2025 Mexico City

  We had to leave for the airport around 1 pm so we decided to spend the few hours we had left in the morning on visiting the hip neighborhoods of Roma and Condesa. They border each other and both have whimsical tree-lined streets lead to scenic parks, where you can sit, relax and admire sculptures and fountains. This area was originally home to aristocrats and slowly transitioned to a place where artisans could set up shop, and now it is home to a multitude of quaint boutiques, coffee shops and good restaurants. They both have a bohemian vibe and are very safe and walkable. We had not seen that many American expats anywhere else in Mexico City and we can understand why. Ride to the airport was quick 24 minutes. The airport, however, is a bit of a disaster. We were looking for a Delta lounge because we had time to kill and were told that Delta does not have a lounge, but we should try Aeromexico. Somebody pointed us to the opposite side of the terminal so we started walking. About ...

  At 8:30 am we walked along the pedestrian Madero Street to the Bellas Artes building to see a performance of the famous Ballet Folclorico de Amalia Hernandez. This historic white marble building serves as both the city's top performance hall and an art museum. the Palacio de Bellas Arts is principally Art Nouveau on the outside and Art Deco on the inside. The exterior was designed by Adamo Boari, and begun in 1904. Over the 30 years of construction, during which a major war was fought (the Mexican Revolution 1910 – 1920) construction was interrupted numerous times. The façade, facing south to Avenida Juárez, is clad in white Carrera marble. Before the performance, we admired the crystal curtain, a folding panel made of nearly a million pieces of iridescent colored glass made by Tiffany’s in New York. Supposedly it’s the only such curtain in the world and weighs some 24 tons. The curtain design includes depictions of the Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl volcanoes. The performance was...

  In the morning, we went to Coyoacan, a very picturesque part of the city with a lovely park with a statue of coyotes in the center and beautiful, colorful colonial buildings all around. We walked around the town and through a market on the way to Casa Azul, the museum of Frida Kahlo. The property belonged to the Kahlo family since 1904 and four years after the painter’s death, in 1958, it was converted into a museum. The house was Frida's family home throughout her life. She was born here, lived with her husband Diego Rivera, spent her final days, and the place where she died. The rooms are preserved as they were lived in, with the furnishings of the 1950s. Frida's personal collection of pre-Hispanic and Mexican folk art is in it as well as a few of her lesser-known paintings and many photographs, letters, and mementos and also her clothes and jewelry. Several of the rooms are in the classic Mexican style, with bright yellow and blue tiles and walls. T he huge garden courtya...