World Cup Archives - asthejoeflies

Jul 14 2014

Bavarian Summer: Sightseeing in and around Garmisch-Partenkirchen

I think we’ve gotten into our vacation groove at this point. We’ve hit up a bunch of smaller sights in the past two days (aka barely mentioned in Rick Steve’s), dodging um…dodgy weather, as we wait for the good weather later this week to hit some of the biggies. Here’s what we’ve been up to.

We ate this pork knuckle at some point. Salty.

To start, a little health update. M is pretty much fully recovered from her variety of maladies and I think she’s all adjusted jetlag wise. Her current schedule is sleep from 10-8ish, nap once in the morning and then again in the afternoon. She’s done that three days running – I’ll take it. I don’t think we’re gonna shift her up closer to her “regular” bedtime (8 PM) because if she sticks to 10 PM life might be a little easier with jetlag on the return. Anyway I think we’ve gotten off pretty easy on this front. Jess has been one day behind illness wise so I think she’s about done with it too.

I’ve come to the conclusion that Bavaria is a great place to bring kids of all ages. It’s mostly hiking and beautiful scenery – everything is framed by the stunning mountain ranges. The crazy weather actually has made things look more dramatic so it hasn’t been all bad. I think I’ve thought this before about towns in the mountains – the weather forecast is NEVER right. They said it was supposed to rain every day we have been here and they have been right – except it predicts rain every single hour as opposed to the actual two hours of the day it rains. It makes it really difficult to plan.

Partnach Gorge entrance — The entrance to Partnach Gorge

To get around this, we’ve been planning shorter excursions which of course gel well with a toddler’s schedule. Yesterday we drove down to the Olympic Stadium to take a short twenty minute walk to the Partnach Gorge. Having spent a lot of time in Ithaca, we figured the gorge would be like Watkins Glen, a place we love. It was Watkins Glen and then some.

The walk up to the gorge consisted of some pretty scenery that I will never get sick of but am already sick of writing about. The gorge itself, which cost 3 Euros to enter, was kind of spectacular. It was like walking into the middle of a sharp canyon in a mountain, watching a river rush through it while runoff from various parts of the mountain just kind of cascade down into the river and onto you.

Partnach Gorge — It can get pretty dark in spots – no strollers inside either

It was kind of jarring because walking up to the entrance it’s very quiet and serene. You then walk through this cavelike entrance and then all of a sudden all you hear is roaring water all around you for the next twenty minutes as you work your way through the gorge. It was quite a force of nature.

It's like the water only carved up this 800m section — It’s like the water only carved up this 800m section of the mountain

Towards the end of the gorge my parents turned back while Jess, M, and I trudged on. Oh, M absolutely loved the gorge by the way. She was squealing in delight the entire time – she LOVES running water. It’s kind of weird. She kept asking for a hat when the water dripped on her and we kept having to stop so she could just stare at the river. She’s weird in a super cute way. Or maybe all kids like watching water roar? I dunno, I only have the one.

After we got through the gorge, we made one of those not so brilliant decisions parents tend to make. By we I mean mostly me. There was a way to “walk around” the gorge to get back to where our car was. Long story short, that way involved a 45 minute hike including a steep ascent and descent. Pretty simple stuff, except for the fact that I had M strapped to my chest and Jess was lugging the stroller. Geniuses.

"I hate you and your stupid ideas." — “I hate you and your stupid ideas.”

"Wheeeee more selfies!" — “Wheeeee more selfies!”

Eventually we made it to the top where there were a few houses, restaurants, and cows. We were rewarded with (more) beautiful views and a sense of accomplishment, but also a sense of our own stupidity. Live and learn. After running around at the top for a bit, our daughter passed out (after I switched her onto my back) and we descended to finally meet up with my parents.

Near the Olympic Stadium there is this cool thing where you can ride a luge down (for only 2.50 Euro!), but I decided with the number of young children riding I was too embarrassed to partake. Regrets…

Yogurt for breakfast at the cheese shop in Ettal

Today was our most ambitious day, we were out from 10-430 and hit three sights. We first stopped by Ettal, a monastery famous for brewing beer. It was cool I guess but I haven’t tried the beer yet so the jury’s out. Next we hit up Linderhof Castle, one of “Mad King Ludwig’s” castles (two more are on our itinerary later in the week). Ludwig was a weird guy – he was like, obsessed with the French and Versailles.

