Rio and Niterói

My teacher and friend João Luiz sent me some pictures that were made by one of his friends and I have decided to put two of them in my blog. In the first one, you can see the Guanabara bay, with the Rio-Niterói bridge, that links my city, Niterói, with Rio de Janeiro. The bridge has 13 km lenght and it was built in 1975. You can also see Flamengo beach.

In this other picture you can see some beaches from Niterói, specially Icaraí, that is is also the name of this neighbourhood where I live. You somebody someday have any chance, opportunity or desire of coming to Brazil, contact me!

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Before going to Scotland, I had never heard the name of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. He was a famous Scottish painter, architecture, painter and designer who lived from 1868 to 1928. I went to Glasgow, Scotland’s capital, twice, the first time was last year, and the second just after I arrived Toronto. I went there because of an academic event called Screen Seminar, which was held in the University of Toronto. Mackintosh was born in Glasgow and there there’re many of his works. I could finally know his work and I was fascinated with it. His paintings were influenced by Japanese art and when you see his work you actually realized how ahead of his time he was. You can see his influence, for example, in famous Klimt’s works or even in modernists like Kadinski or Miró. Mackintosh’s famous roses were also art décor avant la letter and still today they look so beautiful. This last time I went to Glasgow I had the opportunity of going to Mackintosh museum, where they recreated the house where he lived. That’s amazing! It’s a pity that we were not allowed to take pictures, because it’s so beautiful. Mackintosh and his wife did all the furniture and decoration of the house and everything combines in such a gracious way. The dinner room’s wall, tables and chairs are all black or dark-brown, and the place looks very comfortable and austere. But when you go upstairs you are chocked with the bedroom that is all white and bright, like you have arrived in heaven. You cannot know how it is just looking at pictures, you must be there, because you can see the light coming from the windows and the effect that it has over the place. Well, there are many other things in Mackintosh’s work that are also very interesting, like his chairs, at the same time symmetrical and unbalanced, and the types that he used to write his name and the name of his works. If you are interested, in Toronto you have a great opportunity to know Mackintosh’s work. If you go to the Royal Ontario Museum, in the third floor where there’s a exhibition about European art, you are going to find a Mackintosh room, which can show a little part of the work of this great artist.

My own Toronto's top 10

When I arrived in Toronto, I bought a guide book called “TOP 10 Toronto”. I have other books of this collection about other cities and I like them very much, because they are small and you can carry them in your pocket. They also have good maps and plenty of informations. In theses books you always have rankings: the 10 best places to eat, the 10 best places to shopping and so on. The first thing you read is the general Toronto’s Top 10. According to the authors, they are ROM, CN Tower, Toronto Islands, AGO, Casa Loma, Distillery Historic District, Ontario Place, Eaton Centre, Hockey Hall of Fame and Niagara Falls.
Now, I’m going to give my opinion about the Toronto highlights and make my own ranking. First of all, I unfortunately couldn’t go the AGO (Art Gallery of Toronto), wich is closed until September or October. Probably it would be in my list if I had been able to go there.
So, my personal top ten list would be:
1 – Toronto Island: I went there with Paula in a sunny day and I liked a lot. It’s a beautiful and peaceful place, with an amazing view of the city. It’s the perfect place to make a pic nic.
2 – CN Tower: It really worth the visit. It has an amazing view and is also something very different and interesting in Toronto’s landscape.
2 – Harbourfront centre – It’s my preferred place in Downtown. It’s good to walk, to ride a bicycle, to see one of the many free concerts that they have there during summer or simply to eat something in the international market.
3 – Rogers centre – I liked very much of going there to see a Blue Jays game, much more than if I went to a much more expensive hockey game. The Canadian football match that I saw there was also fun, especially because they had covered the stadium and it looked very different from the time I went to see a baseball game.
4 – Wonderland – Very fun, although also scaring place. See my other post.
5 – Chinatown and Danforth – very good places to eat good, different and (very important!) cheap food.
6 – Queen Street West and Yonge Street: good streets to just walk by and to window-shopping.
7 – Design stores: You can find some very nice design stores and galleries in Harbourfront centre, Queen Street West or in the Distillery Historic District, where you can buy really nice gifts.
Category “Good, but not that much”
1 – Royal Ontario Museum – nice museum, but not as good as the European greatest museums (Museo del Prado, Louvre, Uffizzi Gallery, National Gallery). The Natural History floor is interesting and kids love it. The third floor has a very good and educational exhibition about European art, explaining the different artistic movements and periods through its furniture collection.
2 – Niagara Falls: To go to the “maid of the mist” boat is really nice, but the rest of the place is not a big deal. The city near the Falls is very, very ugly, and looks like a decadent Las Vegas.

