Mexico City

The Juarez chambers in Palacio Nacional.

The parlamentary chamber in Palacio Nacional.
The old House of Representatives had their sessions here:

The National Palace has also botanic gardens, a Presidential gallery, the gallery of Insurgentes (heroes of the Independence), and the National Gallery (historic memorabilia).
From one the balconies, every September 15, Day of the Independence, the President leads the ceremony of "El Grito", where everyone yells: "Viva Mexico!"
Here we have Calderón at the works (before the fireworks):

Right in front of the Cathedral, we can see the city's Government Palace, where the mayor works:



With this, we leave Zócalo, and start having a walk in downtown Mexico City...

For centuries, it was thought that the Cathedral of Mexico City was built over the Aztecs' Main Temple ("Templo Mayor", in Spanish):



Not so.

In 1978, electricity workers were excavating right next to the Zocalo, and found this big Prehispanic stone: Coyolxauqui



Coyolxauqui is the goddess of the moon. She is represented by a quartered figure.

New excavations (archeological, this time) ensued.
The workers did not know it, but they had found the remnants of the Templo Mayor, about 200 yards away from the Cathedral.

I imagine you may find the skull altar at Templo Mayor quite impressive. I did.



The Templo Mayor site now includes a museum, with very interesting pieces from the Aztec era.

The newest finding in Templo Mayor (it has layers and layers) is Tlaltecuhtli, goddess of earth:, found in 2006:

Notice the red stone building behind the serpent in the first picture of Templo Mayor? That's the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso. This college was founded by the Jesuits in 1588, it later became one of the buildings of the National University. Until 1977 it was still a High School of UNAM. Now it's a museum.

This is how it looks inside.

The Colegio de San Ildefonso is also full of murals, as you can see.

The most famous mural at San Ildefonso is by José Clemente Orozco. "The Trench"



Nobel laureate in literature, Octavio Paz, studied High School in this place.

We'll later walk westward, to know the rest of Mexico City's Centro Histórico. Old downtown.

Thanks fbaezer. You bring back happy memories of pleasant and interesting visits. Walks down the Reforma or through the Planco; exploring places I don't koow but which look interesting almost anywhere in the city ; a restaurant I always go back to ... Les Moustaches. There is also a small park where on Sundays local artists display their wares (probably more than one in that huge city), but I liked it and bought some good stuff there.

Good to see you, fbaezer. I love Centro Historico, and have spent many hours there. I'm familiar with the places you posted pictures of, and I really like the Opera House at night. One of my favorite places in Centro Historico is La Mascota, spending many hours listening to the music and eating.

As a matter of fact, although I'll be in Mexico City next month, I'll only be in transit on my way to Cuba. However, on January 10, on my return, I'll be staying at Riazor Hotel not far from the airport. If you have the time, it would be great to have a drink and/or meal with you. Let me know if you can make it.

I've been to the Zocalo twice. I didn't know about the murals.. bummer, they're beautiful. While I was there, they had the world's biggest outdoor rink built in the centre of the square. The ice was the worst I've ever seen but the skaters were by far the happiest I've ever seen. Very few ventured beyond the boards, as the centre was mostly a slushy mess and of course, most of the people were hanging on for dear life and laughing. A great memory.
The church is beyond beautiful, are the renos done yet? I'd love to see it sans scaffolding. I saw a ton of nude people too, but they were marching, not for art but for some political reason. For some reason, no one would explain why???
Mexico city is an incredibly beautiful city. I would love to go back.

A little bit of my visit in 2011.

I've been in Mexico, the city, a bunch of times, every one of those as a visitor. Some of those times friends and I knew people from the city. No way to disguise that we saw tour stuff.

I've read more.

I'm am very interested in FB's stories/histories.

Les Moustaches, great restaurant, George.
Been there lots of times. With the wife or for work.
The violinist at Les Moustaches always plays "As time goes by" for me and my wife.

(But tonight, our 20th anniversary, we went dining to Au Pied de Couchon)

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Ceili, that's typical Mexico City.
The "biggest rink" is back again this year. I don't think the skaters will do better, though.
Scaffolding for the Cathedral is done.
And you, of course, saw one of the marches of the "400 Pueblos", protesting nude against anything (they get paid a daily minimum wage for their deed, indeed). Thank God we haven't seen their not-so-gracious bodies in a few years.