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Is the Girl From
Ipanema on this postcard?
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MISSION TO BRAZIL
In Quest of the
Girl From Ipanema
Text and Photos by Tim Boxer
 HILE
spending a wonderful weeklong vacation in Rio de Janeiro, I searched high
and low for the Girl from Ipanema. For a high, I hopped on the cable
car for a ride in the sky up to the heights of Sugar Loaf Mountain. The tram
carried 75 people (at $10 a head) to the top of the city, affording a
breathtaking view of a gorgeous city below.
They say the name of the mountain
comes from the fact it resembles an old cone of sugar. I say it looks more
like a finger of a mountain. But to call it Mountain Finger just doesn’t
hit it, does it?
Sugar Loaf
Mountain |
My search took me all over the
city, including Santa Teresa. This is a charming district, much like our
Greenwich Village, home to artists and intellectuals in hundred-year-old
houses.
Up the street you’ll find Parque
das Ruinas, a museum that originally was the grand domicile of a stately
socialite, Laurinda Santos Lobo. She used to host elaborate parties for
world famed celebrities and artists, including Isadora Duncan.
For years after her death in 1946,
the house lay in ruins. (Hence the name.) It was finally restored and opened
as a museum in 1972. Well worth a look.
Instead of going back to the heart
of the city, you may want to stay in this charming residential Bohemian
neighborhood for dinner. Ingrid Heins, quite a knowledgeable
marketing assistant from Riotur, the city’s tourism authority, guided us
as we descended to the depths of the Restaurante Aprazivel.
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Mike Quane at
Copacabana Palace
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Yes, you walk carefully down steep
steps into a courtyard for outdoor dining, or you can go inside. The prix
fixe meal, at $30, offered a choice of filet mignon with port wine sauce, or
grilled piscada (fish of the South Atlantic) with spinach and sautéed
bananas, or grilled lamb.
When the trio is entertaining, the
bill includes a $5 music charge. The rustic restaurant is open for dinner on
weekdays, lunch and dinner on weekends. (Rua Aprazivel 62, phone 508-9174.)
The next day found us on Corcovado
Hill in Tijuca National Park. You drive up to a promenade, and then walk the
rest of the way to the top where you are greeted by Christ the Redeemer.
This imposing statue with outstretched arms, the most significant landmark,
is illuminated at night so that it is visible from almost anywhere in the
city.
The monument, inaugurated in 1931,
is 116 feet tall. It attracts 770,000 visitors every year.
My friend, Mike Quane, a
world-seasoned travel writer from Long Island, was very impressed with the
Copacabana Palace, a world famous hotel. A truly imposing structure, it has
been home to such notables as Princess Diana, Gina Lollobrigida, Tyrone
Power, Tony Curtis, Noel Coward, Ursula Andress and Leonard Bernstein
among others. I know that judging from the celebrity photo wall on the
second floor.
Paulo Marcos at
Excelsior |
Remember Flying Down to Rio?
No? This was the most famous movie of all time to use Rio as a backdrop. It
was the first screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
(RKO produced it in 1933. So how could you know? But look what you can learn
at Copacabana Palace.)
While I was out looking for the Girl
From Ipanema, Mike was having dinner with Paulo Marcos,
marketing manager of the Excelsior, part of the Windsor Hotels. A very
congenial person, Marcos has worked in hotels all his life. Mike found
Marcos to be a fount of fascinating information about the hotel business in
the city.
There are so many cultural sites to
see. Take the Royal Portuguese Reading Room.
I didn’t expect to find any girl from Ipanema there, so I
was surprised to see many young people reading books, looking up references,
perusing periodicals.
Founded in 1837, this is a
repository of everything published in Portuguese everywhere in the world.
It’s a fascinating library, holding more than 350,000 volumes, many dating
back to the 16th century. Every day additional books and
magazines are added to this vast collection.
NEXT: Searching for the Girl
From Ipanema in Rio’s museums.
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