Linderhof Castle Gardens — Family portrait in front of the fountain at Linderhof Castle

Linderhof is kind of like a German version of Versailles with some weird things like portraits of Louis XV. Um…was he really good at basketball or something? Kinda odd. The castle grounds were beautiful – especially the gardens and fountains. Well maintained (like Versailles) but with a more dramatic backdrop. Pretty cool. Oh, and I ate like my 12th pretzel of the trip.

Ritter Sport — 59 cents for each Ritter. WAH!

We ended with a stop in the town of Oberammergau, notable for the passion play they put on once a decade and their wood carving skills. But I was just there for the gelato.

This gelato from an Italian cafe was preeeeetty darn good

Oh right, Germany won the World Cup last night! Except…I couldn’t even tell. Seriously – didn’t hear any noise, people didn’t seem any happier (or less happy) today than before, nothing. It’s probably because we live on the very edge of town, but since I was greeted with this in Brazil any time they scored, I expected more. Still, I’m happy for Germany – would have been a shame for that team to end its run for the past eight years without a trophy.

View from St. Anton's church — View from our after dinner walk tonight

Final Thoughts

A few reflections on our trip thus far. Starting in a small town with a house has been great – in fact I’m a little concerned what will happen once we move M to the city. We have our own space, can set our own schedule, and aren’t worried about bumping into people in the street all the time. I highly recommend Garmisch-Partenkirchen for kids of all ages – especially if you want to force your kids to hike and enjoy nature. You will experience nature and YOU WILL LIKE IT!

Other Posts in this Series

Introduction

Final Preparations for the Little One

Lufthansa First Class with a Toddler

Slow Days with a Sick Toddler

Sightseeing in and around Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Observations After a Week in Germany

Climbing to AlpspiX and Neuschwanstein Castle

Zugspitze and Mittenwald

Sound of Music Bike Tour in Salzburg

Lazy Sunday in Salzburg – not

Rainy Days in Berchtesgaden

Visiting Museums and Biking in Vienna

Food in Germany and Austria

Rating the Toddler Friendliness of Our Hotels

Lufthansa First Class Terminal – Good for Toddlers?

Jul 11 2014

Bavarian Summer: Lufthansa First Class with a Toddler

I’ve just woken up from sleeping for sixteen hours straight, give or take. You’d think that would indicate that our transatlantic flight with Little M was a disaster, but really it was quite the opposite. I think I’m just exhausted from the time change and life in general – so was M by the way I think she slept for 15 hours last night (and she’s sleeping next to me as I type this so she’s about to catch up).

Air Canada Business Class Regional Flight — Air Canada Regional Flight

Our day started with a short business class regional flight on Air Canada to Toronto. I wasn’t planning on writing about it (flight was smooth, we preoccupied M by feeding her lunch, and the cabin had extra space so she got her own seat for half the flight), but there were two things of note besides that long parenthetical.

Air Canada IFE — On demand IFE for a one hour flight – not bad

First of all, security at Boston Logan for Air Canada amuses me. I mean it’s totally up to regular TSA standards so it’s not unsafe or anything, but Air Canada has three gates and its own little wing, so security is just like one checkpoint. The funny thing was, I was selected for TSA Precheck, but had just assumed that I wasn’t going to get any of the benefits. It turns out at that gate they give you a little slip of paper that says TSA Pre on it and you hand it to the guy on the other side of the metal detector without having to take off your shoes. But I still had to take my laptop out and all that so…thanks?

Secondly, it’s always interesting to me how airlines from different countries deal with lap infants. The one universal rule we’ve encountered thus far is no infants in carriers (bjorns, becos, k’tans, whatever). Other than that, everyone has their own policy. On US Airlines, keep them on your lap facing forward for takeoff and landing. On Air Canada we were told to hold M in a burping position (which they called the brace position) for takeoff/landing/turbulence, and on the European carriers we’ve flown we always get that extra seatbelt attachment (her least favorite).

Air Canada lounge Toronto — Jess and M in the Air Canada lounge, Toronto

Anyhoo. We landed in Toronto and spent some time in the Air Canada lounge in the international wing. There is also an American Express lounge in Toronto but I didn’t get to check it out because I was on daddy duty, which was composed of walking around the terminal pushing M for an hour and half to squeeze out fifteen minutes of naptime. Airports = overstimulation. They at least had the World Cup semifinal game on so I was paying attention to that.

