March 31, 2018

The Passover seder last night was well done!  Tom did a great job organizing and running it.  There were 104 people there, well over expectations. Quite a few weren’t Jewish but wanted to experience the seder. Here are our tablemates, the booklet with the service and the menu.  The staff did a wonderful job. Tom said he averted a crisis when he found out that our Italian chef made special challah for us and they were sending out the baskets full.  Normally on a Friday night they make it but he didn’t realize that at Passover you don’t eat it! I hope the other passengers and the crew got to enjoy it because it is delicious.

Today we are at anchor at Buzios, Brazil.  It is considered the St. Tropez of Brazil because it is reminiscent of the French Riviera. It gained international fame when Brigitte Bardot vacationed here in the 1960’s and was photographed on the beach. Now you see a bronze statue of her along the Orlat Bardot Boardwalk, which is a stone sidewalk that extends along the beach.

We had a great walk along this boardwalk. There are lots of restaurants and shops but today only the tourist shops seemed to be open while we were there.  Many people were taking water taxis and schooner type boats to the many beaches here. Some are also close to where the tender docks.

Here’s a sculpture of fishermen, when we arrived it was low tide, later after our walk the tide had come in. And some tourists went out for a picture with them.

Lots of boats, beautiful water and a nice town.  Here are some of the other sights.

We had a nice time – headed back to the ship for some relaxation.  Oh, and I forgot to post a picture of Isabella – we bought her in Parati.
And she will live in Harvey Cedars!

Tomorrow we arrive in Rio for 3 days. We are doing a full day tour the first day (Easter, so who knows how crowds will be). The second day we will take a shuttle to Copacabana Beach and Hotel and will do some walking around the city.  It is changeover day so some passengers will be getting off and new ones coming on.  The third day we have a tour of the botanical gardens and Tijuca National Park in an open air jeep. 

I may post all of the adventures together when we leave as we have 3 sea days before we reach the next port. Stay tuned!