Eurotrip 2015 - Days 0 & 1 (6/26-27/2015) - Getting to Istanbul

Perhaps a little background is in order...  This trip was originally supposed to partially be a joint vacation of two couples - Joe & Tina, and me & Claire.  Well, Claire broke up with me within the last few weeks, so things didn't end up going as originally planned.  Basically, I ended up being the third wheel to Joe & Tina while we followed the original itinerary.  Claire ended up doing her own thing after flying to Istanbul.

The trip began for me early on Friday morning (June 26) with a taxi to the St. Louis Amtrak station.  I had originally planned to take the bus there, but it had been raining all night and into the morning.  The talkative taxi driver got me to the station (in his Prius) in plenty of time to catch the 7:55 Texas Eagle to Chicago.  This train ride itself had been hastily arranged only a couple of days prior when I eventually realized that the original plan to get to Chicago had become overcome by events.

The train was late getting into St. Louis, and so was also 15 minutes or so late to depart.  I sat on the upper deck of one of the coach cars, and used the extra-reclining seat to try to catch up on the many hours of sleep that I had missed the night before due to packing and some last-minute planning.  The 6-hour ride up to Chicago was mostly uneventful save for a couple of delays (waiting for freight trains to pass) that made us even later (30 minutes) to arrive in a cold and drizzly Chicago.

Tina picked me up from Union Station and drove me back to the apartment, where Joe had been working from home most of the day.  After some last minute packing on their part, the three of us headed out around 3:00 to catch the CTA train to O'Hare.  Anticipating long security lines at the airport, we rushed to catch the next train (even running down the ramp when we saw it approach as we had only just made it through the turnstile).  When we arrived at the airport, though, we didn't have much trouble getting to the international terminal (5) and the security line was minimal.  We then had a couple of hours to kill before even having to board our 7:20 flight to Zurich.  During that time, we grabbed some food (in my case, a sub-par veggie burger from R.J. Grunt's) and charged up our phones.  Boarding for the Swiss Air A330 started a little late due to a delayed crew, and where were even more delays before we took off.  We eventually got in the air and made up some of the time on the 8.5 hour flight.  We were fed both dinner (vegetable pasta for me) and breakfast (croissant), and I was able to watch a movie and get a few hours of low-quality sleep.

Upon arriving in Zürich the next morning, we had a 2-hour layover during which we switched terminals and breezed through security before boarding a Swiss Air A320 to Istanbul.  One odd thing about this plane (I'm not sure if it's a general A320 or Swiss Air thing) was that the seat row numbers skipped from 17 to 25.  This flight was "only" 2 hours and 45 minutes and had us in Istanbul by 5 PM.  After going through passport control, we quickly picked up Tina's checked suitcase (the agent in Chicago had made here check it) and went out to the arrivals hall.  We were met there by the airport transfer that Joe had organized through the hotel.  After a couple of hand-offs, we eventually got in a van that took the 3 of us speedily (so speedily that I feared for my life) to Tashkonak Studio Suites in Sultanahmet, Istanbul.  This was the old part of town, and the streets were so narrow that the driver had a lot of trouble turning the last corner before the hotel - he eventually made it with the van barely unscathed.  There had been a very light sprinkle when we made it out of the airport, but the weather had cleared up early in the drive.  The temperature was in the low 70s (F), and dropped a bit as the night progressed.

We checked into the hotel and then took a few minutes to settle into our rooms.  The hotel was a little strange in that our rooms were in a separate, seemingly totally unrelated building from the lobby.  My room was adjacent to Joe and Tina's on the ground floor.  The furnishings in the room were pretty good, but it's location was suboptimal.  I picked up a lot of nearby noise from the street outside, and the opaque curtains didn't quite fully cover the street-level windows (though the translucent curtains were at least thankfully a bit more expansive).  After a brief respite, the three of us walked out to find some dinner.  We passed a restaurant that had been recommended by the hotel clerk, but ended up eating at another one that was likely very similar - the name on the menu was something like Marmara Fish and Meat Restaurant.  I had a house special vegetable casserole dish that was cooked in a single-use clay pot (I later saw this referred to as a cistern special at another restaurant), while Joe and Tina shared a similar looking seafood dish (but without a clay pot involved).  My dish was pretty good, but probably not worth the 70 Turkish Lira (about $26) that was quoted.  Overall, it was a solid dinner, though.  And the view of the Sea of Marmara from the table in the back wasn't terrible.  The restaurant was mostly empty, but I'm not sure how much that had to do with it being Ramadan (or Ramazan, in Turkish) - the sun was still up when we arrived.  The sun set toward the end of our meal, and the owner and the employees were able to have their dinner.

