Marvelous City

I spent the day wandering around the center of Rio and visiting some of the historical sites. This is the impression I have so far: Around 100 years ago people starting putting some serious money into cool buildings and such. Then there was period when Rio was really hip, until around the 50s. Then nothing happened. Most of the buildings look like there were built solely to be minimally functional, but every once in while you catch some cool architecture. These buildings have not been maintained though, so they are filthy and sometimes covered in graffiti.Then there is a monstrous building that looks something like a cross between a Mayan temple and a space ship- a scientologist's wet dream. Shockingly, it is a Catholic cathedral and seat of the archdiocese.