From Sao Paulo, I traveled to Rio de Janeiro on a bus. The bus was surprisingly nice. It had a bathroom aboard, and a leg-rest like I'd never seen before. It folded down from the foward seat, hinged at the bottom, and was a place to rest one's calves. Since I'm unnaturally large, it didn't fit me just right, but it was a nice idea!
The bus trip was very pretty, lots of rolling green hillsides and interesting buildings. On the bus, I met a lovely lady by the name of Ann whose parents were English and Brazilian. She was a lovely bus-mate and helped direct me to the right bus once I got to town. It was my first experience with Brazilian hospitality.
Rio has a well-earned reputation for beautiful beaches. This one is the world-famous Ipanema. The hostel was a 4-block walk from the beach (Ipanema, Brazil)
A Rio de Janeiro signature: The boardwalks along the beach are like this. They're huge and detailed and beautiful. I got a beach blanket with this pattern because I liked it so much. They have other patterns around the city too, but this one seems to only be on Ipanema and Botofogo beaches (Ipanema, Brazil)
The world-famous Oscar Niemeyer-designed Niterói Contemporary Art Museum (Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói). The day I went, it was CLOSED! But I had to see the building anyway. Under the UFO-shaped building is a reflecting pool. Beneath THAT is a cafe. Since the museum was closed, I went into the cafe and had a drink. I met a Dutch man who was on vacation in Rio from Buenos Aires. Since I was headed to Buenos Aires, I asked him for some information on BA, and he was very happy to help me out! (Niteroi, Brazil)
The cafe under the art gallery had a rather cool modern interior. I could tell they had original "modern" style elements and had added some new ones too. It looked great inside, and one of the highlights was actually the ribbon window on the left. It is perfectly leveled so that when you sit at your table, you have a great view across the bay. (Niterói, Brazil)
Sleek modern highrise apartment tower in (Niterói, Brazil)
Near the Museum of modern art in Niterói, there is a park where more Oscar Niemeyer buildings are currently under construction. This is one building in big performing arts complex. (Niterói, Brazil)
As I was leaving the modern art museum, I was about to board the bus back to the main part of Niterói. As I was bording, there was a standing man yelling in English at another seated man. He sounded British, and the man he was yelling at wasn't saying anything. The British man kept yelling "give me back my money" and finally grabbed the man by his shirt. The man moved his shirt, and some money slid down onto his lap. He then grabbed the money and threw it on the floor, so that the British man would grab the money instead of him.
The British man grabbed the money and left the bus, leaving the pickpocket behind. The pickpocket, visibly shaken, he moved to a different seat at the back of the bus. At the next stop, he exited the bus, free to take the NEXT bus in the opposite direction, ready to pickpocket again.
The pickpocket looked like so many other people, blue collar, worn backpack, slightly weathered face. Around 50 years old.
I have heard a number of stories about pickpockets before, but had never seen one happen right in front of me.
Rio has more than its share of modern architecture. This building seems to have a love/hate following. Some people describe the building as "Rubiks' Cube-with-some-pieces-missing" building. It belongs to the company Petrobrás, which is a very common name in Rio. It is an oil company and rich, rich, rich (Rio de Janiero, Brazil)
Cool sculpture in the plaza in front of the local airport in downtown (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Iconic of Rio: Graffiti on the building in the background. Notice that every balcony has some graffiti on it, and that it's small. In general, something I noticed about the graffiti in Brazil is that it isn't large-scale. For the most part, there is NOT a big swath of graffiti, merely a small "signature" or short message. There may be MANY of them, but they're usually not very big.
At night in Ipanema. The neon lights are to a "Suco" shop. Brazilians love fresh juices, and juice shops like this are all over the place. It would be unusual for a block to have less than 2 on each side. This one was particularly big and delicious. Also on the left of the photo is an outrageous display of holiday festiveness on the front of a bank. There were Christmas trees, animatronic Santas, reindeer... The Works! (Ipanema, Brazil)
Art! Love it! This was really pretty and I admired it. When I got closer, I realized that it had been created out of old plastic bowls and Christmas lights. Very cool! (Ipanema, Brazil)
A very yummy lunch in Centro. I had a shake with carmel flecks, a few chicken fingers ("Frango"), and a toasted sandwich with white bread, cinnamon and sugar goo, bananas, and cheese. It was amazingly good. This fast food restaurant is called "Bob's" and is a fixture in Rio. (Rio de Janerio, Brazil)
This picture is for dad. You may have to enlarge it to see the detail, but this is a DRY CLEANER! You can see the presses on the left, and the finished clothes hanging on the automated rack on the right. The place was actually very tidy.. Nicely kept and very attractive. The store personnel wore uniforms--very impressive! (Ipanema, Brazil)
Another example of the graffiti in Brazil... Lots of it, but all in small bits (Rio de Janerio, Brazil)
The bus trip was very pretty, lots of rolling green hillsides and interesting buildings. On the bus, I met a lovely lady by the name of Ann whose parents were English and Brazilian. She was a lovely bus-mate and helped direct me to the right bus once I got to town. It was my first experience with Brazilian hospitality.
