Karen and Jason with Sugar Loaf in the background. This was taken from Corcovado--Christ the Redeemer statue. The view from one Rio icon to another.
The view of the city looking towards Ipanema Beach from Corcovado.
Looking out beyond Copacabana with Sugar Loaf on the left. The views from way up on this statue's hilltop were wonderful and we had a great day of sunshine to enjoy it.
Looking out towards the north the city of Rio goes on forever, winding around the hills.
Sugar Loaf Mountain with the main yacht port in the bay below it.
The bridge off on the top left goes across the entire bay--it's a long bridge!
You can see Christ the Redeemer statue way up on that pointy hilltop.
Karen and Jason from another viewpoint over Rio, with Christ the Redeemer statue on the hill behind us.
Once we got to the top where the statue was, we had to wait in line to get on the elevator or escalator to go up to the base of the statue. Notice there is no cover for shade.....luckily for us, the line moved quite quickly, but I can't imagine this line with the Olympic crowd in town.
The back side of Christ the Redeemer statue, aka Corcovado. Our first glimpse of the full size of this huge statue.
The view from the top.
Jason, Ken and Christine look out over the back. Lots of antennae and that black dot is a helicopter.
Looking up at the Christ the Redeemer statue on Corcovado. Many folks laid on the ground trying to get the full statue into a photo shot.
Looking out towards Ipanema Beach. with bay islands in the distance.
Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, a lagoon in Rio that is connected to the ocean by a canal. Our B&B would be just the other side of the brown mountain on the far left.
Christ the Redeemer standing on Jason's head.
Looking off towards Arpoador Rocks at the end of Ipanema Beach.
The entrance to the St Francis of Assisi church in downtown Rio de Janeiro, the one shaped like a beehive.
The building behind the bell tower has cutouts in the top that actually look like a cross when viewed from the correct angle.
One of the four full-height stained glass panels as seen from inside.
Another stained glass panel.
No this isn't Cinderella's coach, but it carried a statue of a holy nature.
More pretty stained glass.
The huge wooden crucifix hanging above the altar.
This statue of St. Francis of Assissi was in the main doorway and its silhouette looked pretty cool, I thought.
The altar in side the church.
The reflections in the building across the street are interesting even if I couldn't get the cross cut out to show in the photo.
This is the Petro Bras Building in downtown Rio. It was said to be designed to represent an oil platform as Petro Bras is the big oil company here. The building was voted to be one of the Top Ten Ugliest Buildings in the World.
An old cathedral in Rio.
We walked past this old church down on the waterfront.
The Museum of Futuristic Art down on the waterfront was designed by Oscar Neirmeiyer.
A box wing plane out on the plaza in front of the museum.
CIDADE OLYMPIC or Olympic City in Portuguese. The backside of these giant letters were painted in colorful designs but the front of them are still just plain white. This was one of the few things we saw that had anything to do with the Olympics that were due to arrive in about 80 days.
The futuristic museum behind the letters.
A new tram initiated for the Olympics is just now being tested in the square here.
Jason by the box wing plane.
The wing-like structures on the outside of this museum actually moved up and down on hydraulics like real wings. They made a lot of creaking sounds as they moved but it was pretty interesting to watch. the museum was closed on Mondays, the day we happened to try to visit.
The 'wings' in their raised position.
A view looking back towards the museum, it looks like a skeleton of some sort.
Across the water is a replica of an old sailing ship berthed next to a big submarine.
Old and new mix in Rio.
I like some of the old colonial architecture and its ornate outsides.
We entered a building housing an exhibit of an artist who mixes humans and animals into mutated beings that could become reality with the way science is delving into genetics and DNA and such. This exhibit is the bottom part of a huge orange balloon that rises 4-5 stories inside this building's atrium.
The top of the balloon feature ends in a nipple-like point.
The little girl sitting under the balloon is part of the exhibit but she looked very lifelike.
Another view of the top.
We happened onto a harp music festival and enjoyed an hour or so of this Canadian woman's harp music. The Brazilian interpreter caused a few giggles as she had a hard time translating some of the words. The pluck and zing of this harp were quite entertaining.
A round observatory tower incorporated into a building in downtown.
Looking down an uncrowded street in Rio. At the end is another old church, of course.
The library here is supposed to be a treasure and is undergoing renovation but is still open to the public. We were only allowed on two of the 6 floors and weren't allowed anywhere except the mezzanine around the central atrium. A shame. They claim to hold many of the old royal papers, maps and documents but we couldn't access them.
Rock art paintings (replicas) on the walls of the corridors of the Metro station we used by our hostel.
More fake rock art paintings.
There are real rock paintings like these somewhere, but are way inland and not easily accessible to us English-speaking tourists. At least not at a reasonable cost.
The tunnel exit that brought us to our Tiki B&B hostel. Waaaaaayyyy up on the top of that hill is where we stayed for our five nights in Rio.
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