16/06/04- 18/06/04 Brasilia

Arrived after another overnight journey and got completely lost looking for a hotel despite the fact that the ever helpful tourist police had given us very clear instructions at the bus station and the town is designed so that it isn’t possible to get lost. We ended up booking into a really horrible place but it would seem that there isn’t much in the way of budget accommodation in Brasilia. After a brief and rather uncomfortable sleep we set about exploring the town. There really is some stunning architecture in the town, most of which is down the main avenue so sight seeing wasn’t too difficult. We also managed to find the main shopping district and the cinema, though I think that we saw the worst film ever made.

The following day we managed to get lost again, this time in the cemetery (Roger was very scared) and then got on the wrong bus so ended up about a hour out of town. All in all the day was a bit of a disaster. On our final day here we got to go up the TV Tower and to see the cathedral, which is a smaller version of the Catholic cathedral in Liverpool. After that we went to the Parliament to see democracy, Brasilian style. We were allowed to go into both the chambers and in both there was only one politician talking to themselves as no-one else had bothered to show up. It appears that politics is the same world over.

Aaahhh Brasilia- designed by urban planner Lucio Costa and that man Oscar Niemeyer again- great architecture but a bit souless. It's in the shape of a bird / plane / man with arrow you know.

This is the inside of the Cathedral- oh yes very fancy:


And this is JK's car- JK was President Juscelino Kubitschek who was the Brasilian president (as opposed to being a president of any other country) who wanted to move the capital of Brasil to where it is now (middle of the country, middle of nowhere) and later on in life (actually, at the end of his life) he died in a car accident. And this is the car he died in- it looks in a pretty good state but that's because he crashed into a field of nettles and ended up scratching himself to an itchy end. Tragic.


Actually, we saw another tragic end to another president in Rio. I'm not letting Fiona driving a hire car again. And Vargas shot himself and we saw the bullet and the pyjamas he was wearing (monogramed they were too) and the room he did it in.