Rio de Janeiro: Corcovado (Christo Redentor) and Pau de Acucar (Sugar Loaf)

Each time I visit Rio de Janeiro I vow to avoid the trip up the Corcovado to Cristo Redentor (the enormous Christ the Redeemer statue that is an icon of Rio).  But here we are again.

To conclude the Study Abroad trip the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee students spent a day and a half in Rio de Janeiro, touring and preparing for the flight from Rio through Atlanta to Milwaukee.

Another obligatory stop in Rio is the cable gondola to the top of Sugar Loaf.  It goes in two stages, from a lower (but still high) promontory to the Sugar Loaf itself.  This trip was at the end of a chilly winter day, in time for the sunset and early darkness from the top.

The following day was a quieter, and warmer one, with the temperatures near 70 degrees (Rio de Janeiro winter but much like the Milwaukee summer) — with a ride on the municipal subway and long walk on the Copacabana.