Slept in later this morning to compensate for getting to bed in the wee hours of the morning, returning from volleyball match which finished at 12.45.

Quite a drama last night…we leave the stadium and get redirected (by the national militia!) away from the metro station I know, to another I don’t – “just turn right down that street they point, then left at the next….follow the other people”. Apparently Macarana metro station closes at 1am.

Yes well, within a block, people are going every which way, and there is no way of knowing where the ‘other station’ is.  And it’s now starting to rain….lovely, not!

Taking stock, saw a Subway franchise about 500m away and headed for it thinking it might have Internet. When I got there, no internet.  Saw a guy using his phone and asked whether he spoke English…mercifully a little and also some Spanish, so we got by.

Connected through using Silvio’s  iPhone hotspot, to Uber and ordered a taxi, (thank god I had downloaded that app!) and Elvaldo my driver arrived in 2 mins! Love that service!! And my fellow passenger was Katia, who had been part of the national Brazilian volleyball team a few years ago, now plays with a Brasilia State club. What are the odds?  

By the time we got to Copacabana, the beach boulevard was a carpark…beach volleyball had just finished and fans were spilling out of the beach stadium and out onto the road….40 mins later, Elvaldo dropped me off at apartment for a very reasonable $20 Brazilian Real (AUS$10).  

But the real story today…Men’s semi finals, ITALY vs USA…..Italy won  ????.  A five setter that both pleased and frustrated the audience. Many serves went out or into the net, not what you expect at this elite level…but maybe more kindly explained by ‘nerves’. Italy did it the hard way, letting the US get way ahead in points and then had to play ‘catch up’.  But they truly got their act together in the last 5th set, my Ivan ( yes I’ve appropriated him), won some amazing spike and serve points and led his team to victory.

So Italy  ?? will be in the playoff for the gold medal, with either Russia or Brazil (to be determined after a further match tonight).