I did this, then this, and then we did this and then this...

The day started out like a usual Friday for me. While Dais went to early morning pilates I went for an early morning walk in the local park down the street from her apartment.

It is just a little park, about 2 km around. By 7 am It was bustling with people jogging, walking, doing tai chi and yoga in and among the giant termite mounds:

On my way home to North Superblock 214, Bloco G, I had the thought that Brasilia may as well be Edmonton:

…except for the wild, bright green parakeets that have built their home in the trees around the apartment complexes.

Dais and I returned home at about the same time and had a leisurely coffee and breakfast before packing up and getting ready to go to campus…again, just another day, really. Dais is a professor at the University of Brasilia’s equivalent of a school of public health.

She had a couple of morning meetings to attend and I thought this would be a good opportunity to visit the campus and get some more work done. Shortly after arriving, the internet no longer worked for me so I decided to go get some snacks at the snack hut and quickly began to notice that I was on a very special (architecturally) campus that is as weird as the city of Brasilia itself.

I was first drawn to the chemistry building which didn’t look like much from the outside except a giant concrete block:

But upon venturing inside, I came to see that it was a really beautiful space that reminded me of a building on Caprica before the cylons annihilated it:

After exiting this building I saw another building that looked curious so I decided to follow my nose and came across yet another fascinating building with interesting, incredibly linear, landscape architecture:

Cool. Then I noticed yet another building and further followed my curiosity. It was the bioscience building, also incredibly linear and sci-fi-ish:

Of course then there was another building that was also something straight out of the 1950s world expo:

And finally, this, the arts building:

Which is when I realised that I was standing on the grounds of a mars space colony model, red earth and all:

I likely could have continued all day to be pulled from one fascinating building to another, each incredibly unique, like ‘em or not. What I found to be the most interesting, given I don’t know a thing about architecture, is that the modernist philosophy/ideology underlying the architectural design is so explicitly reflected.  

Lunch was upon me and I had to go back to Dais’s building as we were scheduled to hit up a Frieda Khalo exhibit that was showcasing some of her work along with the work of 15 other Mexican women surrealists:

While we waited in the longest line up ever which I grinned and bared, I ran across the parking lot to take a quick glance at the federal bank:

Federal Bank, Brasilia

...famous for its stained glass marvelousness that lines the walls of the ground floor:

And even acts as the actual doorway to the bank:

By late afternoon we hit the road towards a small town about 200 km west of the city nestled deep in the heart of the Serrado, called Pirenopolis. This is an artesanal and hippy town with a vibe reminiscent of Salt Spring Island but with colonial Portuguese architecture:

Streets of Pirenopolis, Goias

Streets of Pirenopolis, Goias

Streets of Pirenopolis, Goias

….The following day we would head to another small town for a big party but first we would spend the night in Pirenopolis where Dais’s friend generously let us use her beautiful weekend/soon-to-be retirement home:

Dais and her partner have purchased land in this neighbourhood and will begin building their own weekend/soon-to-be retirement home in the fall which I will forever be welcome to visit, I’m sure.

How did I get such cool friends??

We arrived after dark and unpacked and headed out for dinner. We went to the main bar and restaurant street, Rua de Roasario. Here we selected one of the many food and drink location options and finished our busy, hot day with some comfort food and live blues.