Day 13 - At the Copa, Copacabana

We headed out early so we could see the the beaches and maybe still catch the early game (ITA-URU), figured we would be back here in time for the COL-JAP game. We took the subway, well, because we could. It was pretty cheap R$3.75 pp each way as well. Although the guy working on it did not instill a great deal of confidence.

We took it to the end of the line, and walked through a cool local market to get to the beach.

Arriving at the beach at Ipanema, everyone regretted not bring their swimsuits - it was beautiful - and we were blessed with a gorgeous sunny day as well. I think the pictures will speak for themselves.

Walked the beach (and several blocks between Ipanema and Copacabana). Looked like the bike rentals would have been a cool option - but as we have discovered here - there are always some "extra" steps to everything. You have to register online in advance, etc.

At Copa, Phil noticed this makeshift set of studios which were set up over the road to get a good view of the beach.

There were some nice restrooms along the beach as well - it is amazing what R$2 will buy you. Yeah, I'm still battling my stomache ailments - but I'm not photo-documenting any of that...

We attempted to get into a rooftop place that Ivan had read was a good recommendation - but it was now an exclusive Budwiser Hotel - hotel guests only. But the hotel restaurant was open outside, with both the ITA-URU game and the CRC-ENG game on.

The food was good, and we were obviously hungry, so we forgot to photo-doc our meal, but someone else's looked cooler anyways...

We continued along the beach/boardwalk/bike lanes towards the Fan Shop and Fan fest. The shop was huge, but didn't have that much cool, unique things (just a lot of things) - and they did not have the cap that I wanted - nor any USA stuff either.

We decide to stay and watch the Columbia game at the Fan Fest. The Fan Fest area was huge and it was cool that it was on the beach itself. They had the typical zipline activities as well. No surprise, the crowd was virtually all Columbian supporters. We didn't have any Columbian garb, but were supporting them nonetheless. The old thing was that the crowd wanted to sit during the game - we had never seen that - but then again, we had never been to a Fan fest on the beach either...

The other side of the beach fan fest was the cleaning of the shoes on the street afterwards.

We took the subway back. And decided to try a little place that we had skipped/ignored before (right by our hotel). The food was excellent and they had craft beers from all around the world - including some from Brazil. Finally, some Brazilian beer that was really good - most of the regular beer here needs to be cold (if that tells you anything).

End of a long day, too exhausted to blog much...