Lauren Kooistra: Brasilia, Brazil

Brasilia, Brazil; a most interesting city.

The capital.

A planned city, as in it was nothing and then it became something, just the way they wanted it to be.

Built in the late 50s, 'opened' in 1960.

And designed by some very important people,

including the architect Oscar Niemeyer.

When I arrived here, the bus driver, misunderstanding my "hotel nacional brasilia" to mean I wanted to go to the "brasilia shopping", dropped me off at the edge of the Hotel Sector North, because--yes--this planned city includes a "hotel sector",

divided north and south by a giant freeway.

Realizing that I was in the wrong place, I hiked my way across said Hotel Sector North, found myself a policeman of excellent sign-language skills, had a rather enjoyable 10 minute conversation with him that involved very large arm movements that essentially meant "go across the freeway not once but twice",

and found my way to Hotel Sector South,

to the very first hotel built in this city stuck in time,

with a certain sense of old-world modern elegance.

And, though we were spending most of our days at the University, soaking up information and getting to know each other,

there was one afternoon blocked off for

exploring all the city had to show.

We scoped out the TV tower, but since there was a BRICS summit occurring that day [in which the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa were having some important discussions right in town], we were unable to climb up and see the sights from its famous observation deck.

Instead, we made our way to the Cathedral,

stopping first at the famous dried flower vendors

lining the sidewalk in front.

The spread of the cathedral includes the oval baptistry off to one side [said to represent a loaf of communion bread], and a bell tower off to the other [representing, of course, the chalice].

The four Evangelists [Matthew Mark Luke & John]

welcomed us in,

as we headed into the entrance underground.

Once inside,

we looked up into the dome

and forward to the altar,

the stunning stained glass

echoing over us

and all around.

We took in the artwork depicting the Way of the Cross,

noticed the whispering wall,

and exited,

the statues welcoming us back

[along with a few other visitors...]

Then, we climbed back on the bus and headed

down the Avenue of the Ministries,

the street lined with identical buildings

designed for the work of the government,

until we arrived at the most important one:

The National Congress of Brazil,

where in the dish to the right meets the Chamber of Deputies;

in the dome to the left, the Senate.

After exploring the surrounding architecture,

laid out with much precision

and using a lot of open space,

we went inside that dish and then that dome, sat in their galleries, and listened to some Brazilian business being carried out.
We were welcomed in each one,
and then headed out to see the sunset

at the Parque Ecologico Dom Bosco,

Dom Bosco being the priest who--in the late 1800s--had a vision of an important future city being just where Brasilia was eventually built, between the 15th and 20th parallels of the globe.