We loved the breathtaking views of the ocean from our hotel and the USA House but one thing we learned quickly in Rio is not to stay on the beach after dark. With the short daylight hours in the middle of winter and our packed schedule there wasn't as much time to enjoy the beach as we wanted. The beach was quite the happening place though. Crowds of people sunbathing, vendors selling to tourists, people trading pins. The mild winter weather made the beach still quite comfortable most days. One of the events we really wanted to go to was beach volleyball. The arena had been built right on the famous Copacabana Beach. Tickets were hard to come by and expensive when you could find them and many of the games were being played before we arrived in Rio. I was finally able to find some tickets for the men's semifinals. I had to pick between two evening sessions and since I bought the tickets before the tournament started I had no idea who would be playing in which session. In the end I picked the 11:00 pm start. It was late but I wasn't sure how transportation would be and if we would make it back from track and field in time for the earlier game. It ended up being the wrong choice. We missed watching the USA and Brazil in the earlier matches. The matches we saw were Italy vs Russia and Cuba vs Russia. Going to the beach that time of night wasn't a problem with so many people and security around. Jason had a closer seat than us due to the limited number of tickets and I couldn't buy more than four together. He had a great place to watch in the bottom section. The kids and I sat up near the top. It still wasn't a bad view of the game due to the size of the outdoor arena that had been built. What I loved about our seats is that we could look over the top of the bleachers and see the waves crashing on the beach. What an incredible view to experience the beach like this at midnight! The games were a lot of fun, even if they weren't teams we really cared about. The Brazilians really know how to have fun at beach volleyball! The music, the dancing and the atmosphere was unmatched in any of the other events. Both matches went to all three sets and it was past 1:00 a.m. before it was over. Kaitlyn finally gave into the fatigue and fell asleep on my lap sometime during the second match.
The USOC gave us some basketball tickets and Jason a few hours off to see Team USA play in the men's semifinals. So we made the long trip out to Olympic Park again and this time Jason got to come with us. The US played Spain and handled them easily. The crowd seemed to be cheering for Spain (maybe going for the underdog?) but we had fun cheering them on to a win to set up the final game where they would win the gold medal.
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