Boarding was smooth and my hopes and dreams were realized – it was a Cheung-only first class cabin. My parents, my wife, my daughter, and me. SWEET! The first class attendant introduced herself (Katherine I think) and gave us the run of the cabin. It was a great relief not to have to worry about disturbing others, though it wouldn’t have been an issue in the end.

Lufthansa first class cabin — The entire cabin was ours!

The great thing about being in first class with a toddler is the SPACE. We spent 45 minutes on the ground but I didn’t even notice because M was running around exploring everything from the ottoman to the buttons to the remote control – and that’s before the flight attendant gave her some toys and coloring books to play with. Jess and I managed to sneak in two glasses of (excellent) champagne in during all the commotion, M didn’t even notice except when she wanted to do “cheers” with us. Oh it was at this point our Dutch captain began informing us of the score in the game – unfortunately 30 minutes into the flight he told us that his Dutch team had lost – poor guy.

Sippin' that Grand Sicele — Sippin’ that Grand Sicele

M wasn’t a huge fan of the aforementioned baby belt and was squirmy during take-off, but that wasn’t a major issue. We then decided to take dinner separately so one person could watch M at a time. I ate first, starting with some caviar (which generally is lost on me), then a trio of appetizers (ginger prawns, pork tenderloin, and salad), and culminating in my beef tenderloin entree. I’ve heard complaints about Lufthansa catering but this was my third first class flight with them and I’ve always enjoyed the food. In the meantime, Jess tried to feed M the food that we had brought with mixed success. She also ate some pretzel bread but turned down most of the airplane food.

Jess and M came to visit me during my meal

Once I was done, I asked the flight attendant to hold off on dessert so Jess and I could eat that together and I took over M duty. The four of us were all on the right side of the cabin (so we shared access to the same aisle), Jess moved over to the left side to eat while I put M to bed. In first class this was so straightforward it almost seemed like a joke.

It was pretty straightforward putting her to sleep on the first class "bed" — It was pretty straightforward putting her to sleep on the first class “bed”

As always in Lufthansa first, the flight attendants make your bed when you ask so I asked them to make Jess’ seat into a bed for M. After that, I just laid down with her for a little while, read a book, hummed some tunes and patted her until she was down. At that point I moved back to my seat and ate dessert with Jess while finishing CAPTAIN AMERICA THE WINTER SOLDIER which is the movie I had been hoping was available on the plane. Yes!

Dessert was excellent, I had a strawberry gazpacho with sorbet, Jess had the cheese plate, and we each got a chocolate cake with ice cream. That’s about all I have to say about that! At that point Jess got her bed made and went to sleep while I finished my movie. I went to sleep with about four hours left in the flight, but M started crying half an hour later.

Dessert. Yum. Um, sorry, I half ate one before I took the picture... — Dessert. Yum. Um, sorry, I half ate one before I took the picture…

She likely would have settled herself like she does at home, but just in case she was disturbing anyone in the cabin behind us, I moved over to her bed and she settled down pretty quickly. She had another little “sleep adjustment” two hours later, but other than that she slept very soundly for about five hours on the flight.

The one negative thing about the flight is that it was incredibly dry, not that Lufthansa really had any control over that. That really exacerbated M’s cough and she was coughing/wheezing in my ear all night. So lying next to her my ability to sleep was greatly impeded and I only caught about an hour of solid rest.

When breakfast service started M woke herself up so the three of us ate together, though I was exhausted at this point. Before we knew it we were on the ground in Munich. M pretty much held it together even though we were walking through the terminal (with her awake) at around 1 AM home time. I needed some rest before picking up the car so we spent half an hour in Munich’s Lufthansa First Class lounge, where we also had our passports processed (a nice perk).

We didn't need to give M her first "present" until an hour before landing — We didn’t need to give M her first “present” until an hour before landing

After a two hour drive to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, we checked into our huge house, grabbed a quick lunch, and then I don’t know what happened because I fell asleep for sixteen hours straight – ten of those next to M. We decided to sleep with her to help her with the jetlag and also to monitor her cough. I thought she was over jetlag because she woke up normal time but since she’s passed out again I’m not so sure. I guess we’ll find out.

Looks like we’re in for five straight days of rain – yikes. Hopefully we find something to do!

