April 9 – Another Rainy Sightseeing Day - Niteroi

This morning started out not quite as rainy and gloomy today as yesterday, but close.  When Margaret arrived she announced that the top of Sugar Loaf was out of the clouds (sort of) so we went there to board the gondola to the top.  The gondola goes to the top of a nearby, shorter mountain and there we changed another gondola to the top of Sugar Loaf. 

Views from the first level.  

As we started up on the second gondola we could see the clouds closing in.  

By the time we got there the entire top was buried in clouds.  We couldn’t see a thing.  And it was very wet.  This was the view "looking" towards Corcovado Mountain and Christ the Redeemer.  Not much to see.  

At least we could see the lovely mural covering the gondola station. 

We bought some nuts and headed back down. 

We drove from there over a very long bridge to the town of Niteroi to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art.  The building itself was very unusual and most interesting.

And there were good views across the bay to Sugar Loaf…that we could see from time to time.

And the views of the harbor and plaza added a bit of interest.

View of Fort Santa Cruz de Barra in the Distance

However, the museum itself had only one room open with a sparse collection of art.  The second floor was closed.  So, as far as the art goes there wasn’t much to see.

Then we drove out along the harbor drive...

to Fort Santa Cruz de Barra.  This was an original Portuguese fort built around 1612.  It was not yet open and the guards there weren’t sure it would open that day because the rains made walking very slippery.  

A number of frigatebirds were floating around...sailing on the wind. 

We took a few more photos of Sugar Loaf and then headed back towards Rio.

Another mess of wiring. 

We stopped at Gloria Market.  By then the rains had stopped so at least we didn’t get soaked there.  It is mainly food products…fruits, vegetables, 

lots of garlic, chilis and spices, 

flowers,

cheese and eggs,

poultry and meat,

and fish.

There was some clothing items.

 It was large and much like many other markets we have visited.  But it was a nice walk.

From there we headed back to the hotel.  We were in the room by very early afternoon and we stayed in, napped and worked on stuff.

We started to head out in the evening to find a place nearby to eat.  However, it was still raining and very windy so we decided to not get soaked and ate at the hotel restaurant instead.