Mexico City

@cicerone imposter,

Nice pics, C.I.

(The second one, you all, is beneath the portals at Zócalo, in front of Palacio Nacional, on the opposite side of the square)

I hope to be on vacation by Jan 10. If not, I will send you a P.M. so we can meet.

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@ossobuco,

Many thanks for your continuing interest, osso.

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Thanks for a really interesting thread.

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The AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) has a Diego Rivera show on right now--although i've not been to see it. I'm glad you posted those images, Boss.

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We don't walk back on our steps as we leave San Ildefonso, but take a one block detour, behind Templo Mayor.
Then we find the House of Ajaracas, a XVI Century building:

http://dialogos.pideundeseo.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/casa-ajaracas.jpg

When some structural work was being done to preserve it, they found a lot of Aztec ruins below the basement. Templo Mayor is bigger than what was thought.
The House of Ajaracas is now a museum.

http://img.terra.com.mx/galeria_de_fotos/images/311/620854.jpg

http://img.terra.com.mx/galeria_de_fotos/images/398/794332.jpg

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We go near Zócalo, next to the first "French corner", where the first department stores (El Puerto de Liverpool, El Palacio de Hierro and Al Puerto de Veracruz) were stablished in the last quarter of the XIX Century:

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa315/YorchK/906708281_25adbbf26a_b.jpg

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We're back in the corner of Zócalo, and decide to visit El Gran Hotel de la Ciudad de México, art decó 1900, see it's big vitral and have lunch:

http://www.revistabuenviaje.com/luxury/hoteles/gran_hotel_cd_mexico/gran_hotel_cd_mexico.jpg

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQJdx_pNrGtjvuuKaJaD-q9L_isv0l2yIgFaukStiGnlMhqi_jv

http://www.cnnexpansion.com/media/2011/09/14/gran-hotel-de-la-ciudad-de-mexico.jpg

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A couple of blocks away, also corner of Zócalo, is the National Pawn Shop:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/NatMontePiedadZocaloDF.JPG/250px-NatMontePiedadZocaloDF.JPG

Founded in 1775. I think it looks impressive at night.

http://www.iluminet.com/press/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/citelum-monte-de-piedad.jpg

All around there are jewelry stores, but the best place to buy jewels is here, only that you have to buy a package (and sell the pieces you didn't like for their metal value in nearby stores)-

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Finally, we take a stroll down Madero Street, formerly known as Plateros (Silver Jewelers).
Plateros was it was at in the late XIX Century. It was THE street to be seen in old Mexico City. Poems and history intertwine and you can't imagine Mexico under dictator Porfirio Díaz (1884-1910) and not start your virtual trip in Plateros.

http://ciudadanosenred.com.mx/sites/default/files/comercioplatero4.jpg

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But Porfirio Diaz' dictatorship ended with the Mexican Revolution.

In this photo we see none other that Pancho Villa changing the name of the street Plateros to Madero, to honor the befallen President who democratically defeated Diaz and forced him to leave the country.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YB3Rs7s8ZYQ/TUOo_pzRqPI/AAAAAAAAAAQ/vRXtjNdMM2o/s1600/Edificiosymonumentos.-Pancho-Villa-colocando-la-placa-avenida-Fco.-I.-Madero-1914.jpg

And this was Madero, a few years before Villa, at his triumphant arrival at Mexico City. It's Plateros street of course.

http://exploramex.com/epocaIndep/072.gif

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This how Madero Street looked like in the 1920s:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tMawYomHNEc/UC8yoZIGErI/AAAAAAAAAy0/TST-u0h50MI/s1600/CalleMadero.jpg

And this is how it looks like today. A pedestrian street.

http://huhyadit.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/calle_madero_df.jpg

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Some basic buildings in Madero St:

La Esmeralda (now Museo del Estanquillo):

http://galeriadesucesos.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/calle_peatonal_madero_museo.jpg

High Life Building:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Calle_Madero_3.jpeg

The Palace of Iturbide:

http://guiadelcentrohistorico.com/sites/default/files/styles/imagen_destacada/public/PalacioIturbide_0.jpg

The Temple of San Hipolito:

http://i709.photobucket.com/albums/ww92/edsonflaco/df/dscf0191l.jpg?t=1277259772

And, of course, the Casa de los Azulejos:

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Just adding my appreciation. Haven't had time yet to go through the whole thread more carefully, I like what I have seen of it though and looking forward to the more leisurely perusal.

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@fbaezer,

fbaezer wrote:

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.

The religion was so grusome.

Although it's a part of my heritage, aspects of which are still celebrated, e.g. dia de los muertos, it's good that that religion was, for the most part, replaced.

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@fbaezer,

I also went into the El Gran Hotel, and took some pictures.

The architecture in this part of the city is amazing, and those who can't "see" the offerings miss half of what Mexico City has to offer visitors.

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@InfraBlue,

Coyolxauqui was dismembered by her brother Huitzipochtli, who was born completely armed -just like the Greek goddess Athena-.
That's why we sometimes see a full Moon, and sometimes only part of it.

Aztec religion is delirious to our Western point of view. And it became a terribly bloodthirsty cult.

But some Western religions can be seen as delirious by others.

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We stopped for some coffee at Sanborns, at the Casa de los Azulejos.

http://www.mapplr.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/sanborns1.jpg

It was originally, XVI Century, the house of a count, Don Rodrigo de Vivero y Aberrucia, Conde del Valle de Orizaba.
In the XIX Century it housed the elegant Jockey Club. At the turn of the XX Century it became Sanborns, a posh restaurant.