After eating, we walked the short 2 blocks back to the rooms and plotted some plans for the next couple of days.  We said our goodnights by 10:30, and Tina in particular looked like she was ready for a good night of sleep in a bed, as opposed to an airplane chair.  I didn't mind having a bed at all either...

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An album of all my favorite photos from the trip can be found here:
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Brazil 2014 - Days 14 & 15 (6/26-27/2014) - Porto Alegre, then Home

It was a rainy day in Porto Alegre, which threatened to put a damper on our plans.  As Raj led us out on his planned walking tour of the city, I temporarily vetoed the idea of walking about in the rain for hours.  We stopped at a cafe for breakfast and to consider our options.  Since I couldn't come up with any better ideas (I had let Raj do most of the sightseeing planning the whole trip), and the rain had died down a bit, I yielded to his better judgment.  He suggested that we take the bus into the center of town, instead of walking there, and so we did.

When we arrived downtown, we went on a ramble to various of the sights that he had picked out from his various sources.  One notable stop was Santander Cultural, where an exhibition of Vik Muniz's work was currently showing, as well as the adjoining Praça da Alfândega.  We also entered the Meseu Militar, before finding a side bar to have lunch and watch the USA vs Germany match.  It seemed like all the bars/restuarants in that part of town offered similar "a-la-carte" menus that provided few vegetarian options, but we found one with a TV and grilled cheese sandwiches (they were actually ham and cheese tostadadas, but we ordered them without the ham).  As for the match, the US lost 1-0 but still progressed to the round of 16 since Portugal beat Ghana 2-1.

After eating we walked over to the Gasômetro, situated next to the ginormous Lagoa dos Patos.  After some searching and some asking, we found the art terrace that overlooks the north tip of the lagoon (and just the north end looks expansive by itself).  Unfortunately, the dreary weather on that day did not allow the greatest of views.  After leaving there, we took a bus down to the Fundação Iberê Camargo (Iberê Camargo Foundation).  I wasn't a huge fan of this museum, but I couldn't complain too much since it was free to enter.  And after that we returned by bus to the hotel.

We regrouped for a bit in our room before deciding to walk to a nearby Arabian restaurant named Baalbek.  It was among the classier joints that we ate at during the trip, and the food was pretty good, particularly the felafel.  We also shared some hummus (it was purely chickpeas, so I didn't enjoy it as much as the oily versions that I've come to love), a Lebanese cheese thing (which I also liked quite a bit), and a thinly-sliced fried eggplant dish.  For dessert we split a couple of baklava-type (but not quite) pastries, and took a couple of Turkish-delight-like (but not quite) treats for the road.  We returned to the hotel to rest for a couple of hours before checking out and taking a taxi to the airport around 10:30.  Note that we had book the room through the next day, but an American Airlines schedule change had moved our flight up to 12:30 in the morning (from sometime in the mid morning).

I managed to get a bit of sleep on the 9 hour flight from Porto Alegre to Miami.  We both made the mistake of eating some of the dinner that was served an hour or two into the flight, after having stuffed ourselves just a few hours prior.  When breakfast was served close to arrival, I couldn't consider partaking, but Raj was able to take it down like a champ.  We had a 4.5 hour layover in Miami, though a chunk of that was taken by going through immigration and customs.  Raj also found out that a fraudulent transaction had been attempted on his credit card in Brazil, but that it fortunately had been declined.  Unfortunately, though, this meant that his card had to be canceled.  The flight back to St. Louis was on a fairly new 737, which impressed me quite a bit (go Boeing!).  My dad (who had just got in from Kuwait a few days prior) picked us up at the airport, and the vacation came to an end.

