Dec 15 & 16

We docked at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at 8am on the 15th with a light rain falling.  We're here for 2 days with the second day sending 634 guests home and boarding 530, so we won't be full on the holiday cruise to Miami.  By 10:30 the sun was out and Pat, Cheryl & I took a car provided by H. Stern to their jewelry store, primarily to get a new battery put in Pat's sapphire watch.  Fabian, the jeweler rep on board arranged for Pat to have a new battery at no charge.  We took the obligatory tour of their workshop and looked at some jewelry while we waited and didn't buy anything.  We went next door to Amsterdam Sauer to visit people we know there and, again, didn't buy anything.  We strolled about 3 blocks to the famous Ipanema Beach and walked down to the water.  It was Saturday and the beach was quite crowded.  It got quite hot so we didn't linger long and walked along the shopping streets for awhile.  Prices, including in restaurants, are quite high here as it's a main international tourist locale.  Each major beach has its own unique white & black stone patterned sidewalk.  We went back to the ship for a late lunch and, again, won tea time trivia with a perfect score.  Prior to dinner there was a performance by a violin duo who will be with us for a few days.  There were several busloads of guests going to a nighttime Samba show and they swamped the restaurant when it opened so we waited out the rush by listening to Nature's Rhythm performing in the Horizon Lounge.  They are a Philippino trio with a bass & 2 guitars and play amazing music, sounding just like the bands they copy.  After dinner there was a "Beatles Night" where 4 of the orchestra members and singers from the ship's cast playing Beatles tunes for dancing enjoyment. On the 16th the large group left and some said that the Samba show was overcrowded and they didn't get back until 1am. We're glad we passed on that excursion.  There are 9 ships in port and 2 large ones (3500 plus passengers) docked behind us were also debarking so the terminal was like a Japanese train station at evening rush hour.  We've been to Rio a few times so we just stayed on the ship and caught up on emails etc.