Saturday 12/7 – Wednesday 12/11
The traveling crew on this trip was Cynthia, Leslie, Alex and yours truly. Alex had been nudging us to visit Mexico City for a while and since I have never been I was very open to the suggestion. Alex visited there within a couple years so he had some familiarity and did a lot of the planning for us; a big thank you to you Alex!
We each arranged our flights separately, so Cynthia, Leslie and I were on the same AeroMexico flight while Alex was on Volares flights which were closely aligned in time – so we all departed and arrived in both locations at around the same times.
We stayed at Hotel Roosevelt, a 3-star hotel in the heart of Mexico City making it walking distance to a variety of eateries, coffee houses, music and bar venues as well as personal item shopping.
Traffic in the city during waking hours was heavily congested all the time – so planning ahead and reserving time to get to locations is critical. Nevertheless, Uber and Taxis were readily available for those jaunts.
On the evening of our arrival (Saturday), we took a walk down the street from our hotel to a great taco place called Taqueria Orinoco – highly recommended. The tacos and sauces were deliciousa!
Sunday
Cynthia, Leslie and I started the morning in search of a coffee house. We discovered La Balance about a half mile from our hotel.
La Balance offered great coffee and sidewalk seating where we enjoyed the cool morning air looking out to busy streets and a nice park on the other side.
Later, the four of us Uber’d to the Palacio de Bellas Artes (the Cultural Centre and Opera House) that hosts many performances and museum displays including works of Diego Rivera and other highly notable artists. Our visit was timed perfectly as during our stay a small string orchestra gave us a wonderful concert in the main floor area.
After Palacio de Bellas Artes we Uber’d to Bosque de Chapultepec where we enjoyed walking around the park and we visited the Chapultepec Castle. There were some interesting museum displays in the castle such as old horse-drawn carriages that transported royal and presidential parties to various locations. Aside from the internal displays, the views outside overlooking Mexico City were spectacular.
Monday
We met the van outside our hotel at 4:05am as we were the first pickup of several before heading out for a ballooning adventure over the city and the pyramids.
We followed up the balloon ride with breakfast in a cave and a walk among the pyramids.
After returning to our hotel we ventured out for dinner at il Fiorino Italian restaurant. After that the boys (Alex and Mark) had a wild night out on the town at a local jazz club.
Tuesday
Our final day included a visit to the canal region called Xochimilco. Not only did we relax in our boat as we meandered along the canals…
… but we also visited the Island of the Dolls …
… and the Grupo de Investigación del Ajolote en Xochimilco (GIA-X), a nonprofit research group dedicated to the preservation of the axolotl.
We ended the day in the neighborhood of Colonia del Carmen where the Frida Kahlo Museum sits (you may have heard of her blue house). We ate at a really good taco joint called La Casa de Los Tacos Coyoacán on a trendy street about a half mile away from Frida’s place. We didn’t have tickets to get into Frida’s house, so we just looked at the outside and stopped in a cool shop nearby. This would be a nice area to visit on a future trip.
In Closing
We headed home early Wednesday morning and all went well. This was a great intro trip to Mexico City. Lot’s of thanks to Alex for scoping things out and guiding us to many of the great places we visited. That was a short but full trip and it was a lot of fun!
Viva Mexico City!
