April 10 – Copacabana Beach, Downtown and Libraries

It is now Monday so of course; the weather is sunny and lovely.  We started the day with a drive to the far end of the beach where we walked out a ways for great views of the beach, skyline and the mountains surrounding the city.

We were able to see the top of Corcovado Mountain and the statue of Christ the Redeemer. at the top...with clouds. 

There were a lot people fishing from this walkway.

There was a good bit of street art along the fishing walkway. 

Then we headed towards downtown.  Along the way we stopped at the harbor for photos of the harbor, Sugar Loaf, and the skyline.  

Once in the center of town we got out to walk through the city.  We saw the National Theater,

City Hall,

lots of architecturally interesting buildings around the plaza, 

and then visited the City Library.  

It’s main interesting feature was the beautiful iron railings on the massive staircase to the first floor...

and the huge stained glass ceiling.  

The reading rooms were closed to tourists.  This was the card catalog room.  One would think it would all be electronic now but apparently not.

There were good views of other buildings from the second floor balcony of the library. 

The sidewalk in front of the library was rather disconcerting.  The pattern was laid out in a way that made it look like the walkway dipped, but it was flat.  We walked very carefully.

Then we took a walk into the downtown area. Lots of popup sidewalks shops,

and a mix of modern...

and lovely old 19th century facades. 

And the usual mess of wiring. 

We stopped at a building that was supposedly the annex to the Portuguese Library.  However, it is currently used for some school activities and we were only allowed inside the entrance hall.  However, the tilework there was spectacular.

We saw the Franciscan Monastery from a distance but didn’t visit. 

We did go into the nearby small Franciscan Church, St. Francis of Paulo.  It was loaded with detail.

There are libraries.  And then there are...LIBRARIES.  And we saw the latter today.  The Royal Portuguese Cabinet of Learning.  There are no words to adequately describe this gorgeous place.  Books rising several floors and wrapping around the central core...and an amazing stained-glass ceiling.  Absolutely breathtaking. 

This absolute jewel was built between 1880 and 1887 and houses almost 400,000 volumes, some dating to the 1500's with many very rare books and folios.  It houses the largest collection of books in Portuguese outside of Portugal and adds about 6,000 new titles every year.  The library is open to the public but access to the volumes is severely restricted to academics only (according to the guide). 

In 2014 it was voted 4th in a list of the 20 most beautiful libraries in the world (Time Magazine).  It gets my vote.

and a lovely stained-glass ceiling.

  Gorgeous details in the entry.

Breathtaking.

On the way back to the car we stopped at the Colombo Confectionery/Bakery.  Gorgeous interior with walls covered with gigantic, framed mirrors.  It was beautiful.

We had a very light lunch there and great dessert. 

Next to us was a family of five with a little girl about 3 years old eating gigantic piece of cake (we blurred her face to protect her privacy).

We asked if we could take her photo and then had a lovely chat with them.  Turns out they are a family of five (with number 6 on the way) had had fled Russia the week before and are looking to maybe settle in Brazil.  The man of the family was young and looked like he would easily have been soon drafted into the Russian army and sent to the war in Ukraine.  So, they had fled. 

The adults spoke very good English.  It was a lovely visit and we are wishing them well. 

Then we were done for the day.  We were back in the hotel early afternoon and doing our usual projects.  Plus, we leave tomorrow so we needed to pack as well.