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| Rio from Christ the Redeemer |
Today was a little trip to the clouds, a little Samba, and a few steps. Christ the Redeemer at some point was selected to be one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World. We don't really know who voted on that. We were never asked. However, it is a wonder. Quite an international collaboration, it was created by French-Polish sculptor Paul Landowski/ built by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa in collaboration with French engineer Albert Caquot, and face sculpted by Romanian Gheorghe Leonida. The head is 12 feet high; the arms stretch 98 feet. The entire sculpture is of reinforced concrete covered in thousands of soap stone mosaics. More magnificent to me than the sculpture were the views of Rio and surrounding areas. We did see true believers on their knees praying.From the religious to the sacred to the earthly, we headed for Samba City. This area is where a complex of buildings in Gamboa. The complex is used for Samba schools to prepare for carnival. There are about 14 of the schools housed here where they prepare the floats, train the musicians and dancers, create the costumes. It takes the entire year and about 2 million dollars per school. The judging takes place in a rather short avenue with bleachers of either side for judges and the audience. The precision is exacting with a required 82 minutes (no more, no less or you are eliminated).
This evening we had dinner at a local tapas bar. It was not elegant or particularly good. But, see pictures of the day at Flickr.
