The Rest of the First Day

Pushing through the crowds, we made our way to the Palacio de Bellas Artes (click here if you want to see the map of the day), which is an opera house. Made in the early 1900's, it is full of marble and murals from some of Mexico's most famed artists, most notably Diego Rivera. And, unsurprisingly, the weight of the building has been causing it to slowly sink a few centimeters a year. The outside of the building was amazing, full of sculptures and carved stone. (As always, click on the picture to enlarge it.)



There is a large plaza surrounding the hall, and it was packed with people and some sort of protesters when we got there. We made our way inside, only to discover that although their posted hours had them closing at 6pm, they were now closing at about 2. We cut our visit short, hoping to return when we had some time.

It should be noted that the large park across the street (Alameda Park) was packed with food vendors and homeless. So basically the country's premier opera house is situated beside the country's poor. Outstanding. There are also 'tourist police' in place to help lost/confused foreigners. Guess what they look like to stand out? (Note the vendor stands in the background.)



We headed for our next stop, which was the Museo Franz Mayer. This is just outside the museum (which we are facing in the pic; a very old, tilted cathedral is in the background).



It is located in an old hospital that was built in the 1600's, and is full of Franz Mayer's collection of decorative art. (Mayer was a financier, photographer and collector.) There were rooms full of paintings, mostly religious iconography, antique furniture (all of it intricately carved, and many with complex detailing and ivory inlays), ceramics (bowls and basins from the early and colonial periods of Mexico's history), and silver (platters, antique lighters, religious ornaments and chandeliers).

Here's a slightly blurry pic we snapped of a carved wooden panel:



It was almost over-whelming, and the museums twists and turns made it seem like we were walking forever. At one point we accidentally dozed off on a bench...

There was also an inner courtyard that was really tranquil, with benches, a fountain, and maintained plant beds.





We found the art library, which housed many old tomes; we were looking for the 6000 copies of Don Quixote that my travel book lists as one of the museum's features. Alas, they were nowhere to be found (and no one who spoke English to help us out), which was disappointing as that was the primary reason we hit this museum above all the others in the city.

Coming on to supper time, we found a pedestrian street, lined with over-priced shops, pharmacies, and restaurants. We settled on a small place named Madero Red, because their deal was salad, soup, a toquito, entree, and dessert for $75Mex. Beer went for the same price as water, which was $20Mex. The food was okay: my meat and nut stuffed poblano chili was served cold for some reason...

Walking back to the hotel, we found that it wasn't nearly as dangerous as TripAdvisor said it would be (although then again, I wouldn't want my parents walking around there after dark...). Due to being up since 4am, we were exhausted, and ended our first night in Mexico City by going to bed at 8:30.