Maisie and Fred's Excellent Adventure

[Richard]

The next day, Sunday the 31st of August we started what was supposed to be the last leg of our journey. (Masie and Fred joined us in the front seat expecting a nice scenic drive.)

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[Richard]

Hurricane Gustav was not quite finished with us. Freeway traffic appeared to be stopped up ahead, so Susan and I decided to take the exit ramp. We asked a fireman, who had also pulled off and stopped at the little combination general store and gas station, about the road ahead. He told us that the traffic was at a dead stop for more than thirty-six miles. An RV trying to escape the hurricane had caught fire and was blocking the highway.

The outer bands of Gustav were already beginning to lash out as we took the detour that the fireman had suggested.

We were skirting the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico and the water was rising. The fireman had warned us about a possible storm surge and had urged us to keep moving.

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[Richard]

As we sped toward Destin, Florida, the wind began to pick up and the water in the Gulf continued to rise.

This would normally be a beautiful drive as you are literally almost driving on the water as you leapfrog from one barrier island to the next. However, with strong winds and a storm surge, we were actually driving on water in several places. We were probably also one of the last vehicles to use this road until after the storm had passed.

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[Richard]

Susan and I stopped north of Orlando and just fell into our comfortable hotel bed. We were exhausted. But, thankfully, safe and out of harms way. We thought about the two million people. How many were still on the road? We whispered a prayer for their safety and fell asleep.

Monday, the 1st of September was a holiday. Labor Day in the United States. We had breakfast and thought about our harrowing drive. With only a three and half hour journey ahead of us to Fort Lauderdale, we could breathe a big sigh of relief and thank God for protecting us both ... yet once again.

We suspect that if Maisie and Fred could talk, they might say that they would prefer a nice walk along Hadrian's Wall with Gordon and Diane rather than a hair-raising mad dash with a Hurricane named Gustav.

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[Gustavo]

Yesterday, I had to go to a neighbourhood in Rio called Saúde, so as to go to a doctor, and, well, Masie didn't want to walk much, but Fred was on the mood (I told him it'd be a lot of walking, for his age ...), then he went with me.





Saúde is a very old neighbouhood, between Rio old docks and downtown (or the "old city"). Below, there's a picture of a "Nacional Comitee of Naval Carpenters of the Merchant Navy". I'm not sure there's still such cometee, but the house is there







We went on walking. We went by bus until behind the "Estação Central" (urban trains), and it was walking till the doctor's, and from there back downtown, after. It's a nice walk in a kind of an unknown Rio.









(I've never been to Russia, but that place, at least in the picture, looks a bit like what I imagine of that country That old factory still works.)





Near the clinic, there's this very traditional Brasilian plaza, with what we call a "coreto", which is based, I believe, in French Belle Époque. They used these places for bands, on certain hollidays, to play to the public of the region.

[Gustavo]

After the visit, we went walking towards downtown. Here's Fred. He was a bit impatient, because we had waited A LOT OF TIME at the clinic ... At the way to the old cité, we go through the place where there are a lot of trucks parked, I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because the old part of the docks are right at the side, but as well, it's a place where there are a few factories, then, maybe the trucks work for these factories, I haven't found out what it is yet ... Fred said that some guys at playmofriends might like to see the trucks ...

(part 2 of 4)

[Gustavo]

From here, we turned right, and followed a looooong way.





(Here, before turning right, Fred wished to take picture of some of the trucks, from another angle.)





As we turn right, there are still more trucks, still for a couple of squares.





Until we reach a place where there are no trucks anymore ...





There are a lot of places where "Escolas de Samba" meet themselves. Here's one, in that region.

(part 3 of 4)

[Gustavo]

(We ran short of memory, in the machine, so we couldn't take all the pictures we wished, because I had to take Fred still at Confeitaria Colombo ... Although there are only six pictures left, I'll divide part 4 into 3 mini-parts, so as to better explain them.)

Once I made a stop here, notice, in the pictures above, taken yesterday, that we're in the autumn, here, in Rio, and the trees don't get red. In Argentina, a little south, they do. But in Brasil, I don't think not even in the south States they get red or yellow. We're a tropical country. In the south of Brasil, things get a bit cold, on winter, but in Rio, our winter don't make less than 15 Celsius.

Yesterday was a sunny day. It should be about 25 or about. Not too hot, not cool either, anyway.

[Gustavo]

In the region of the old docks, there are a lot of "ruins". It's sad. Government try to make projects to revitalize the region, but it isn't quite easy, once Rio de Janeiro has A LOT of other more urgent needs. It's a huge town, and the more populated areas need special attention.





However, this kind of shocked Fred. He said something like: "Wow!, a couple of blocks back there, we had ruins, now we see a top-line building like this! What a contrast!" Indeed, I have to agree with him.

(part 4, a)

[Gustavo]

Rio downtown (our "La Cité", as they say in Paris , I like the term) is a place full of everything, but in more reasonable conditions. There are very old buildings, and there are high quality ones as the one above (that's in the Cité, already). Here, at Gonçalves Dias street, crossing with Buenos Aires street, at the very heart of Rio (not the famous Rio, like Copacabana or Ipanema, but the everyday Carioca citizen's Rio), Fred was caught by his ... weakness : Chapelaria Alberto. A very old store that sells hats and such. Too bad we had only a few pictures left I wished to have taken a lot of other pictures ...





(Fred gazing at the hats of the Chapelaria.)

(part 4, b)