Brazil 2014 - Day 13 (6/25/2014) - Nigeria vs Argentina

Our Ibis hotel did not provide complementary breakfast (it was extra), so there was no reason to be up at any particular time that morning.  We both woke up around 9:30 and left the hotel about an hour later.  After walking around for a while in search of a place to have breakfast, we settled on Barbarella Bakery.  We both had the mushroom quiche and also shared some kind of orange pastry.  After eating we walked to a nearby taxi stand and took a taxi to the stadium, Estádio Beira-Rio.

Argentinian supporters outnumbered Nigerians about (if I had to guess) 50 to 1, and they were by far the majority there.  In contrast, the last 2 crowds at the Nigeria games had been mostly Brazilians.  The 1:00 match was the most entertaining of the 3 that we saw, with 5 goals scored between the 2 teams, and Messi (and Musa) working his magic.  Unfortunately, Argentina came out on top 3-2, but Nigeria still qualified for the knock-out stage.  Funnily, after the game I received quite a few offers from Argentinians to trade jerseys - it must have been over 15 by the time we left the stadium and surrounding area.  I also had 3 people offer to sell me a ticket to the round of 16 game (against France) - which I couldn't go to anyway, since I was returning to the States in a couple of days.

We next walked down to the nearby mall and snacked on pao de queijo and McD's ice cream.  Then we walked through the city in the direction of the hotel, stopping at Tapas Bar in a bohemian neighborhood to watch the 5 PM Group E match between France and Ecuador and split some falafel and some other Indian-inspired tapas.  After the goalless draw, we began walking toward the hotel by Parque da Redenção.  However, a kind stranger warned us that he had just witnessed a couple of guys get robbed in a poorly lit spot in the direction that we were headed.  Freaked out a bit, we turned around and began discussing alternate ways back.  After walking a few blocks in a roundabout direction, we decided to just take a taxi back to the hotel.

One additional note - despite being overcast all day, the rain never came while we were out, save for a very light and brief sprinkle in the evening.  It apparently did come during the night, though.

Brazil 2014 - Day 12 (6/24/2014) - Corcovado, to Porto Alegre

We got a bit of a later start than desired, as we ideally wanted to be at Cosme Velho by 8:00 when the first day-of tram tickets went on sale.  We quickly ate breakfast in the apartment (our host kindly had breakfast out early, though we told her it was not necessary) and were downstairs and outside around 7:40.  We were lucky to catch the 583 bus immediately, which the girl the day before told us terminates at Cosme Velho.  We reached our destination at 8:15 and lined up for tickets.  The earliest tram we could get on was 11:20, so we bought that and then needed to kill some time.  We walked down the street and around the area for a while, before returning to the Museu Internacional de Arte Naif do Brasil next door.  We were there a few minutes before they opened at 10:00, so we bought a couple of drinks at their cafe.  I initially was not going to enter the museum at all (I was going to chill outside while Raj checked it out), but Raj found out that they were offering a 2-for-1 deal with tram tickets, so it was only R$6 each.  I'm glad I went in, as the museum turned put to be better than I expected.  Not amazing or anything, but probably worth the reduced entry fee.

After the museum, we headed next door to the tram station at 11:00, as we had been advised.  The tram ended up departing about 10 minutes late, closer to 11:30.  The ride up to the top of the Corcovado took somewhere around 25 minutes, and it was quite crowded up there (as expected).  We stayed up there around 45 minutes, taking pictures and trying to enjoy the view as much as can be allowed with so many people there.  The line for the tram down seemed lengthy, but that was only because it moves a couple hundred at a time - so we didn't wait too long.  The first leg of the ride down included some entertainment from a street band.  After leaving the tram station at Cosme Velho, we were again fortunate to almost immediately catch the 584 back toward Leblon.

