40ft tall imperial palms and really impressive. We found the large and beautifully reflective lake surrounded by lush vegetation but must admit we were a little disappointed by the famous Giant Amazonian Water Lilies. There weren’t many of them and in my opinion, they weren’t that giant. However, the fish in the lake were absolutely huge so they made up for it!

As we continued our walk around we saw lots of beautiful flowers (on trees) but sadly none of the promised Humming Birds. Maybe it’s not the season as it is actually Winter here. We did however, find a Marmoset Tree. Now these really are cute little things with their fluffy ears and striped tails -like a lemur.

Jane also managed to capture on film several of the beautiful species of bird we found around the garden including a Tyrant Flycatcher and the tiny yellow Saffron Finch. She had a nice chat with a fellow photographer from Rio – although how they managed I don’t know- as he spoke no English and our Portuguese remains limited to ‘Ola’ and ‘Obrigado’.

So after all of this excitement we got another UBER back to the hotel. We were totally exhausted and the day had now clouded over. However, tonight we had our big Rio Night Out booked, so after a bit of a rest we headed out for tea just up the road and in the rain! We crept back to the hotel and remained less than enthusiastic about going out at 8pm…..should we cancel? It was very tempting…..

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Botanical Gardens, Brazil, Rio | 2 Comments

Corcovado and Christ the Redeemer

Posted on September 14, 2023 by julieallen36

Needless to say we slept pretty well after all of yesterday’s excitement. Bizarrely today seemed almost tame in comparison! Even so , we were off to see one of the New Seven Wonders of the World…Christ the Redeemer.

This iconic symbol of Rio had already been seen of course, on yesterday’s helicopter ride but today we would be two of the ants crawling all around the base!

We were collected at 9am and joined the usual rush hour traffic as we headed through now familiar neighbourhoods of Copacabana, Leme, Botafogo, Flamengo, Lagoa and then into Tijuca. We were dropped at the bottom of the funicular railway which is the easiest way to get to the top of Corcovado. Today we had v strict instructions from Rachel not to be so British and to follow her exactly where and when she went. This basically meant that we casually pushed in the long queue to get on the train all the while adopting what she told us was ‘landscape face’. You know the one….where you pull that totally innocent , rather vague look, as if to say ‘who me?’. It worked a treat and we were soon on the train in the best seats!! Rachel explained that there was ‘no line’ here so it was all perfectly acceptable.

The ride up is very steep obviously and there are some amazing views both of the Tijuca forest itself and then views to the coast. The forest is lush and wild with huge tall trees and it made me wonder how on earth anyone ever started clearing it! Nowadays it’s not allowed for development to take place in the park but sometimes creep does take place from the favelas and there is not much anyone can do about it.

At the top we piled out and it was incredibly hot…maybe 31 degrees. Of course it’s a very busy spot and important to keep your hands on your belongings. However, although it felt too cosy at times everyone was being very patient and polite with each other.

Your main aim here is to get that Insta perfect photo but sadly it’s unlikely to happen because of the crowds. So we all pose with our arms up or out, hovering over a camera to make our hands join up even lying on the ground to get a better angle. It’s madness and when we look back through them later we look hot and sweaty and I’ve cut half of Jesus out with my hat!!

However, photos aside the place is incredible. They’re mending Jesus at the moment …which involves abseiling down him and replacing some of the thousands of soapstone mosaic pieces which cover the whole statue. It is a beautiful statue and the views below are yet again incredible.

The statue is 98 feet tall and the arm span is 92 feet. It was the winning design in a competition for a grand monument to celebrate Brazil’s independence and was inaugurated in 1931. It was designed by Brazilian Heitor da Silva Costa and inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s famous study of the human body.

On the way down in the funicular we made friends with Lakshmi and Stephania and made arrangements to meet up with them in Buenos Aires…their home city. We’d taken their photo earlier and now we were planning to meet up and eat steak and drink Malbec!!

Once back on the ground and in the cool air con of our car, a little extension to our tour was made so that we could see two of the other iconic beaches of Rio, Leblon and Ipanema. We stopped at a great viewpoint where the sea was an incredible milky blue and the Sheraton stood proud right in front of an enormous favela.

Rachel and Raphael dropped us of at the Garota da Ipanema where famously the duo of Vinicius de Moraes and Antonio Carlos Jobim were inspired, by a young girl in a bikini walking to the beach, to write the ‘Girl from Ipanema’ song. Here we enjoyed some cold beverages and some scrumptious Natas fresh out of the oven!

After this we walked back to our hotel on Copacabana. The beach of Ipanema was very very crowded. We started at Post 9 and had to get back to Post 5. These stations are way markers aswell as lifeguard stations and appear to have a hierarchy of status. On Ipanema the prime spot to put your towel is Post 9. On Copacabana they tend to indicate where different communities hang out so there are different areas for retired Carioca (people from Rio), footballers, fishermen, favella kids, gay people etc. It was very very hot but we made it to the end of Ipanema and then needed to cut through a park before rejoining the road along Copacabana. It was here that I felt rather uncomfortable for the first time…there weren’t many tourists and there were large groups of boys heading to the beach. Anyway we were fine as I was ready to Ninja pounce on anyone who looked at me slightly sideways. Yeeeeeehaaaaa!

