Journey Impressions: Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro: Population approx. 6,453 million (2013)
Brazil: Population approx. 209.6 million
Population growth (2010-2016): 0.9%
People per km²: 24
Gross national income per person in 2014: 11,780 USD


20 January 2018, Rio de Janeiro:

The Copacabana Palace Hotel was quite a remarkable sight with the endlessly long beach and the colonial-style hotel right in front of it. It’s a hotel that reminds me a bit of the Atlantic in Hamburg. We checked in and were immediately told we could stay there for all of the six days. However, after four days, we would have to put up with swapping our already very attractive rooms for a suite if we wanted to stay in the same hotel here in Rio. We were delighted. After all, Kurt is back where he once lived and before we did anything else he wanted to take me to a samba event. We did exactly that and after having enjoyed the performance were picked up by a hotel driver. After we had treated ourselves to a nightcap, we turned in for the night. We don’t have any pictures of us savouring our night-time drink and no comments are needed here. If we had taken any pictures, with Kurt as the photographer, some pictures would have been somewhat blurred! I don’t know why – perhaps he was still so excited by the evening’s performance.



21 January 2018, Rio de Janeiro:

The most important thing for me was to take a stroll along Copacabana beach, which was directly opposite our hotel, the Copacabana Palace. It definitely took about two hours just to see part of this beach. Thousands of people had brought parasols and collapsible chairs from home so that they could lie or sit on the beach. And thousands of primarily children and young people were frolicking around in the surf at Copacabana beach. It looks like a lot of the population spend the weekend at the beach, in the water and partying.

After our walk, we visited Kurt’s old home. He showed me the house where he’d lived for quite a long time and photographed the entrance. The security guard noticed and asked Kurt if he could help in any way. Kurt replied that he’d once lived there and only wanted to see the entrance again. As we were walking back to the beach, we were astonished to see that a carnival procession and a carnival float had positioned themselves. It was clearly a rehearsal for the well-known Rio carnival. The old hands walked directly behind the float with the novices following right afterwards. It was an unusual sight because I’m familiar with Cologne’s carnival in the depths of winter. This procession included women who were half- to three-quarters unclothed, performing wonderful dances. There were also lots of spectators, most of whom were wearing swimwear. There were also numerous women in bikinis who were cheering the carnival float on with ecstatic applause. A large group of drummers were also there. All in all, it was a fantastic spectacle to watch. As I said, particularly when you recall that carnival processions in Cologne take place in winter clothing.

We spent Sunday evening in the Copacabana Palace Hotel and enjoyed the catch of the day. What’s more, the hotel was very stylish and the cuisine was exceptional. We felt in very good hands there.

22 January 2018, Rio de Janeiro:

After taking advice and following several phone calls, we decided to fly Marie to Jundiai on 22 January for her 50-hour maintenance and fly back from Sao Paulo to Rio on a Boeing 737 so that we could continue to stay in our hotel. This flight took place on the morning of 22 January at the very early hour of 8 a.m. From Rio, we followed the flight plan to Jundiai so that we could hand over the plane there at 10 a.m. A maintenance team welcomed us and cast expert eyes over Marie. The team immediately got out their mobile phones to take pictures of this wonderful plane. We two pilots on the other hand looked and marvelled at the many Lear jets waiting to undergo maintenance in the hangar. In the end, we decided to have maintenance done on Marie and then fly her back to Rio on 24 January again. The flight on the Boeing 737 from Sao Paulo to Rio was no hassle. Within an hour, we were back at Santos Dumont airport and got a taxi driver to take us to our much-loved hotel. We’d had enough excitement for one day.