We were on the same flight as Holly and Paul from Miami to Rio but we didn't want Holly to see us until Rio so we snuck around the airport and hurried on to board before them while Paul stalled her.
It worked! Here they are going through customs with no idea that we were behind them!
We started off celebrating in the airport with these awesome glasses and signs!!
When we got outside, we celebrated with our first of many bottles of champagne and strawberries!!
We stayed on Copacabana Beach and the view from our room was absolutely gorgeous. The sidewalks with the wavy pattern next to the sand let you know that you are in Copacabana Beach because the pattern changes when you leave.
During the day Friday we laid by the rooftop pool and got massages at the spa. The hotel staff brought out cake and champagne and sang to Holly as well.
For dinner Friday we went to an amazing all you can eat seafood restaurant, Marius Crustaceos. The lobster was wonderful!
The most interesting part of this restaurant were their bathrooms. There were dolls and figurines hanging from the ceiling. It was a little creepy. The statues leading up to the bathroom were pretty interesting as well.
Sisters!!!
More singing, cake and champagne at this restaurant!
Then off to the club!!
We listened to great music in this huge four story nightclub!
The next morning, we met our AMAZING tour guide Neyla in our hotel lobby. It was cloudy and rainy so we decided to wait a day before going up to see Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain so instead she took us to see a farmer's market. The fresh fruit here was so sweet and juicy!
Oh yeah we all had matching t-shirts with the Hollywood's Dirty 30 logo so we looked like a true tourist group.
This is Neyla our wonderful tour guide telling us about those gigantic avocados!!
We also tried fresh sugar cane juice!
After the market, we headed over to the Maracana stadium where the World Cup finals will be held in just a few weeks!!
I know Josh's brother Matt has to be jealous of us here. :)
Josh stood in line to be a World Cup volunteer.... :)
Then we visited the Sambadrome where Carnival is held each year. We were able to try on real Carnival costumes! It was really cool. Heath looks awesome in this picture.
We then rode around the winding roads of the Santa Teresa neighborhood and saw beautiful murals like the one Hanna is standing in front of.
The Escadaria Selaron is also in this neighborhood. A local artist started decorating the steps outside of his house and just continued the art for 250 steps and the walls around the steps. It is beautiful!!
Saturday night we went to dinner in a treehouse overlooking the city. The restaurant was Aprazivel and started as the chef's residence and he began to build it into a restaurant over the years.
I didn't get many pictures of the club we went to Saturday night, Rio Scenarium but it was a samba club with great music and wonderful Caipirinha which is Brazil's national cocktail.
Sunday we went with Neyla to Sugarloaf for amazing views of the city! Heath loves to photo bomb.
These monkeys were everywhere on the mountains and looked just like the ones from the movie Rio.
I think this guy takes these views for granted....
Then we rode the Corcovado train up to see the Christ the Redeemer statue. It was still a cloudy day but we were able to see the statue pretty well after being up there for a little while.
Since we couldn't see views of the city from the Christ the Redeemer statue, Neyla took us to a different part of the mountain a little farther down below the cloud. These views were amazing!! Here's a great shot of Sugarloaf Mountain.
We finished the day by walking around the hippie market in Ipanema and walking back to Copacabana Beach to head to the airport and fly home.
We did so much in our short trip and had a wonderful time celebrating Holly's 30th birthday!! It's hard to believe but I've got to start planning mine soon!! Spoiler alert, it's definitely not going to be as awesome as this trip.
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