Needless to say they were all too scared and we made it back to our hotel without hitch. It was here that Jane also point out that there were 4 police on horseback in the park so it was highly unlikely that anything would happen!

After a cooling dip in the hotel pool we headed off to dinner and stumbled into the fantastic beachside cafe called Tropik where we went Greek for the evening. It was lovely sitting watching beach life still going on into the warm evening. Very pleasant indeed.

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Sugar Loaf Mountain and beyond

Posted on September 13, 2023 by julieallen36

Wow what a day we have had! Some people might say we peaked too soon yesterday (Amanda) but boy oh boy , today was incredible!

After a night in, eating pizza in the hotel lobby bar, we managed to get a good nights sleep. That is until Jane woke at about 3-30 am mithering about the day ahead. She had a list of mithers ….a) could we put all the phones and cameras on charge, b) what shoes should we wear to go on our Sugar Loaf trip and c) exactly what did our trip entail. Anyway, these matters were sorted and back to sleep we went.

We were picked up by Rachel and Raphael at about 9am and off we headed through the rush hour traffic to the base of the Sugar Loaf cable car ride. This takes place in two parts. First stop is the top of Urca, after a look round here you then get another cable car upto the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain itself. Both are these huge outlier rocks made of granite and there are loads more all around.

We loved the views from Urca as you can see all around the magnificent city of Rio de Janeiro. This includes the whole of Guanabara Bay, Niteroi- the city on the other side , Downtown Rio, the vast mountain ridges in the distance and the domestic airport right in the middle of the bay. we watched several planes come into land here.

But once you get to the top of Sugar Loaf you can then see the entire stretch of Copacabana Beach as well as loads of other amazing looking beaches and now even clearer views of Christ the Redeemer in the distance. We absolutely loved it and enjoyed a bit of wildlife too seeing Black Vultures and even a tiny Marmoset in the park at the very top!

But this wasn’t the end of our trip…next up we caught our Helicopter flight and after a bit of sorting we got to fly with three other people right from Urca Helipad over the beaches and round Christ the Redeemer twice before heading back over the length of the beaches. Thanks to some brilliant persuading by our fantastic guide, Rachel, Jane got the prime seat next to the lady pilot and I was in the back with our fellow passengers. It was huge fun….we were also so excited to be doing this and we screamed with laughter every time the pilot did a slightly tight turn. Incredible! It only lasted a total of 10 minutes but has to rank as one of the best things I’ve ever experienced. My mouth was open in awe practically the whole way!!!

When we landed Jane was in tears so I guessed that she’d enjoyed it too although I was just laughing my head off!

Back on ground Jane and I really just wanted to celebrate with a cold one but Rachel wanted to take us to a bohemian area called Santa Teresa. It’s up very windy cobble streets where an old yellow tram still runs. We stopped in the grounds of a beautiful art museum (closed) to admire the views but really they weren’t a patch on what we’d just experienced. However, the drive through the park and lush vegetation was interesting as such a contrast to everywhere we’d been yesterday.

After this we came back to the hotel and got ready to go to the beach. We had a couple of celebratory beers at the cafe on the front before getting our hotel seats down on the sand. The beach seemed really busy today and very distracting. I went in the water but the waves are huge and crashy and there’s a red flag so I didn’t swim. The crashing water felt lovely though. Meanwhile we got chatted up by some Argentinian fellows playing football with local kids in front of us. They seemed to like our blue eyes and the fact that we come from where Peaky Blinders is based!

To end the day, and after a breather in our room, we went for dinner at the Marina Restaurant in the Fairmont Hotel. We were able to safely walk there and back and the meal and Caipirinha were fabulous. The things they can do with a coconut.

So all in all a pretty good day and Amanda you’re right….we may well now have peaked too soon!!

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Rio City Tour- there’s more to this than beaches.

Posted on September 12, 2023 by julieallen36

In the afternoon of our first day, we’d arranged to do an additional City Tour. This seemed a great idea by way of introducing us to the city. So Rachel and Raphael took us all around various parts of the city showing us some of the sites.

It turned out to be a great tour and included lots of the places I’d read about when researching our trip. How we’d ever have got to see all this on our own I don’t know. But Jane and I both agreed this was a brilliant decision,

Again the city surprised me…there are some really beautiful parts like Flamenco Park..reclaimed from the sea and now an exclusive district with green parks, an exclusive yacht harbour and fabulous views to SugarLoaf Mountain. Then there are some areas which had definitely seen better days…the so called ‘Cultural Corridor’ for example. An old commercial district where now all the shops have closed, the buildings are preserved because of their historical nature but now they’re left standing empty. Hm. But here also some buildings had been repurposed…the huge old Branco da Brazil is now a full on cultural centre. V impressive.