We went back to the apartment to get our things and "check out" of the apartment.  Our host suggested a by-the-kg buffet called Grill Inn a few blocks away (she said only 2 blocks, but it turned out to be more like 5) for a quick lunch, so we walked there.  We hurriedly ate some of the vegetarian options that we could decipher, paid, and then caught a taxi outside the restaurant at 3:30.

The traffic getting to the airport was ridiculous.  We were basically in a parking lot for about 30 minutes.  It seemed to have to do with a bunch of different major roads merging together before the Túnel André Rebouças.  Once we got past the tunnel, things cleared up for the most part.  However, we were still cutting things super close, as we approached the airport around 4:40, about 40 minutes before our flight was to depart (5:21).  Things took a turn for the worse when out taxi driver accidentally turned into the garage parking for terminal 2, instead of heading to the departures area.  He apologized and asked us (as far as we could understand) if we wanted him to go back around or go in through the garage.  We chose to go in, as we were super late, and he dropped us off by the stairs.  We quickly paid and half ran up the stairs.  Then we found out that we were at the international arrivals area.  So we half ran over to the escalators and up two levels to domestic check-in.  We found an automatic kiosk and checked in there, indicating that we were fully qualified for the exit row seats it put us in (even though we didn't speak Portuguese) so as not to be slowed down.  By now the departures board showed our flight at final call.  Then we ran over to the security checkpoint, where luckily the line was essentially nonexistent.  We quickly went through (we had already prepped most of our gear, e.g., our belts, while in the taxi, and we thankfully didn't have to separate liquids or take off our shoes like in the U.S.) and found our gate about 3 or 4 down.  It had taken us about 8 minutes from check-in to the boarding gate, and we ended up having plenty of time to spare - there was still a line of about 20 people when we got there, and at least 20 more boarded after us.

We had a 2+ hour layover in Curitiba, where we snacked on pão de queijo in the airport.  The quick flight to Porto Alegre was bumpy, with the flight attendants even ending refreshment service early.  After arriving at the airport, we hired a taxi at the stand, and took that to our Ibis Moihnos de Vento hotel.  It was raining pretty heavily, and some of the streets were partially flooded.  We hoped that the rain wouldn't continue through the match the next day, but the forecast didn't look good.

Brazil 2014 - Day 11 (6/23/2014) - Rio

We were pleasantly surprised that our Airbnb host had put out breakfast for us - though perhaps we should have expected it after she mentioned it the day before.  She made an appearance while we were eating, and we had a discussion mostly about Brazilian politics (it seems like everyone hates the government here).  After eating Raj and I took the bus from right in front of the apartment building over to Shopping RioSul, then walked to Urca to get in line for the Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain) cable car, arriving there around 9:50.  The line for tickets was really long, and it didn't help that the guided tour people were being let in at a faster rate than the "regular people".  The line eventually began moving more quickly, and we were through and into the cable car after 50 minutes or so.

The first cable car took us up to the top of Morro de Urca, where we spent some time taking pictures.  When we went to get in line for the second cable car for Sugarloaf Mountain, we were both surprised and terrified by how long it was - it seemed to wrap around the whole area.  I didn't remember the lines being even half as long when I went there 5 years earlier, but then there wasn't a massive soccer tournament going on then.  We eventually got through that line after an hour and made our way up to Sugarloaf.  After more picture taking we made our way back down to the bottom by cable car and then walked toward the nearby beach, Praia Vermelhes.  The 1:00 final group stage games were in the second half, so we stopped at the Terra Brasilis restaurant to catch the end of Netherlands vs Chile.  After a long wait to get seated, and a long wait to have our order taken, we found out that they didn't have any pizzas available (the best vegetarian options on the menu).  So we finished our drinks (by now Guaraná had become my drink of choice) and left when the game was over.

