Rio
In the end, I seem to have tons of pictures taken from three or four standard angles on different trips and on different days within the same trip. Oh well. There are only two major vantage points and only so many good angles :P At least the weather/time of day is kind of different, though dusk is always an addiction ;)
A view toward the southern end of Ipanema beach (actually called Leblon). the twin moutain in the background is Pico Dos Irmaos; Sao Conrado and Praia do Pepino where the gliders land are on the next beach behind it.
...with a girl walking by, just as the song says ;)
bird's-eye, ie helicopter, view north, of Copacabana and Sugarloaf Mtn
Same altitude, same beach, the other end of it looking south
Cristo Redentor, up close and personal
Botafogo Beach just north of Sugarloaf
aerial view from the same side as Cristo Redentor - Botafogo and Sugarloaf, again, on the right-hand side
The southern end of Ipanema, aka Leblon, from above. The mountain with the flat top to the right of the pointy one (actually a long beach away) is Pedra da Gavea, and to the right across a gap is Pedra Bonita, hang-glider central. The ten or so yards running to the edge of the platform with a good quarter-mile (if not more) drop at the end are kinda scary even for a tandem flight, but totally worth it for the part that follows. Bruce would eat them all for breakfast, of course :P
aerial view toward Copacabana (behind the hill). The body of water closer by is an enclosed lagoon, basically a lake.
Sunset view from Cristo Redentor, followed by a long sequence of grainy dusk pictures
...and a grainy one *of* Redentor and Gloria from Sugarloaf to match
Copacabana at night on the left hand side, seen from Sugarloaf. Beautiful but unsafe; a friend of a good friend took an evening walk there talking on a cell phone (no other valuables on her) and was promptly mugged, coming back to the hotel without it. Stealing items left on the beach by swimmers in the daytime goes without saying.
View from Cristo Redentor toward Ipanema (left-hand corner) and the racecourse (the lit quadrangle), with Pedra Bonita on the right.
Not quite from the mountaintop, but earlier on a different day (probably different year, too) and non-grainy
Copacabana, looking north - Sugarloaf is at the right-hand edge
Sugarloaf from Copacabana, again.
Sugarloaf at sunset - with a few more to follow later
Cristo Redentor, looking from the foot of Sugarloaf (east looking west)
Same spot a few minutes earlier, no landmarks visible, but love the pic...
Botafogo at sunset from Sugarloaf, with a couple of rappelling guys at the left-hand edge of the pic
Redentor and Botafogo from Sugarloaf, on a clear day this time, looking west-northwest.
Same spot, looking southwest - Pedra da Gavea sticks out far on the left-hand side.
Same spot, looking straight north towards Gloria
Redentor lost in the clouds. The grain is due to the full zoom and the fact that I cropped and blew up the middle of the original pic.
A couple of views of Sugarloaf at sunset, with a wisp of cloud gathering the tip - seems a regular thing
...but this time it is in the clear.
...and finally, two more shots of pre-sunset Copacabana from Sugarloaf.
See you in Sydney next ;)