Hilary's Trip 2006-2007

Last night I attended the Carnaval celebration of the Samba schools at the Sambadromo--a long street-like stadium with bleachers on each side. this is what I paid $300 to attend. The price included transportation by bus to and from the Sambadromo. We got there at 7 and it didn´t start till 9 PM, so by 1 am I was exhausted and left, having only seen 3 of the 6 schools that were presenting last night. It goes on again tonight, and by Tuesday or Wednesday, the judges choose which group will be in the finals nest Saturday. The floats and costumes are absolutely magnificent, and each samba school enters between 2000-3000 participants, who dance, sing, play instruments, etc. as their floats go down the long street. The judges were in a bleacher across from mine. I have tons of photos but only have time to post a few here. Words cannot really describe how colorful everything was.