We walked back to the shopping mall and found the kiosk for the Corcovado tram.  The girl at the counter informed us that the next available tram was the next evening, after we would have left the city, but that we could show up early the next day to try to get some tickets from the 20% reserved for in-person sales.  After that we took the bus to Copacabana in search of a pizzeria that Raj had noted, but it was closed.  Instead we wandered around in search of somewhere with available seating that had TVs.  We settled on a small bar/restaurant/pizzeria called Tipicamente.  There, we shared a mushroom pizza and watched Brazil thump Cameroon 4-1 (a scoreline that Raj predicted) in the 5:00 match that the vast majority of the country cared more about.  The Brazilians went nuts whenever their team scored and at the final whistle, including setting off fireworks in the street.  After eating we walked around Copacabana for a bit before heading back to the apartment.

Brazil 2014 - Day 10 (6/22/2014) - To Rio

I was up by 3:15 to begin getting ready to head for the airport.  We left the hotel around 4:00 and took a taxi to the airport.  When checking in for our 5:30 flight, the Gol representative told us that we would have to check in again in Brasilia for our connection to Rio.  We didn't really understand why they couldn't just give us boarding passes for both legs, but we just dealt with it.  In Brasilia I had to explain our situation to another Gol representative as well as yet another on the phone (who spoke better English) in order to have to keep from going back through security.  It turned out OK in the end, and we boarded without boarding passes.

In Rio, we were met by Raj's former colleague Luiza and her boyfriend João.  They kindly picked us up from the airport and treated us to lunch at a restaurant called Alessandro E Frederico in Leblon.  They also dropped us off at the apartment building where our Airbnb lodging was arranged.  After getting into the apartment (which was quite nice) and meeting our host, we walked down to Ipanema beach, which was only a couple of blocks away (the apartment was close to the intersection of Ipanema and Copacabana).  We walked up and down the beach, then over to Forte de Copacabana.  The museum part of the fort did not appeal much to me, but the view from the top was worth the R$6 admission.

We headed back to the apartment for a quick change, then back out to find a place to watch the 7:00 USA vs Portugal match.  After passing on a place that Luisa had suggested, we ended up at the very crowded Banana Jack's, surrounded by many other Americans.  We both had the veggie burger and enjoyed the roller coaster game, which ended in a draw.  Afterward we walked back to the apartment and plotted the next day's activities.

Brazil 2014 - Day 9 (6/21/2014) - Nigeria vs Bosnia

Cuiabá is not terribly appealing from a tourist perspective, so I wasn't too sad to be spending only about 1.5 days there.  We took it super easy this morning, getting up around 9 for breakfast at the hotel (which was the weakest thus far, but not bad) before returning to the room to lie around lazily for a while.  We eventually showered and prepared to leave.

We walked down the street to Sorvetelle, a restaurant that got good ratings on Trip Advisor for its ice cream.  Raj ordered a milkshake while I made a sundae, and we watched the 1 PM match.  After the match, Raj and I decided to walk around the town for a while.  We wandered past a few spots that we had noted in tourist maps and Trip Advisor, including the supposed geodetic center of South America and Igreça Nossa Senhora do Bom Despacho.  We then tried to go to a pizzeria that Raj had read about, but it was closed.  So we instead walked back to Sorvetelle for the Germany vs Ghana match.  This time we ordered real food - a personal sized pizza for each of us.  We only stayed partway through the second half, as we wanted to get to the stadium early for our match.

There was special signage at a couple of nearby bus stops for buses going to Arena Pantanal.  We went to one of these bus stops and hopped on a bus with stadium signage (along with a few other guys who had also been at the restaurant).  The area around the stadium had been blocked off, so the stadium stop was still a ways from the stadium itself.  Things seemed fairly well organized, though, and we had no problems walking to the stadium.  We were through security much earlier than the last match, and had about 45 minutes to kill before kick-off.  The match turned out to be a nail-biter, with Nigeria obviously stalling to hold on to a slim 1-0 victory.  After the match, we couldn't quite figure out which bus would take us back toward our hotel, or where to catch it, so we instead walked all the way back.  We also stopped briefly at SESC Arsenal to check out the popular local hangout.  We made it a pretty early night, as we had a very early start the next day.