Jardim Botanico

The Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden was created by the, at the time, prince regent Dom João de Bragança in 1808, it was opened for the public to visit in 1822.

It is a park and a research center, extremely well kept and with about 6500 different species of plants from Brazil and the rest of the world. There are lakes, waterfalls and greenhouses, special gardens like the rose garden, the Japanese garden, the medicinal herbs garden, the sensorial garden. There are monkeys, squirrels, turtles and many, many birds. A true oasis in the megacity of Rio de Janeiro.

There are also a few restaurants, my friend and I opted for having lunch at one of them before going for a long walk in the Botanical Garden. We chose "La Bicyclette", a charming bakery and had a wonderful sandwich and salad.

And then we were ready to go. Starting by the visitors center we got a map and set off into the green.

The sensorial garden, where plants can be touched and smelled and there are signs in braille was our first stop.

We went on, opting to find our way by chance. But eventually endend up at the Fountain of the Muses:

From there we made an effort to find the lake with the famous "Vitoria Regia". One of the stars of the Garden, this water lily from the Amazon river has beautiful leaves and flowers, and we were lucky enough to see one.

Close to the lake is the Comoro Frei Leandro - where they say the Friar Leandro, the first director of the park, liked to sit and check on the work in the garden.

We continued our walk, visited the Japanese Garden, were delighted by the squirrels, and surprised by how much noise the toucans made! And as we walked we commented on how privileged we are to have such a place, and how the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro is well tended and wild at the same time.

Brasília - thoughts and impressions

Today's post is not about Rio! simply because this weekend I went to Brasília, and I would like to share some impressions with you. Brasília is the capital of Brazil, planned and built to be so. The capital was formally moved from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília on April 22, 1960.  Of course Rio de Janeiro and its inhabitants never really recovered from the blow, the cariocas still consider their city to be the real capital of Brazil...

It is for me one of the strangest places on earth. No longer in the middle of nowhere, simply because new cities have grown up around the carefully planned administrative and political centre of Brazil.

Still when you are there it is a bit like walking around in an enourmous open-air museum. The difference is that people live and work there. But the first thing that always hits me about Brasília is how big the sky is. Since it is in the highlands and very flat you have a view to the sky 180 degrees around you.

The first morning I was there I woke up to see hot air balloons - there was a race going on, quite a view from my window!

From my window I could also see the almost completed Estadio Nacional Mané Garrincha - prepared for the World Cup in 2014 and scheduled to be opened on April 21 - but there has been a delay...the new date has been set for May 18, 2013.

From the other side of my hotel I got a view of the Monumental Axis - the avenue that concentrates the main government buildings.

I set out to walk down to the Cathedral of Brasília, one of my favorite places. I soon found that the distance was bigger than imagined, all the buildings are so big in Brasília that they seem closer than they really are. A friend of mine who lives there explained that it is part of the idea, Brasília was conceived to give the idea of power, and so the open spaces and the enourmous buildings make people feel small. Well, I certainly felt small!
As I got closer to the Cathedral there was a statue of a biker that I really liked:

I was now close to Museu da Republica - designed by Oscar Niemeyer and opened in 2006. The construction is for me a typical example of Brasília.

The museum has an excellent art colection and was built according to modern, international standards. But the building gives me an idea of something you would expect to see on another planet...

I walked on to the Cathedral:

The Cathedral was also designed by Oscar Niemeyer. The four evangelists greet you at the entrance, but the biggest surprise is to discover that most of the Cathedral is actually under the ground. The light is fantastic, and I just love the three angels that float under the ceiling.

I sat for a while and reflected on Brasília, how the Brazilians of all people could build such a place. Brazilians love to be together, to talk, to sing, to dance and to play soccer...Brasília was designed without natural meeting places, no corners, no restautants or bars in between the buildings - only in specially designated spaces. It is not a friendly city, but it is beautiful, it is incredible, and Brazilian!

The next day I went with friends to see the Juscelino Kubitschek Bridge. Opened in 2002 it crosses the Paranoa Lake, and is of course not only a bridge - it is a monument.

Casa Daros

If I could dream a dream for Rio maybe Casa Daros would be it!
A mansion in Botafogo from 1866 bought in 2006 by Daros Latinamerica and carefully restored to become a space for art and education.
The "house" opened on March 23,2013, a project putting Rio on the map in the world of art, but more than that creating a place where people can meet, get to know art from Latin America, have lunch, study...or just get a break from the busy city all around.

I arrived on foot, and the first impression was nothing but the best:

As I entered the building I was greeted by a well-trained staff and by information in Portuguese, English and Spanish, and even if my expectations were high, I was a bit shocked to see that everything was working like swiss clockwork. But happy! Rio deserves such an institution! And the works of Brazilian artists Vik Muniz and Iole de Freitas, especially made for the Institution, fit like a glove. Beautiful.

Right now Casa Daros hosts the exhibition "Cantos Cuentos Colombianos" of Colombian contemporary art. Intriguing, interesting, scary and humorous are my adjectives for what I saw, heard and smelled. Yes, because this is contemporary art, there are videos, songs, sounds and a room filled with bananas.

 The coffin is by Fernando Arias

The sculptures are by Nadín Ospina.

But I admit that the Institution itself fascinated me the most,I loved the reading room, the restaurant and the shop, all of it so neat and perfect that for sure I will be back!

And as I left, I couldn't help taking some more pictures, of the beautiful woodwork and the building. Surely, A dream come true.