There were so many highlights on this trip and Rachel was an excellent guide judging well what we’d be most interested in (the huge pieces of record-breaking graffiti representing the 5 continents and produced by ‘ Kobra’ for the 2016 Olympics. ) and where our ears had stopped listening…

Amongst the highlights were the Sao Bento Monastery…home to the most ridiculous amount of baroque curly gold leaf and wood carving , the modern cathedral with its 4 stunning stained glass ‘windows’. The Sambadrome where the 12 best Samba schools get to parade at Carnival, the Cafe Colombo where we bought lunch, the Real Gabinete library and finally the crazy Selaron steps where in the 1990’s this dude decided to decorate the streets with ceramic tiles from all over the world. Now a big hit in Instagram!

By the end of the day we were loving this City and v v tired! Tomorrow we’re off to explore SugarLoaf Mountain. Can’t wait!

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Rio….not quite what I’d expected.

Posted on September 12, 2023 by julieallen36

That sounds bad doesn’t it? But that’s not what I mean. I think some of you lovely people will know that I’ve been a little nervous about our time in Rio. Especially the days when we were due to be on our own. It’s a big old city and there is a huge amount of poverty. There are plenty of warnings for tourists about how to stay safe. Lots of them say it’s good if you can blend in as a local. This seemed highly unachievable in my case so I’ve been nervous. Cameras and phones are particularly attractive to the locals and there was no way we were coming all this way and not taking photos.

Anyway……the good news is that after a fantastic first day here (yes the 11 hour flight went without hitch) I can report that I’ve felt perfectly comfortable all day!

We were met at the airport last night by our guide for the week Rachel and our driver Raphael. They were great and suggested that, on top of the trips we already had planned, that we start with a Rio city tour. This seemed a great idea as the thought of trying to do this by ourselves was too daunting. So this afternoon that’s exactly what we’ve done!

However, let’s rewind a bit…….our hotel is The Miramar by Windsor and it’s right on Copacabana Beach. The views from our 12th floor room are awesome and we were up early enough to catch the sunrise and then after a fabulous breakfast , we went up to the 16th floor to check out the rooftop pool and bar. Wow…the views from there are something else! Even the favela , rising just behind the hotel and clinging to the granite mountainside, looks stunning.

We were awake early due to the 4 hours time difference so after this we decided to brave it and blend in with the locals on Copacabana Beach. The colour and activity down there is a sensory overload from the blues of the sea to the reds and oranges of the deckchairs and umbrellas. The sand is a kind of pinky peach colour. The activity changes throughout the day with a few people doing yoga and light exercise as well as lots of paddleboarders early on. But later it gets busier with joggers, dog walkers, cyclists, sun worshippers, surfers, volleyballers and all sorts of beach vendors…my favourites being the man with a hand held BBQ selling corn on the cob, the lady offering hair braids and the man with a plate of fresh (maybe…) oysters and Tabasco sauce!!

So what I hadn’t expected was to feel quite so safe and at ease. Everyone was friendly, smiley and enjoying beach life. At the end of our little walk we returned to find a couple of our hotels deck chairs and sat and admired the waves. Wow what an introduction.

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Heathrow Birthday celebrations Part 2.

Posted on September 11, 2023 by julieallen36

So…..just after finishing my birthday blog post I had the most amazing surprise. I’d just showered and got ready to go to dinner and there was a knock at the door. It was about 6-15 and I said to Jane ‘Who on earth could that possibly be?’ ….knocking on our hotel door at Heathrow. Intrigued I went to answer…and in bowled my lovely friends Leera and George ( minus Woody and Buddy) come to surprise me for my birthday. All the way from Hastings and going back the same evening! Boy did they surprise me…I have honestly never been so flabbergasted and lost for words and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Obviously, sneaky Jane was in on the act and we had a fantastic evening together including balloons, party poppers and glittery 60s which I’m still find now thanks to George showering me with them! And cake…we had the most beautiful array of cake , made by Leera. She really should go on bake off!! My face hurt from smiling. What a lovely end to the day. I decided that being 60 was pretty good so far!

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Off we go again!

Posted on September 9, 2023 by julieallen36

It’s been a while in the making but today we set off for our adventures in South America. Well, Brazil and Argentina anyway. Meanwhile our normal (kind of) travel companions are also on their travels, Joyce and Enid in deepest, darkest Peru and Adrian and Pam in Canada and then Alaska!

So, today Jane and I have made it to our first stop, the Hilton Hotel, Terminal 5 Heathrow. We were going to be in the Ibis but upgraded because…..it’s my 60th birthday TODAY. I must say so far I rather like being 60, I’ve had a lovely day with lots of cards and amazing presents. How lovely everyone is. I’m very very thankful for all our lovely friends and family.

It’s 32 degrees outside and this is acclimatising us to the temperatures that we may get in Brazil. We’ve got a fantastic itinerary planned which even we can’t believe when we read it so I hope you enjoy travelling with us via my blog!

Meanwhile , here in the air con of our hotel room we’re celebrating with a complimentary drink , watching England v Ukraine before dinner.

See you in Rio ❤️