Fine Art in Rio

Rio is blessed with many museums recording and displaying all aspects of Brazils modern and historical culture, including native and modern fine art.

I spent a brilliant two hours at the fine arts museum here is a little taster of the works available:

I'm not a major sculpture fan but there is something compelling about this 4ft figure.

Quite possibly the one of the largest single canvas works in oil in the world.

One of my favourites! A beautiful woman fixing her hair in the mirror before some passionate assignation no doubt. It loses a little as a photo but its an amazing painting.

An exquisite little fawn...

This vibrant, eclectic work makes me think of the noise and colours of carnaval. 

Carnaval Madness is Over

With Carnaval madness over for another year Rio has returned to to its normal laid back way of dealing with everyday life.

However it's a perfect time to reflect on what carnaval means to the people of Brazil. For some it's simply an excuse to buy some exotic new headgear:

For others the heady mix of sun and samba causes them to instantly fall in love;

While others are driven to within an inch of gender reassignment:

Roll on Carnaval 2012!!

Brazilian Girls

I have received some criticism on the content of this blog specifically from a David B and a Peter K who made it very clear what they expected to see on these pages.

This post is therefore dedicated to them. I hate peer pressure.

No more complaints please gents. Let's get back to the culture of Rio!

Blocos & Carnaval

Blocos are the street parties that go hand in hand with the Carnaval itself. Every day, all over the city different streets rock with live bands and throngs of dancing people.

The blocos offer a great chance to get up close to performers and to meet real locals.

Occasionally these are joined by random performances by other local entertainment troupes like these:

All you can do is keep on dancing and keep on drinking!

Even More Carnaval

Well just a handfull of photos cannot really capture the intensity not to mention the volume of carnaval in Rio. You really need to hear it to feel it:

And here's some more......

Each school has its own song which they perform as they parade through the sambadrome. In this case the chorus you can here is:

"Sou Carioca e Soa Clemente
Irreverente, minha paixao
Meu Rio, sua beleza
inspira o mar azul
Canta, Zona Sul"

The song celebrates the fact that they are Cariocas (Rio de Janeirians) from the Sao Clemente samba school. They are irreverent and passionate and inspired buy the beauty of Rio and blue sea.

Enjoy!

Carnaval!

So its carnaval week in Rio which means that the city is heaving with visitors and the streets are with bands and street parties.

I of course went over to the Sambadrome to watch the parade of all the local samba schools competing to be this years champions.

The samba competition is a huge event. It runs for 4 days, or more accurately nights, starting at 9pm each hight and ending at 6am the next morning. It takes serious endurance just to be a spectator.

Here is a taster of Sunday nights event:

There are literally hundreds of photos, so I will post an online album elsewhere.

Tips for Sambadrome: get seats in the middle, on the front row. Book in advance to keep the cost low and yes it is worth the extra to be in the very best seats you can get. If you are not in good seats - bring a long lens!

Simple Pleasures

Who needs expensive toys and gadgets when you and your sibling can turn a discarded polythene bag into a kit to fly over the market stalls in the sun?

Or how about a stroll through the flower market in Copa?

Stunning!

The Party Scene in Rio

Well as you know I'm not much of a party animal.....

But it would be criminal for me to to go out and see what the party scene is like right? I mean I'm doing for you guys, so that you can get a feel for the place in case you are planning to come out here sometime. Its not like I enjoy it or anything..

So I found out about a place where they have live music and some dancing if you want to. Here are the pictures, enjoy:

It looks spit and saw dust but the atmosphere at Beco do Rato is brilliant.

The locals are friendly!

And of course something for the ladies:

Beco do Rato, Rua Joaquim Silva, Rio de Janeiro.

Top Tip: DONT drink 7 cocktails! You'll get a R$124 bill and a headache!

My First Day

So today was full on. I only travel with hand luggage - it makes travelling much less stressful, no waiting for bags, watching bags, heaving heavy bags around a strange new country.

Its also a good strategy because it forces you to get out into the community straight away to buy all the basics that you need. Interesting when you don't speak the language!

So with he shopping done I went straight to Copacabana beach:

Which is nice! It's also getting on for 26 degrees already..

I strolled all the way down CopaCabana beach to Ipanema to watch the surfers working the breaks just off the beach;

Then walked up into Leblon for lunch. As it turns out portions in Brazil are gigantic, this is lunch for one person:

Apologies this is on its side - I cant find any way to rotate this picture! By lunchtime it was 32 degrees and the walk back gave me really nice sunburn!

Top Tip: eat out with friends, order one dish and share it, it will be more than enough.