Final Thoughts

Our Lufthansa first class flight with M went better than expected. She enjoyed all the space and having such a small cabin really allowed the flight attendants to give us the help we needed. Having a lie flat bed for her to sleep on made a huge difference as well. Best of all, Jess and I even got to enjoy ourselves a little bit. Hopefully M gets over her illness and starts enjoying Germany soon!

P.S. – We ended up ditching the “drag car seat through terminal” contraption and putting the car seat in this $15 carrying bag we got. We threw some extra clothes and supplies into the bag and checked it in. Worked out great!

Other Posts in this Series

Introduction

Final Preparations for the Little One

Lufthansa First Class with a Toddler

Slow Days with a Sick Toddler

Sightseeing in and around Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Observations After a Week in Germany

Climbing to AlpspiX and Neuschwanstein Castle

Zugspitze and Mittenwald

Sound of Music Bike Tour in Salzburg

Lazy Sunday in Salzburg – not

Rainy Days in Berchtesgaden

Visiting Museums and Biking in Vienna

Food in Germany and Austria

Rating the Toddler Friendliness of Our Hotels

Lufthansa First Class Terminal – Good for Toddlers?

Jul 02 2014

(Fut)ballin’ in Brazil – Post Trip Thoughts

caipirinha on ipanema beach — Chilling at the beach with a caipirinha

I’ve been back home for a few days now and just wanted to post a few post trip thoughts from my time in Brazil. In the end, the trip was pretty exhausting – I slept for 12 hours straight the day I got back, and this is after getting six solid hours of sleep on my flights home (and no appreciable time change). Aren’t the best trips always like that?

The World Cup as a Sporting Event: Must See

If you’re a sports fan, I think you should put the World Cup on your bucket list. I’ve been trying to think about what sets it apart from the Olympics and I think it’s two things. First of all, the Olympics has all these random sports that very few people in the world watch normally – even track and field, one of my favorite events, is not something I’d watch regularly. Secondly, soccer is a team sport which to me makes things much more inherently interesting. Combine that with the fact that it’s the most watched sport in the world and you get an amazing atmosphere at a World Cup.

Maracana Pregame — The anticipation for a big game at the Maracana was unforgettable

While Brazil definitely added to the magic of this World Cup, I’d hazard a guess that all World Cups are like this. The foreigners who invaded Rio were there for just one reason – to watch soccer and to support their national teams. That provided a palpable excitement in the streets every day. Plus, when you have daily games in the group stage, there’s always someone screaming in joy and someone shaking their head in despair. The fact that national pride is on the line ratchets everything up just a notch. Anyway, even if you have to travel to freaking Qatar – put it on your list. You won’t regret it. Well, maybe you’ll regret Qatar. In the summer. Stupid FIFA.

Rio de Janeiro as a City: Wish it hadn’t been the World Cup

The reality is, I didn’t get to see 75% of the things I wanted to see in Rio. What was different about this trip was that I was going as a sports fan, not a tourist. Sure, I ended up in all the touristy areas, and I was subjected to touristy situations like getting my money stolen by an ATM, but the only truly touristy thing I got to do was visit Cristo Redentor on Corcovado. Which means I missed out on going to Lapa, getting up Sugarloaf, or even biking around the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas (which was a five minute walk from our apartment). Or all the other things I never bothered to look up because I knew I wouldn’t have time.

Don't take money out of this ATM at Rio Galeao Airport (note: not the actual one, just a random picture) — Don’t take money out of this ATM at Rio Galeao Airport (note: not the actual one, just a random picture)

All that being said, I don’t think Rio is going to be at the top of my list of places to visit (unless Jess has a major hankering to go). I saw the one thing I wanted to see and am not keen to pay the reciprocity fee (visas were free for people with World Cup tickets). Some day I hope to be back…just not anytime soon.

View of Maracana from Corcovado — View of the Maracana from Corcovado – should hold me over for a few years

Final Thoughts

Overall, I thought the World Cup in Brazil was a resounding success. I got to celebrate with one of my best friends, saw some great soccer (on TV not live), and checked another wonder of the world off of my list. I even saved a boatload of money on my plane tickets which made it just a bit sweeter. Sure, I wasn’t able to flush toilet paper, but them’s the breaks in South America. Now to gear up for our trip to Germany! Who knows, maybe we’ll get to watch Germany in the World Cup Final in Germany – that’d be something.

