Day 15: Rio
Weather: Hot, then
misting late in the night session of T&F, raining by the time we’re walking
back to apartment at midnight
QOTD:
But I watch her so
sadly
How can I tell her, "I love you?"
Yes, I would give my heart gladly
But each day, when she walks to the sea
She looks straight ahead, not at me
Department of Remembrance:
The following are more words about Day 12 and 13. Pics not repeated!
THB is catching up. On what it is not exactly clear, even
though whatever follows can no longer be chalked up to lack of sleep. And, thus
may also be a bit redundant, which seems crazy since the two all-pics posts had
almost no words!
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| The Aussies are friendly AND generous |
THB and DA chat up Aussies while waiting in line to enter O
Stadium, they are there for relative running in W’s 1500M. Much talk of Sydney.
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| The O's are winding down, not much demand for metro cards |
There are tons of hawkers walking the trains, no matter how
crowded. For sale: beer, water, Halls, candy, popcorn, small bags of candy,
guys with headsets. THB buys two bags of popcorn: stale with two or three bits
of bacon inside; 70 cents a bag (which means THB paid double, the foreigner
rate).
Locals are very courteous on the trains and metro: THB and DA
have been offered seats more than once (THB and DA agree it is DA’s new gray
beard that makes us look our ages). Cars
are also very clean (as are arenas and stadiums), locals appear to take out
their own trash.
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| Fixing seats at O Stadium |
DA and THB are taking advantage of DA’s knees by occasionally
going in the priority line (as are a bunch of other really old and infirm
people that frighteningly look a lot like DA and THB) to get in shorter
security lines. THB has been unable to get a pic of the wanding; sometimes now
they just wave DA through (we suspect the wands have run out of juice and there
are no batteries to be found).
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| Transporting disci |
While THB posted guys wearing pins, it has almost entirely
died out. Was a big O thing up until Beijing and hardly showed up in London and
now it is very obscure. Brazilians don’t really seek them out unless they are
volunteers, and very few volunteers are seeking anything out, including work.
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| Complete this phrase (it's hot and she never took off her jacket) |
THB and DA sought out buffet and meat several times (the fish
is really not very good here unless you like it fried and/or served well done)
and in general the food ain’t anything to write home about, especially if your home
is in the Bay Area.
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| THB offered to buy his t-shirt |
It’s hard to imagine that a train would leave the station
with the doors open. THB was shocked. Maybe it is another local custom? Clearly,
crowded trains are not unique, the system is heavily used (along with metro and
buses) and the systems have to carry a heavy load. We did see guys pushing and
shoving people further into cars in order for train doors to close. Maybe they
are more polite when the riders include O attendees.
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| No, he had not been to Easter Island |
As with every O, many people are attending an event for the
first (and most likely, only) time. In other O’s, they paid attention. Here
they show up late, use their phones for voice (…how aughts!) regardless of
others around them, come and go during live action (of course, no volunteer
would every actually ask them to wait before walking into the people sitting
down), and pretty much sit wherever they want (this changed at VB semi’s, at
least partially).
Okay, now back to your
regularly scheduled program, Day 15.
Breakfast of All Bran, apple, melon for THB. DA may have had
coffee.
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| A typical morning crowd at T&F |
The usual commute out to O Stadium for T&F in the
morning. More Decathlon, more Ashton Eaton. An infamous W’s 4X100 relay where
the Brazilians interfere with the USA pass. Later at the start of the evening
session the USA is given the chance to qualify by time: no problema, they run
the fasted time of any of the qualifiers!
We do not stay for the Decathlon PV; THB has a long story
about staying for the same event in Barcelona and never making it out of the
Stadium, staying inside for the Evening session as the PV ran later and later
and later.
Between sessions, THB and DA decide to go see the torch.
Remember way back on our first Friday here, THB and DA walked all over town and
saw the Museum of Tomorrow and a bi-plane? No? Take THB’s word for it. The
torch is very close to that part of the downtown waterfront.
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| The waiter volunteers to take our pic |
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| DA is buying, THB has no idea what the prices are |
We take the train to Centro and start walking. The crowds
start building. By the time we get within about 300 meters of where we think
the torch is, the streets are closed to cars and the crush of people is getting
larger.
