Monday, July 18, 2011

Blogger Meet-up in Rio – report back

Gathering at our point of departure.

Phew – it’s been a great weekend spending time with fellow bloggers. Saturday was our planned event in Rio which attracted a great crowd (many bloggers and their husbands, partners, children, etc.).

Inside the Arco do Tellez.

The Arco do Telles area is PACKED every weeknight for Happy Hour.


It was my intention to arrive early to stake out the meeting area and be a responsible leader.  But, the best laid plans… We missed our ferry and given that it was Saturday, the next ferry was 30 minutes later. So by the time we arrived there was already a good group gathered. Thanks to cell phones, everyone was informed of our delay, and some who arrived a bit later were able to hop into the tour in progress.
Confeitaria Columbo has hosted dignitaries and the rest of us for over 100 years.

We somehow stumbled upon these happy barber shop workers...

Luiz was his beaming, charming self as he walked us through some very historic streets, showing us an old home of Carmen Miranda’s and pointing out an ancient street which still has the small gutter running the length of the center of the street (aka: the old open sewer channel).
Rua da Carioca is fantastically scenic busy old street lined with historic archetecture.

While we wandered from historic site to historic building, only a few were open, and many are best seen during the week when you can enter and take tours of. Luiz and I did a lot of encouraging folks to return and spend more time discovering Rio’s history. There is SO MUCH to see we could have walked for three days!
After peeking into the modern Cathedral and walking under the Lapa arches, we made our way to Cinelandia and pulled about 6 tables together and settled in for a LONG and social lunch. While we did get up and switch seats now and again, it was still impossible to chat with everyone.  There were just so many of us present! The meet-up was a total success!

Not everybody (sorry) but a nice group shot at the restaurant Amerelinho in Cinelandia.

9 comments:

American Heart Brazilian Soul said...

Jim,

This is so cool. I feel like I know everyone already :)
Historic Rio sounds fascinating.
I can't believe we missed, oh, well, next time for sure!

Thanks for sharing

Ray

SN said...

Thank you so much for planning! We had a great time!!

Sara

GingerV said...

didn't get invited.... why?

Unknown said...

That look like such a good time! It reminds me of living in Istanbul in 2000 and being able to do this regularly. I'm really enjoying your Blog. I also used to live in the SF Bay area and was most recently in Sacramento. Thanks fro being out there, helping me adjust.

Jana said...

Looks like so much fun!!!! Nice to see you guys all together... =)

bee and jay said...

Glad you all had such a great time! Hopefully we'll be joining you for another one next year.
B&J

Corinne said...

Jim,

Thanks for putting this together. I had a great time!

Jim said...

Ginger - sorry you did not see the three posts on my blog and the cross posts on Rachel's and Danielle's blog -- it would have been great to see you!

There will be another gathering, for sure!

Born Again Brazilian said...

This was the best! Thanks so much for putting it together. I'm glad we could make it and next time we are in Rio let's get together.