Baia de Guanabara

Up, Down.

looking at Rio from across the bay on the beach at Icaraí in Niterói, Cristo Redentor and cell phone towers on the skyline, the squarish peak on the left is Pedra de Gavea which is where the hang-gliders launch from

Calçadas / Sidewalks

Brasilian sidewalks are made with Pedras Portuguêses - Portugese Stones. I knew an architect, Glen Milne, who used to say, "architects are people who eat light." He is designing strategy now for Microsoft to take over the Canadian Government or something like that ... and anyway when I first saw these sidewalks (and ever since) they so delight me that I have changed it to, "architects are people who eat light, but if light is scarce they will eat rocks."

The other connection is with Paul Simon, "She's got diamonds on the soles of her shoes." Yup, diamonds indeed.

A bit slippery when they are wet ... sometimes they set them with mortar, but the originals are set in sand with a mallet by a rageddy guy sitting crosslegged. The sand makes them a little easier to get up, if you are, say, having a demonstration or the like ... perfect weight and shape for throwing, and deadly sharp edges ...
Down.