Christmas Holidays in Mexico City
We began our holiday celebration at a first-rate rendition of The Nutcracker (El Cascanueces) by the marvelous Jalisco State Ballet at the Degollado Theater in Guadalajara. Not long after we headed, by double decker luxury bus, to Mexico City with our friends Catherine & Allan Stephenson. Mexico City is enormous with population estimates of up to 25 million residents, the more affluent of which leave for the beaches between Christmas and the new year, making it much easier to move around. Out of more than 200 fotos Barbara and I selected the following to give some idea of the wealth of experiences that Mexico City offers, including more than 150 museums and countless restaurants and other attractions. We were on the go constantly for a week and barely scratched the surface of this exciting city. For those who would like to see and learn more about what we saw in Mexico City click on the link to Allan Stephenson’s blog. Allan is a very talented painter and photographer and gives excellent historical information. travelnotes.allanstephenson.com
The Plaza de la Liberacion with the Guadalajara Cathedral in the background
A family visiting Santa in his dazzling shrine outside the Degollado Theater, Guadalajara
Our first meal in Mexico City was at this Brazilian restaurant that featured a hi-tech wine cellar
A monument to those who died in the Revolution
Located atop a stone column in the heart of Mexico City, the gold-plated bronze sculpture, El Ángel de la Independencia symbolizes freedom as well as the hopes and dreams of the Mexican people.
The Huntress Diana
Torre Latinoamericana, widely recognized internationally as an engineering and architectural landmark since it was the world’s first major skyscraper successfully built on highly active seismic land. The skyscraper notably withstood the 8.1 magnitude 1985 Mexico City earthquake without damage,[2] whereas most structures in the downtown area were destroyed. (Wikipedia)
Contemporary Art Deco
Museo Bellas Artes
The definitely Art Deco interior of the museum was a real surprise
Sanborn’s Restaurant in the famous House of Tiles built in the 18th Century
The enormous Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe
The Virgin of Guadalupe has an enormous following in Mexico
This and the following photos were taken at the amazing Anthropological Museum which displays an incredible number of antiquities from Mexico’s ancient past
Pages from a book created by monks after the conquest
This precisely carved crystal scull is only a little more than 1 inch tall
An enormous feathered head dress
This abstract mask and the whimsical figures in the next photo didn’t seem to fit with the grotesqueries on display
A chac mool holding a vessel where the hearts of sacrificed victims were placed
This mask and the head below seem to show an African influence unusual in pre-Hispanic art
One of the many replicas in the garden of the museum
The inner courtyard of the Anthropological Museum
Kids in Chapultepec Park enjoying the Mexican version of the Swan Boats in Boston Garden
One of a series of Diego Rivera murals in the National Palace
The courtyard of the National Palace
A view of the ruins of the ancient Templo Mayor looking toward the Metropolitan Cathedral
We had an excellent meal in the historic Tacuba Cafe
Street musicians playing faithful renditions of Credence Clearwater songs
The main postoffice, Mexico City
A portrait by Hungarian photographer, and sometime lover of Frida Kahlo, Nickolas Muray. Below is the dining area in the Blue House in Coyoacan where she was born.
The dining area in the Blue House
Frida’s Studio in the Blue House
Frida’s death mask on the bed where she died
A very lifelike sculpture of coyotes in a plaza not far from the Blue House
Diego Rivera’s studio in the double house he and Frida had built. The portrait is of the woman with whom he spent the last years of his life. Below, Frida’s studio in the blue building connected by a bridge was much smaller.
A closeup of Carlos Slim’s Museo Soumayo. The building is covered by 16,000 hexagonal aluminum tiles.[6][7] The aluminium used in the project was supplied by a company that is also owned by Carlos Slim. The building was designed by the Mexican architect Fernando Romero, who is married to a daughter of Carlos Slim. (Wikipedia) To Americans, this scenario may have ominous echoes.
The ramp to the top floor of the Soumaya Museum that houses Slim’s huge collection of sculptures by by Rodin and Rodin contemporaries
This beautiful stone piece caught both Barbara’s and my attention
Arial acrobats from Chiapas, Mexico, slowly unwind and descend to the ground, Chapultepec Park
One of many powerful murals depicting Mexico’s difficult history in Chapultepec Castle (below)
The very pleasant 3-bedroom apartment that Barbara secured for us in the posh Polanco neighborhood of Mexico City
Mexico & Beyond 