'The girl from Ipanema'
The view from our room on the 23rd floor of the Sheraton encapsulates everything about Rio. We are looking directly across at a Favela (hillside slum), have a side view of Ipanema Beach and, in the distance, can see the statue of 'Christ The Redeemer'. It was quite something to wake up to after arriving in the dark.
It's been a day of catching up with old friends, scrutineering of the cars, briefings on various important stuff and time for a tiny bit of sightseeing.
We went with our friends from Iowa, heroes of P2P and fellow Model A drivers Fritz and Lang to get up close to the thing that most screams 'RIO': Christo de Redonto'.There is a charming cog railway that drags itself up the incredibly steep mountain that it sits upon. The journey up passes through lush forest with tiny glimpses of the receding city beneath.
Once there, oh boy, that view. Unbelievably fabulous. The sheer size of the statue is impressive, although I felt that his face could have been made more handsome. Anyway, afterwards, I felt that we had seen the best of Rio and felt no need to go anywhere else; which was just as well as we don't really have any more sightseeing time.
Our car was waiting patiently for us in the sauna like hotel underground car park. It started first time and seems ready for all that is to come. Adrian had a few very minor jobs to do on it and tomorrow we will go on a practise run before the start on Saturday morning.
Our Rally number is 7. I am thrilled by this - lucky number seven! It also links in beautifully with 'The Ponheary Ly Foundation' - our charity. My home from home, in Cambodia, where I am treated as one of the family, is the home and guesthouse of the extended Ly family: 'Seven Candles'.
A good omen!
It's been a day of catching up with old friends, scrutineering of the cars, briefings on various important stuff and time for a tiny bit of sightseeing.
We went with our friends from Iowa, heroes of P2P and fellow Model A drivers Fritz and Lang to get up close to the thing that most screams 'RIO': Christo de Redonto'.There is a charming cog railway that drags itself up the incredibly steep mountain that it sits upon. The journey up passes through lush forest with tiny glimpses of the receding city beneath.
Once there, oh boy, that view. Unbelievably fabulous. The sheer size of the statue is impressive, although I felt that his face could have been made more handsome. Anyway, afterwards, I felt that we had seen the best of Rio and felt no need to go anywhere else; which was just as well as we don't really have any more sightseeing time.
Our car was waiting patiently for us in the sauna like hotel underground car park. It started first time and seems ready for all that is to come. Adrian had a few very minor jobs to do on it and tomorrow we will go on a practise run before the start on Saturday morning.
Our Rally number is 7. I am thrilled by this - lucky number seven! It also links in beautifully with 'The Ponheary Ly Foundation' - our charity. My home from home, in Cambodia, where I am treated as one of the family, is the home and guesthouse of the extended Ly family: 'Seven Candles'.
A good omen!
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