Photo of the Day – Copacabana Through Foreign Eyes – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

My lifelong friend, Mike Grendel, accompanied me down to Rio de Janeiro last year to celebrate Carnaval. We took a few breaks from all of the Carnaval fun (read week long all day party) to explore a few of the more popular tourist sites around the city. The best tourist site in Rio is Sugarloaf Mountain and of course that is naturally where we headed first to see a view of one of the most beautiful cities on the planet.

This picture shows Mike staring out through the thick dark sky at the enchanting city below him. A city that he has gotten to know well over the last week as our local friends whisked us all over the city from one Carnaval activity to the next.

I know exactly what is going on in his head at this very moment because I have felt it countless times myself. For over twenty years this view and everything Rio has to offer was completely unknown to Mike. It is at this moment that the entire week spent in Rio is coming together in his head. As he stares off in the distance at the iconic Copacabana Beach gathering his thoughts, his perspective on life quietly expands and he will never be able to view anything through his old lens again.