Saturday, August 21, 2010

Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

And more 2 surprise cards but this time from Brazil. The cards were sent by Mauro.


"In portuguese, Baía da Guanabara is an oceanic bay located in southeastern Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro. On its Western shore lies the city of Rio de Janeiro, and on its Eastern shore the cities of Niterói and São Gonçalo. Guanabara Bay is the second largest bay in area in Brazil, at 412 square kilometres (159 sq mi), with a perimeter of 143 kilometres (89 mi).

The bay is crossed by the mighty Rio-Niterói Bridge (13.29 kilometres (8.26 mi) long and with a central span 72 metres (236 ft) high).

The President Costa e Silva Bridge, Popularly known as the Rio-Niteroi Bridge, is a Box girder bridge located at Guanabara Bay, in the State of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. It connects the cities of Rio de Janeiro and the municipality of Niterói. It is currently the longest prestressed concrete bridge in the southern hemisphere, and the sixth longest in the world. From the year it was constructed until 1985 it was the world's second longest bridge, losing only to Lake Pontchartrain Causeway.
Construction began symbolically on August 23, 1968, with the presence of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in their first and thus far only visit to Brazil, next to the minister Mario Andreazza. Actual work began in January, 1969, and it opened on March 4, 1974.
Its official name is the "President Costa e Silva Bridge", in honor of the Brazilian president who ordered its construction. "Rio-Niterói" started as a descriptive nickname that soon became better known than the official name. Today, hardly anyone refers to it by its official name." - in: wikipedia

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I want to set up(2)groups of about 5 people per group to do a postcard round robin with. i will welcome members internationally, basically each envelope that is passed around the group will contain 6 postcards. you will take out the ones you want to keep and replace with the same amount. then you will pass it on to ...the next person. i will include a flight sheet so you know where to send it to. let me know