After a good flight with Air Canada, we arrived even ahead of time to this sprawling city. Unfortunately by the time we collected bags, piled into our transportation and arrived at our hotel it was almost 2am. A bit weary the next day but the troopers were up and ready to go by 9:30.
This is a city of museums, statues, monuments and history. One could spend a couple weeks here and still have more to see. The biggest disappointment - the National Palace is closed as the President is now living there - how dare she? Yes Mexico has a woman President and she is quite popular. Because the Palace is closed it meant we would not see the Diego murals in there.
Fortunately our first stop was the Diego museum where there is one very long mural that was saved from the hotel during the massive earthquake in the 80’s. His mind was certainly very creative and you could spend many hours analyzing his work.
A city of over 22 million - imagine more than half of Canada lives here - and there is still green space right in the core. Alameda Park was quiet in the morning as we walked through it but later in the day it would be hopping with families. The park has 42 monuments and 6 fountains.
So many beautiful old buildings as we strolled the streets. Just one example, the house of tiles. As the name suggests, the outside is covered in beautiful tiles and inside, from a beautiful home to a cafe, restaurant, shop, murals and banos!
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| Palace de Belle Artes |
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| Close to the National Palace, just not in it |
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| House of tiles |
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| This statue recognizes the people killed in the hotel during the big earthquake. The long Diego mural came from that hotel. |
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| Cathedral |
Activity was beginning to heat up as we made our way to the zocalo, main square, and Templo Mayor. Can you believe it - ancient ruins beautifully preserved in the centre of the city? Eduardo, our fabulous guide took us through and explained the history of the Aztecs who lived in this area. Once seeing the ruins we explored the great museum to see more beautifully preserved pieces. Only complaint- not nearly enough time.
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| Templo Mayot |
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| View of the church from Templo Mayor |
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| Beautiful pieces found intact - 3 out of 7 decorations from a wall found |
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| This piece was found by electrical workers in the 70’s |
The evening brought us down to the zocalo again for a lovely dinner and a view of the square at night. Not bad for day one and tired people.
Due to slight change in the itinerary we were able to visit the Belle Artes for their magnificent Ballet Folklore. It did not disappoint. Not only was the dancing spectacular and colourful, so were the musicians. A lively way to start a Sunday. At the end it was great to hear the audience sing what were clearly some patriot Mexican songs! Viva la Mexico!
The dancing and singing were great but the theatre’s curtain is unbelievable! It is made of thousands of iridescent pieces of glass that form a beautiful scene of Mexico. Before rising it changes colours as a new day begins.
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| Watch the curtain change colors |
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