Ipanema Beach Rio de Janeiro — Ipanema Beach

Other Posts in this Series

Getting Pumped, Getting Prepared

What’s in my wallet?

Travel Practicalities

Traveling Alone

Charlotte Chowdown

Finally Here! First Impressions

Match Day Impressions

Rest and Recovery

Waiting for the Big Guy

Random Musings

Fears Finally Realized on the Long Way Back

Post Trip Thoughts

Jun 28 2014

(Fut)ballin’ in Brazil – Fears Finally Realized on the Long Way Back (Days 6 and 7)

I’m back in the States – after I got home yesterday afternoon I celebrated my five year anniversary and then proceeded to sleep from 8 PM to 8 AM. The last leg of my trip brought me face to face with two of the things I had feared most before I left: the infamous traffic and getting my money stolen from me.

My flight from Rio was scheduled to leave at 9 PM. After the delirium of the USA qualifying for the knockout stages, I decided to relax for a bit before departing for the airport at 5 PM. Of course, that put me right into rush hour so it took me two hours to get to the airport! I noticed some interesting things in the traffic jam. First, my cabbie loved American music he was listening to a station and jamming to KC & JoJo AND Duran Duran – he knew both by heart. So, props for that. Secondly, it would appear that there is an entire economy built on traffic jams; there are people just wandering between cars selling drinks and chips. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted to buy some chips, but I didn’t see any Doritos so I passed.

One of my biggest fears before I left the US was getting stuck in this fabled Brazil traffic. My friends gave me guff for making us leave for the game three hours early “to avoid traffic” (which we didn’t see). I warned that we would sit in tons of traffic getting to and from Cristo Redentor (never happened). So of course, my LAST HOURS in Rio were spent in traffic. I had come so far, only to be greeted by my nemesis in the end!

Gol Smiles Lounge Rio Airport — Not the greatest lounge in the world but better than the alternative

When I got to the airport it wasn’t too crowded (and really I had left so early in case of traffic so I had plenty of time) so I checked in and spent some time in the Gol Smiles lounge. It wasn’t anything to write home about so I won’t spend any time on it here – of course it was nicer than the terminal itself which is what matters. The gate for my United flight was a little crazy, it always seems like there are 50+ people for group 1 (this held true for my domestic leg as well), so it still feels a bit like we are herded cattle when boarding. The only difference is we are herded into pens (by group) instead of one large mass like on other airlines. I guess it’s better…marginally.

The 10 hour flight from Rio to Houston was excellent – United business class is way better than US Airways. First, the monitors were huge and in flight entertainment selection large, which is very important to me.

In flight entertainment United Business First — Big TV, yay!

Secondly, the bed was way more flat, and thus more comfortable to sleep in (I got a solid six hours undisturbed).

Fully reclined United Business First seat — Lie flat bed, yay!

Third, the food was better – and I got an ice cream sundae.

Vanilla Ice Cream Sundae United Business First — Vanilla ice cream sundae, yay!

Fourth, the cabin was newer and cleaner.

United Business First seat — Clean and new seat, yay!

Fifth, there was an air show; if you’re a regular reader you know that’s a big deal to me because I like to know how far we are! United Business First is a very solid product and I arrived in Houston well rested. OH and the BEST thing: you can start watching movies before the plane even starts taxiing! I love airlines that let you do that. So good job United, you’ve completely devalued your award chart and made it more difficult to earn miles, but your product is one of the better US products. Yay?

Anyway, in Houston I flew through customs thanks to Global entry and within 15 minutes of landing I was at the United Club. Houston’s United Club is pretty nice and I caught up in Sportscenter in the TV room by myself before all the commuters started trickling in. My favorite thing about this particular club is that it features donut holes for breakfast. Yum. (Hmm, I realize I am typing this that I sound like a fifteen year old…oh well. It’s the simple things in life.)

United Club Houston Donut Holes — I ate (redacted number) of these

When I arrived home, I was greeted by two things. First and most wonderfully, my wife of five years to the day picked me up at the airport. It was a pretty awesome feeling to get picked up on my anniversary; it made the reunion extra special.

