A City Over Half the Population of Canada

In reality Mexico City is probably closer to 2/3 the population of Canada!  It is an amazing city and my second visit here is just as great as the first.  There certainly are changes from 3 years ago.  Hard to believe but I think the pollution is even worse!  And the traffic is definitely insane as you can see below.  We went on one hop on hop off bus route that was to take about 3 hours.  About 4 + hours later and a stop before our final destination the bus stopped, we were kicked off - it was 7 pm and that’s when it stopped, no matter where you are on the route. We were thankful we weren’t further away.  There were many times on the trip we just crawled along.  We were also fortunate to still be intact as there were numerous times we ducked to avoid the tree branches!  All part of the experience!

Another big difference this year is the police presence.  It is much more evident than 3 years ago.  We were able to go into the National Palace easily then, not so much now.  In part the current president of Mexico has decided to leave there while others lived in a different location.

Sunday afternoon is amazing - everyone is out - many families enjoying the gloriously sunny day.  Another carnival feeling.  The park was a busy place with lots of families strolling through.  The fountains were running and kids and adults playing in them, the vendors were out, the trees were blooming, there was a group dancing and it was just a nice relaxing feeling.  Doesn’t get any better than this!

Protests

Vendors - those red ones were really hot!

The park has many fountains

Streets cleared for cyclists 

Leaving the park and there was lots more activity - part of the street was closed for cyclists.  Along the sidewalk is just about every comic character you can think of.  I watched one young fellow go from one to the other for pictures.  I think dad finally ran out of 10 peso coins paying for all the pictures.  Me, I just stayed with the cats.  And then there is the pedestrian street - let me just say look at the picture.

I had dinner over looking the main square and watched the lowering of the huge Mexican flag.

That was just today.  There is so much to see here that you could be here for weeks.  Highlights - all of the Diego Rivera paintings.  His mind certainly worked different than most- his paintings are so detailed and all contain so much political meaning.  He also like to insert his face in many murals.  I am sure you could study one of his murals for years and never figure out everything!  They are located in various places through out the city.

Centro is just fascinating on its own.  The Cathedral, the square, the ruins, the buildings, the churches and the museums.  

Sanborns restaurant, store, just about everything here

Street of Mexico

Inside one of the many churches

Yes another church

Cathedral and part of the square

Pouring cafe with milk

Divorced eggs

National Palace

The next four are 3D chalk drawings in the main square celebrating Valentine’s Day.

One of the highlights is the Palace Belle Arts - a beautiful place that is home to a museum and a lovely theatre with a magnificent dome and a curtain that is made up of 1 million pieces of Tiffany glass.  The curtain goes up straight in 90 seconds.

The Hop On Hop Off took us outside of the Centro area and of course there was no shortage of sights.

On this trip I decided to stay in the centre of the city.  It was a great experience being here.  Hotel Catedral is located one block behind the cathedral and is so close to everything.  Unfortunately it took me until the last night to discover the roof top terrace and absolute wonderful views.

Domes everywhere you look