If I was going to live in Rio, this would probably be the place.
Corcovado is in the background and every time I look at it,
I hear the voice of Astrud Gilberto.
“Quiet nights of quiet stars,
Quiet chords from my guitar
Floating on the silence that surrounds us.”
“Quiet thoughts and quiet dreams,
Quiet walks by quiet streams,
And a window that looks out
on Corcovado,
Oh, how lovely…”
“In Niteroi it is possible to smell a sea breeze
that carries neither suntan lotion nor the stench of caffeine.
Are you thinking that caffeine is odorless? Ask a dog.
Be warned, however, that the dogs here speak only Portuguese.”
– Mark Helprin, Memoir From Antproof Case, p.9