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| THB's first drink, very tart |
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| Pre-game snacks |
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| Waiter spoke no English, nor understood pointing when DA ordered Cabernet |
We decide to have lunch, and after turning down an outdoor
place that appears to specialize in fish fried so stiff people can pick a large
piece up with one hand, we settle on an oasis, Joao de Barro, Brazilian-French fusion, highly rated by
Trip Advisor.
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| Menu mentioned lettuce, it must be back in the kitchen |
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| THB has moved on from limonada |
While we look reasonably grubby by O’s standards, this place
has table clothes, menus with no prices (maybe the guy thought THB was DA’s
date…wait, that was true!), four different pre-game appetizers, and when THB
ordered limonada he got an entire pitcher.
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| DA has not tired of eating meat |
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| THB makes a mistake, thinking Rio is a seaport and maybe the fish is the right choice |
DA has shrimp cocktail (the shrimp in the Russian dressing
are still warm) and THB orders the tomato salad (a few slices of tomato with
oil and vinegar put on the table). From there, DA has filet mignon (though he’s
pretty sure that didn’t hold up in translation) and THB has sea bass (very sure
it’s not like the sea bass we get) with a capers and mushroom topping
accompanied by peas (not great for a guy with essential tremors) and small
potato squares.
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| Very rich, very good, and even with cafe con crema, THB cannot finish it |
THB has a cold chocolate crocante for dessert, we each have
coffee, a bottle of Italian Spumante that we believe had no alcohol in it, and
my date picked up the check (around $200). Well worth the price for the oasis
of quiet. We also once again are amazed that in a place some tourists wander
into (e.g., many TA reviews), the staff speaks neither English nor Spanish.
Another theme of the trip.
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| What we meandered in line for 45 minutes to see |
After a few hours dining, we dive right back into the mass of
humanity looking for the torch. Signs help a bit, along with the fact that the
world’s largest conga line is heading somewhere close to where the signs are
pointing. We get in the line. Forty five minutes later, we’ve found the torch.
Thousands of people are wandering around, almost none of them actually looking
at the torch or taking pictures with the torch.
THB has changed his thinking about the torch. Wait…really?
YES! The torch as buried inside the O Stadium in London. That was a terrible
idea. Most of the time the torch is at the edge of the top rim of the O Stadium,
so people in the O Park (where the O Stadium is normally located now) can get
their pics taken with torch in the background without buying a ticket to
T&F. Here in Rio, many thousands of people who can’t afford tickets to O
Stadium or O Park events have a chance to share the love. All good!
Except for that damn conga line that goes in and around the
down town area, stretching out for several miles.
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| USA W get a re-do in relay; THB saw the slo-mo replays later and there was no question they were interfered with |
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| Running alone, they qualify with best time |
Back to the O Stadium for another fabulous night. Even the Decathlon had intrigue: while Ashton is on an OR pace, the young French guy, Mayer, moves ahead of Eaton in the middle of the javelin.
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| It's more crowded in the evening |
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| Okay, that's a low bar to get over, the place is probably around 50% full |
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| Jamaican Gold on gold |
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| Sorry, I can't talk to right now, someone is calling me |
Turns out that Mayer
had a great Pole Vault and has set personal bests in at least 5 of the first 9
events, and has thrown a huge distance in the javelin while Eaton has lobbed in
a “get me a score” throw. Ashton corrects with the next throw, then in the
1500M runs ahead of Mayer to tie the OR.
The Shot Put is also a thriller, if you like USA athletes: Crouser
is a beast, and the US goes 1-2. US also
does well in the 1500M M’s semis, 800M W’s semis (though Semenya is going to
win this one unless something very strange happens), and the 400M W’s hurdles.
To wrap it up, some guy named Arrow? Or is Dart? Pointer? Spike?
Shaft? You know, that guy…whoever he is, wins another Gold…eight? In another
few days, he should set the all-time Track Gold total.
We’ve moved to a great spot in the lower deck for the 200M,
and do our own bolting to the train station, get seats, fly towards the metro,
make that connection really well, with seats, and are back around midnight when
DA turns into a papaya.
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