Secondly, I was greeted by a wonderful note saying that a block had been put on my Fidelity debit card thanks to some questionable transactions. It turns out while I was in the air someone had withdrawn almost $1000 dollars from my account. And thus my biggest fear about Brazil was realized: I was robbed. The ironic thing is it happened after I had left Brazil. White collar crime! Where’s Neal Caffrey when you need him?

I e-mailed my friends and lo and behold, half of them had had their card info stolen as well. You might recall I said that I always take money out of airport ATMs because I feel they were the safest. Well, let me tell you, THE HSBC ATM IN RIO GALEAO IS NOT SAFE. Every single one of us who withdrew money from that ATM had money illegally and surreptitiously withdrawn from our accounts. Honestly, I don’t even want to think about how they did it. Did they get my pin number? Steal the magnetized strip? How many other countless tourists were trapped by this? $1000 X 500 tourists = profit. The HSBC ATM is the only one that doesn’t require a chip, so the bad guys must have been solely targeting tourists. Honestly, I’m a little impressed, but yea, this marks the first time I’ve been “robbed” overseas in my entire life. So, sarcastic applause, Brazilian criminals. You’ve won this round. My money will get refunded, but they still have the cash.

Anyway, I’ll be back with some thoughts wrapping up the overall trip in a day or two. For now, I think I’ll just go back to sleep…

Other Posts in this Series

Getting Pumped, Getting Prepared

What’s in my wallet?

Travel Practicalities

Traveling Alone

Charlotte Chowdown

Finally Here! First Impressions

Match Day Impressions

Rest and Recovery

Waiting for the Big Guy

Random Musings

Fears Finally Realized on the Long Way Back

Post Trip Thoughts

Jun 26 2014

(Fut)ballin’ in Brazil – Random Musings (Day 5)

Team Chang at Maracana — One last time unto the breach

We went to our second game today – again it was quite an experience though it was pretty similar so I won’t rehash it here. Instead, here are some random thoughts and musings about things I’ve noticed during my time here in Brazil which is regrettably coming to a close.

One note about the stadium – again everything was very secure and we felt very safe. This time we cabbed it to the stadium and there were no issues, though again we left three hours before kickoff. Although streets are blocked off they let cabs through to drop people off (or at least it seemed that way) – not directly at the stadium but by one of the nearby train stations. We did have a little issue this time – five of us were forced to throw away our “Team Chang Bachelor Party” custom made hats! What?

Supposedly the security guard thought that the hats were for sponsorships and Coca-cola, Visa, etc. do not allow that. Obviously with our lack of Portugese we weren’t able to explain that “Team Chang” is not a product for sale. A nice woman stepped in and helped translate; that helped us to get two of the hats back (out of the trash can no less) but this one security guard basically blocked us from taking the other three back out. Kinda messed up. Goodbye Team Chang hat…we hardly knew thee.

Maracana security — The last time I ever saw this hat

This leads me to another observation. I’m not sure if it’s the language barrier, the fact that they are sick of tourists, the fact that we wear stupid Team Chang Bachelor Party hats around, or what, but people have not been as friendly here as I imagined. Service is slow, I’d say 10% of the time we don’t get what we ordered, and some people sound downright rude. Now it is entirely possible I don’t understand what they are saying, but that’s what I’ve noticed. Yesterday I literally watched a waiter write the number down of something we were ordering and it never came (though we also were never charged).

But yes other tourists have been super friendly and happy, but native Brazilians not so much so – even down to simple things like smiling on the street. I don’t know, obviously it’s a small sample size, but that’s what I’ve noticed. I think it’s just surprising compared to my expectations. Though truth be told I’d be pretty grumpy if Boston was overtaken by a bunch of tourists who wear flags around all day like it’s normal.

Leaving the Maracana — How would I feel if my city looked like this?

We also ate at a Brazilian BBQ place that…tasted like the Brazilian BBQ places in the United States. If I was here with Jess we might have gone searching for something more “authentic”, or maybe the stuff in the US is authentic? I don’t know. I’ll say this – it’s definitely different traveling without my wife and I’d like to come back here someday with her.

One last outstanding issue – in terms of Cristo Redentor, you can cut like half the lines if you’re pregnant or have a baby with you or if you are old. I found myself thinking “Where’s Baby M when I need her?” when we were stuck in that huge line yesterday.

Anyway, today is my last day so I’m just going to take it easy and take in Rio for one more day. I’ll be back with some final reflections on the trip and maybe one last diary entry for my last day. Until then!