Petropolis, an hour and a half from Rio de Janeiro, the former residence of the Emperor of Brazil, with canals, azulejos, goats and a museum dedicated to Santos Dumont — the man who, many Brazilians believe, invented the airplane. (According to the Wikipedia article on Santos Dumont, his first flight in Paris in October 1906 was accepted at the moment by the Aero Club of France as the first flight due to doubts about Wrights brothers' flight of 1903, now accepted as valid by most aeronautics historians. Of course, the discussion of whether a Brazilian or two Americans invented the airplane is somewhat silly, since in fact it was done by a Russian in 1884. :) The first picture above shows Santos Dumont’s crazy staircases that would prevent people from starting with the wrong foot.