Downtown...everything's great when you're downtown...

Ok, so I've been getting some gruff from the peanut gallery about the amount of food pics and food-related entries. Alright, alright--I get the idea. People, places and less food. (sigh) Luckily, Felipe and I made a trip to Downtown Rio today. This is the absolute center of the city--where it all began (i.e. the most historic). There are four churches downtown almost within a five block radius. They are quite similar but really beautiful so, I'll give the quick&dirty photo tour.

This is the Candelaria Cathedral and it's my favorite of the four. Here is a shot of the interior...

Later, we visited the Palacio de Tiradentes (Palace of Tiradentes). He was not royalty but was given a palace/museum in honor of his place in Brazilian history. He was an advocate for Brazilian independence during the monarchy, was killed and became a martyr. His "palace" is actually the old congress building when Rio was the capital of Brazil. We had a great tour guide and it's awesome inside; it really reminded me of Washington, D.C. Here are a few shots of that....

Shortly after, it began to rain so we had to head home but it was a lot of fun while it lasted.