Mexico City

And in the middle of La Merced lies el Ex Convento, the Former Convent. which was one of the richest in New Spain.
After the Reform Laws by Juárez, the convent was abandoned for decades. Now it is being refurbished to become a museum for textiles.

Sorry, directed to earlier post.

This is good to hear, could be wonderful.

Finally, we go into working class Colonia Doctores, which has nothing to show, except for Arena México, "the Cathedral of Boxing", and "Centro Médico Siglo XXI", speciality public hospitals.

Colonia Doctores:



Arena México:



Centro Médico Siglo XXI was partially reconstructed after the earthquake of 1985.



It has some murals, too:



Colonia Doctores and Colonia Roma are next to each other. We have now toured all Delegación Cuauhtémoc, the core of the city.

Next, we'll go to Delegación Miguel Hidalgo.

The core of the city. Got it.

Remember the map on Page 6?

We have covered only the area in dark blue, where it says: "Cuauhtemoc":

[

We'll now move west, to the pink area.

Ok, let's go.

Until tomorrow, or Friday.

This I remember but you do much more.
Manana or el viernes.

We start our tour of the Miguel Hidalgo Delegation (burough or county) by visiting Chapultepec.

At the entrance of Chapultepec, right in front of Torre Mayor, we find La Estela de Luz.
It is the main monument to celebrate Mexico Bicentennial. And it's unanimously disliked.
Compare it to Ángel de la Independencia and other monuments inaugurated in 1910, for the Centennial, and you'll see that 100 years ago, they had a sense of esthetics and a message of modernity to be sent.
This "light stela" is a monument to modern technology as understood by a techno-peasant. Bright lights that sometimes move like a Tetris game.
Plus the monument blocks Chapultepec's traditional entrance and is dwarfed by Torre Mayor:





It is popularly called "La Galletota" or "La Suavicrema". The Big Wafer.

Chapultepec means, in Náhuatl (the Aztecs language) "Grasshopper Hill".

Near the entrance, the Monumento a los Niños Héroes, "Monument to the Children Heroes", dedicated to the 6 cadets from the military school who died in the Battle of Chapultepec against the US invaders, in 1847.



Legend says that one of the cadets, Juan Escutia, 15, decided to jump into the abyss from the top of the hill, while holding the National flag, rather than surrender it to the 'Muricans.
His improbable feat is repeated each Sept. 13th in a ceremony to honor the fallen cadets in the Military College (I want to guess this modern cadet fell into something softer than rocks):

Before going uphill to visit the Castle of Chapultepec, we can take a brief stroll, and find the Baths of Moctezuma, something like the Aztec Emperor's private pool:



And some gardens with French style fountains:



There is also an obelisc commemorating all cadets in the Battle of Chapultepec. It is interesting to note that among them we can find the name of Miguel Miramón, wounded in the battle.
Miramón is considered one of Mexico's biggest traitors, siding with the French intervention.

You may have noticed, whille surrounding Centro Histórico, that there were nicer neighborhoods in the West and the South than on the North and the East.

There is some kind of a pattern in Mexico City. The North of the city is more industrial, while the South is more cultural. But, more importantly, the West is way more affluent than the East.
There are boxes of poverty in the West and a few middle class neighborhoods in the East, but they tend to be exceptions to the rule (specially on the East).

While Delegación Cuauhtémoc, which we have already visited, is somehow reppresentative of the whole city, Delegación Miguel Hidalgo, which we started to visit as we entered Chapultepec, is the 2nd richest of the city (and the 4th richest county of the country).

most tremendously

thank you

I've been following this thread closely and enjoying it greatly. Many thanks, fbaezer, for sharing all this with us.

I agree with you about the Estela de Luz.

Enjoying it a great deal; your pictures and descriptions are top rate.

On my next trip to Cuba (some time later next year) I'm going to make sure I spend more time in Mexico City.

Thought you might appreciate this FB, a tourism poster from the '60's.

Thank you all for your comments.

Now we'll visit the Castle of Chapultepec.



Built in 1785, it was originally the "summer palace" of Viceroy Bernardo de Gálvez, this guy:



It later was the Military Academy, the palace of Emperors Maximilian and Charlotte, the National Observatory and Presidencial Residence. It is now the National Museum of History... and something else.

The entrance:



The gardens:

Didn't Maximilian have a palace in the city? Seems to me, in my senior-hazy brain, it seems we visited his palace in the city.