I didn’t go to Casa Loma, Ontario Place or Hockey Hall of Fame, because I was not interested, didn’t have time or money to spend there. I don’t think I will regret that.

coming back home

It’s almost the day of my return to Brazil. On Saturday, just after the end of YUELI course, I will take a flight back to Brazil. These two months in Canada were a very good experience, but it’s time to return. I have so many things to do in Brazil and some many things waiting for me in my job… I have had a very heavy routine in Rio in the last few years, working and studying, taking more than one hour to arrive at my job every day, and an opportunity like this one I had of coming here to study in English is also some kind of vacation. Actually, I had to use my vacation to be allowed to come here, but this change in routine is also good. Taking exactly 5 minutes to arrive in the classroom from my residence bedroom, for example, is something that I really appreciate. Here in Canada, although we had a lot of homework, I had much more free time than I usually have in Brazil. I could see a lot of movies in dvd that I never have time to see at home. During the weekdays I’m very busy and the weekends end so fast… Of course that I miss a lot of things, like my girlfriend, my family (my five years old niece), my friends etc. And this kind of thing of living in other country, in a strange place, meeting people that you don’t know very well is Ok for some time. I start missing my house, my bedroom, my stuff. Two months is a good time to spent out of you country. It’s enough time to get to know well a city, to be used with the routine, to experiment different foods, to see many places, and, finally, to return home before you get very tired of those things. I’m starting to get tired of the food I’m eating here (oriental food, junkie food, cookies, cesar salads etc). Of course that after same time in Brazil I will also be tired of Brazilian food, of my house, of my routine, but then it would be time to take another vacation.

Surprise in Montreal

Something unexpected has happened to me and Paula when we are in Montreal. We were leaving the subway station to go to the Montreal Tower when a group of Chinese came to us and asked “metro?”. As we were in front of it, we just pointed it, but they didn’t move. I didn’t care to them and I was taking a picture when they asked again: “metro?”. I really suspected that it was something odd, but I didn’t know what to do. I started walking with Paula, but they came after us. When we stopped, they also stopped. The group was not reallly "normal". They were five or six person of different ages; all of them dressed like people usually think that tourists are dressed (colorful shirts, cameras on their necks, safari hats etc). When we looked at them, the same girl who has talked to us before just repeated: “metro?”. Paula even put her used subway ticket on the Chinese man’s pocket as they insisted following us. Finally, one of them came to us and said: It’s “just for laughs”. Another girl with sunglasses and a paper on her hand also came to us from another side smiling. I won’t say that I really knew what had happened, but I did had an idea, because I had seen a strange tent that I thought it would be the place where a TV camera could be hidden. But even knowing that it was a joke, you cannot know what to do. It’s impossible not to be embarrassed. I thought that people were usually paid to accept this kind of play, but the girl asked us to sign an image use authorization and didn’t give us any money… I signed it anyway, because as it had had already happened, at least I would try to be good-humored about it. They told me that it would be shown on TV just in 2009, but I hope nobody will remember to see us in “Just for laugh”. Well, at least I can say that I have participate of something very Canadian during my stay here.

Toronto X Montreal

On August 4th Holiday, Paula and I travelled to Montreal, where we spent three days. It was a very nice trip and we enjoyed a lot, although the weather was not good, and it rained a bit. However, I was talking to her that I like most of Toronto than Montreal, even though people used to say to me that Montreal was nicer. I don’t know if it is because I have been living for more than a month here in Toronto and I already have a special feeling about this city. I have lived for two months in Madrid last year and it was sort of the same thing, because at the end I could say that I liked more of Madrid than Barcelona, although everybody else preferred then capital of Cataluña, which is actually more exuberant.
Montreal is a nice city and has the neighborhood called “Old Montreal” which is really beautiful. However, I think that some people like Montreal because it looks like Paris. It’s true, in Montreal you have a “quartier latin” with many restaurants and coffee-bars just like you have in Paris and even a subway station imitates the French “metropolitan” (photo). But if you have ever been in Paris, Montreal is not as charming as it might be. It’s different from Quebec City, for example, that I think it has its own personality. I spend just one day there and enjoyed a lot. Even if they have a castle that was actually built in the beginning of the 20th century, Quebec doesn’t look like a Canadian copy of an European city. Its blue grayish house roofs were really pretty (photo). And finally, some things that Montreal has, Toronto also has. Between Montreal Tower (which is really nice and was built for the 1976 Olympic Games - photo) and CN Tower, I prefer the latter, which is also higher than the first. The Chinatown in Toronto is also bigger – and more interesting – that the Montreal’s one. But I don’t want it to sound like I if disliked Montreal. I liked a lot of the Cinémathéque of Montreal, for example, much better than the Ontario Cinémathéque in Toronto, which is just a screening room, even if it’s a real good one. And I liked a lot of the houses in Sherbrook Street, which were really beautiful too.

Wonderland (or Nightmareland)

I had one of the most terrifying experiences of my life last Sunday, when we went to the Wonderland I haven’t been in an amusement park for, maybe, twelve years. As soon as we arrived, people decided to go to Behemoth, the new roller coaster that is the biggest one in Canada. When you are there, it stars to go up, up, up, and when you are so high, it falls. And find some nice videos in the net if anyone wants to see how it is. This animation gives you the point of view of the first car. This video in you tube was recorded there and I screamed as much as this guy.
But as scaring as the Behemoth is the Drop Tower. You can see how it is in these videos (this or this). You just fall from a 230 feet height! My hands were shaking so much after that. Look at this picture after we had felt.

However, the other rides and plays were very nice and I enjoyed a lot my day. I met two Saudi Arabs guys and a Vietnamese that were very nice. These pictures were sent by Neo and Tony and by Maria.

There were some plays that you really get wet, and we were lucky that the weather was nince, although the water was very, very cold.

The picture above is from the play that we went. The picture below is us after going in that play.