My wife's home town. After her parents passed away, we haven't been back, so it's nice to read about how things are now. I enjoyed reading this and look forward to your follow up. I was wondering what time was it when you went to dinner and the restaurant was 1/3 full? Our experiences were that people go out to dinner later than Americans are accustomed to. On our honeymoon, we went out after 8pm and there were only two other couples in the restaurant. I thought maybe it was a bad place, but my wife explained the dining habits there... Cristo is nice, but many touristas doing the "pose" imitating the Christ with outstretched arms. I hope the chapel in the base of the statue (in the rear) is still open, it was a nice spot to visit, away from the crowds. We kept a place near Maracana and we would never go outside on a Sunday afternoon if there was a game there, it was so chaotic.. I really liked the area otherwise, before the renovation for the World Cup in '14 and Olympics in '16.