Rio has a well-earned reputation for beautiful beaches. This one is the world-famous Ipanema. The hostel was a 4-block walk from the beach (Ipanema, Brazil)
A Rio de Janeiro signature: The boardwalks along the beach are like this. They're huge and detailed and beautiful. I got a beach blanket with this pattern because I liked it so much. They have other patterns around the city too, but this one seems to only be on Ipanema and Botofogo beaches (Ipanema, Brazil)
The world-famous Oscar Niemeyer-designed Niterói Contemporary Art Museum (Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói). The day I went, it was CLOSED! But I had to see the building anyway. Under the UFO-shaped building is a reflecting pool. Beneath THAT is a cafe. Since the museum was closed, I went into the cafe and had a drink. I met a Dutch man who was on vacation in Rio from Buenos Aires. Since I was headed to Buenos Aires, I asked him for some information on BA, and he was very happy to help me out! (Niteroi, Brazil)
The cafe under the art gallery had a rather cool modern interior. I could tell they had original "modern" style elements and had added some new ones too. It looked great inside, and one of the highlights was actually the ribbon window on the left. It is perfectly leveled so that when you sit at your table, you have a great view across the bay. (Niterói, Brazil)
Sleek modern highrise apartment tower in (Niterói, Brazil)
Near the Museum of modern art in Niterói, there is a park where more Oscar Niemeyer buildings are currently under construction. This is one building in big performing arts complex. (Niterói, Brazil)As I was leaving the modern art museum, I was about to board the bus back to the main part of Niterói. As I was bording, there was a standing man yelling in English at another seated man. He sounded British, and the man he was yelling at wasn't saying anything. The British man kept yelling "give me back my money" and finally grabbed the man by his shirt. The man moved his shirt, and some money slid down onto his lap. He then grabbed the money and threw it on the floor, so that the British man would grab the money instead of him.
The British man grabbed the money and left the bus, leaving the pickpocket behind. The pickpocket, visibly shaken, he moved to a different seat at the back of the bus. At the next stop, he exited the bus, free to take the NEXT bus in the opposite direction, ready to pickpocket again.
The pickpocket looked like so many other people, blue collar, worn backpack, slightly weathered face. Around 50 years old.
I have heard a number of stories about pickpockets before, but had never seen one happen right in front of me.
Rio has more than its share of modern architecture. This building seems to have a love/hate following. Some people describe the building as "Rubiks' Cube-with-some-pieces-missing" building. It belongs to the company Petrobrás, which is a very common name in Rio. It is an oil company and rich, rich, rich (Rio de Janiero, Brazil)
Rio de Janerio's famous Metropolitan Cathedral. The Petrobras building is in the upper-left-hand corner (Rio de Janerio, Brazil)
Cool sculpture in the plaza in front of the local airport in downtown (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Iconic of Rio: Graffiti on the building in the background. Notice that every balcony has some graffiti on it, and that it's small. In general, something I noticed about the graffiti in Brazil is that it isn't large-scale. For the most part, there is NOT a big swath of graffiti, merely a small "signature" or short message. There may be MANY of them, but they're usually not very big. Also Iconic of Rio: The little "oi" ("Hello") phone enclosures are everywhere on the street. The shape protects the talker from the rain and provides a little bit of privacy. (Niterói, Brazil)
At night in Ipanema. The neon lights are to a "Suco" shop. Brazilians love fresh juices, and juice shops like this are all over the place. It would be unusual for a block to have less than 2 on each side. This one was particularly big and delicious. Also on the left of the photo is an outrageous display of holiday festiveness on the front of a bank. There were Christmas trees, animatronic Santas, reindeer... The Works! (Ipanema, Brazil)
Art! Love it! This was really pretty and I admired it. When I got closer, I realized that it had been created out of old plastic bowls and Christmas lights. Very cool! (Ipanema, Brazil)
A very yummy lunch in Centro. I had a shake with carmel flecks, a few chicken fingers ("Frango"), and a toasted sandwich with white bread, cinnamon and sugar goo, bananas, and cheese. It was amazingly good. This fast food restaurant is called "Bob's" and is a fixture in Rio. (Rio de Janerio, Brazil)
This picture is for dad. You may have to enlarge it to see the detail, but this is a DRY CLEANER! You can see the presses on the left, and the finished clothes hanging on the automated rack on the right. The place was actually very tidy.. Nicely kept and very attractive. The store personnel wore uniforms--very impressive! (Ipanema, Brazil)
Another example of the graffiti in Brazil... Lots of it, but all in small bits (Rio de Janerio, Brazil)This is my first attempt at a video, so I hope it works. Ipanema is a city on a strip of land between the world-famous beach and a lagoon. In the lagoon was assembled this 20 meter automated tree. The clip isn't amazing, but check it out! These people take Christmas seriously! (Ipanema, Brazil)
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