Monday, June 4, 2012

All you Need to Know About Aviation in Brazil

There are two  Brazilians particularly significant in the development of aviation in Brazil :

Santos Dumont

Iris Lettieri


Go and google them if you want or follow the links that I thoughtfully provided.

Here are a few holiday snaps of the recent trip to Rio - unfortunately I dropped the carousel on the floor and all the slides got mixed up.....



This is the shower system in our flat - Brazilians are sent to Greece for technical education by the look of it.


Here is a typical road side cafe/succo place where juices from all exotic fruits are served from a tin under the counter.
This is Copacabana beach littered with irrelevant and incomprehensible signs
This is an aircraft landing at Santos-Dumont airport
By cable car toSugar Loaf mountain to see aircraft landing
View from Sugar Loaf over Copabacana Beach - we are staying just to the left of that rock
Monkey eating a co-op cheese cracker
View over central Rio - Ronny Biggs' place marked with an X
Close up of Amazonian beauties frolicking in the surf
Ah yes, this Santos-Dumont city airport with a runway shorter than the landing deck on the Forrestal.  Also visible is the bridge linking Rio with Niteroi.
Typical Potty stop on Copacabana beach - note the crazy paving and blue wheely bins.
Mating turtles at the Botanical Gardens.
A little bird that had been attracted to our balcony.
This is Sugar Loaf taken from Corcovado (some Jesus statue thing twinned with the Eiffel tower according to my guide book).  The eagle eyed with zoom facility will see an aircraft turning onto its final landing approach at you know where.

This is that Jesus statue thing on Corcovado mountain embracing Rio
Just to prove that we were there!
Exploring Rio centre we discover the shops.
Top loaders are very popular in Brazil
This reminded me of the Barbour shop in Knutsford with its BSA Bantam parked in the window display.
Here comes the equestrian statue - LISTEN
These ever present circling birds reminded me of Pterosaurs  - the locals call them "gulls".
Copacabana fort with its mighty Krups guns
When I took this I did not notice that the pillion is carrying two surf boards!

We ventured to Petropolis, a terrifying 1 hour bus ride from Rio into the mountains to find Santos Dumont's practical house - if you are interested in SD unlike me then read below
Another "attraction" at Petropolis is this grave according to Mrs N who is a fan
The outstanding Colombo cafe in Rio
My choice - waffle with cheese, banana and rum with sugar
Mrs N's waffle.......
PS Landing at London I spot a Concorde.

11 comments:

  1. Good stuff Nikos. I always enjoy your posts - they are interjected with such humor (or is that sarcasm?)

    I think having those wires sticking out so close to the shower head would be frightening. I take it no one got electrocuted.

    Wow, those breakfasts are huge. But look delicious.

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  2. Very nice pics!! its Ipanema, the mosaik ;O) Copacabana has waves ;O) cool you got the Gaivotas-"gulls"... and you got the sweet little moneys, very sweet things ;O) xxxs MRS Nikos

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  3. Nikos:
    You didn't actually say what the purpose of your visit was. I'm assuming it's a vacation but maybe it was to get candid shots of those legendary girls in the surf?

    Top loaders also account for 95% of NZ's washing machine. I have just been loading one in the absence of a certain someone :-).

    Excellent photos my friend!

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  4. Santos=Dumont was a veritable terrier of an aviator, trying all sorts of things - including flying backwards - to get up into the sky on his dad's money. But don't listen to any Brazilians who tell you that he built the first successful airplane. Even after explaning to them the earlier date and all-round success of the Wright Brothers' machine, they'll tell you that their man was the first to leave the ground in a plane under it's own power (as opposed to a catapult); however, this particular feat is claimed by a Romanian :-) Traian Vuia, so tell them that.

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  5. Trobairitz: we survived the shower but it burnt out after 5 days...

    Geoff: purpose was to take photos for the blog.....naturally! Thanks.

    Gadjo: Santos Dumont is also atributed with inventing the gentleman's wrist watch. A logical extension of the female version but there we have it. Famous Brazilians vs. famous Belgiums.

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  6. Your post always make me hungry, why is that? and you do get around a bit.....

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  7. Thank you for a confusing mix of pictures. That would make for an interesting travel guide ;-)
    Lovely nevertheless. I want to go there some fine day...

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  8. G-BOAB, the Heathrow Concorde, is (apparently) spick and span on the outside and a complete shambles on the inside. Lots of stuff removed, and most recently used to store a few tons of out-of-date in-flight mags. Scandalous.

    Did you see any Brazilians in Copacabana?

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  9. Dear Nikos:"

    The shower head was interesting. I guess the water is heated by the electric current passing into the body of the person working the controls...

    Thank you for going to Rio and not seeing one incredibly tanned, topless beauty. Where the hell did you go? Rio, NJ?

    The remark about the runway being shorter than the flight deck on the Forestal was pretty funny.

    So how did you travel throughout Rio without getting robbed, raped, or kidnapped by gangs of feral kids?

    Fondest regards,
    Jack/reep
    Twisted Roads

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  10. Królowie życia:)http://stan140459.blogspot.com/

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  11. Roger: I do

    Sonja: Sorry to confuse you but you got the food in the end!

    Affer: Brazilians? Never!

    Jack: The only real incident was when that monkey stole my lunch.

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