We woke up Saturday morning at 8am Mexico City time, which was 6am our time. But then we fell back asleep! Until 11am! That was amazing. I so rarely fall back asleep at this age, and it felt like a good omen that we both managed it on Saturday, after our first (late) night.
Saturday was the only day rain was forecast, and it did rain in the morning. I got some when I went out to grab big bottles of water and coffee after we got up. But by the time we both left for brunch, the rain had stopped. We had nothing but beautiful sunny skies for the rest of the trip. Usually it was 60ish when we left in the morning, then eventually hit between 70-80* as a high (each day the high was higher). The weather was truly beautiful.
We officially started Saturday with a reservation to a famous barbacoa spot that is only open on the weekends. You order meat by the kilo, and we went with medio kilo, which is almost a pound. We figured we could both eat half pounders at a great burger spot, so why not attempt that much barbacoa? We assumed right. 😉
After brunch we walked to the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts). It is a beautiful building, both inside and out.
Inside we spent most of our time at a photography exhibit called Mexichrome. It was an incredible collection of photographs by different people from different parts of Mexico, spanning several decades. I love photography, so I could have stayed in there all day. I even almost bought the book!
Upstairs we saw some incredible murals. There was one by Diego Rivera, and a bunch of other really impressive ones as well.
After the Palacio de Bellas Artes we went to the Templo Mayor, a museum at the site of a major pyramid that was unearthed during construction years ago. It’s crazy to see it just sitting there, amongst the buildings, right next to the Zócola and a big church.
The inside of the museum was really impressive. It had eight rooms, each with artifacts more impressive than the last.
On the way out, we passed a church, that is evidently (at 66 meters), only two meters higher than the Templo Mayor was before it was destroyed.
For dinner we were supposed to eat at a well known, but totally unmarked, pozole spot, but by the time we got there (an hour before they closed) they were out. My husband was super bummed, and we vowed to try again another day. Instead we went to a spot that is know for its “al pastor” tacos and ordered a couple giant plate of those.
On the walk from dinner to Lucha Libre we walked down several streets of “Quince” dress stores. Each one had more and bigger dresses with more jewels and sparkles than the last. It was insane how many dress shops we passed. So many bejeweled, spinning dresses.
And finally, at 7:30, we were at the Arena Coliseo for Saturday night Lucha Libre. Friday night is the big Lucha night, which we missed, but we were excited for Saturday, which is more old school. My husband and I both love Lucha Libre, and he had gotten us front row seats. It was super fun.
After Lucha Libre we went out into the crowd looking for a shirt for our son. We found one for him and one for me. They are both awesome, and of course cost less than $10 each. I love me some Lucha Libre.
We decided not to stay out late drinking after such a long day, so we walked home after that. My Health app clocked us at 9 miles on the first full day. I’m not sure if we really walked that far, but I know we walked a lot.
And that was our first full day in Ciudad de México (CDMX). I will set this to post, and I hope to have more posts up in the next few days. It’s definitely taking me a while to put them together, so please bear with me. This might take a while.
What a fabulous tour you are taking us on! THANK YOU SO MUCH. I will probably never get to Mexico City myself but your pictures and narrative are bringing it to life for me. Know you are super busy with work, family, life, reality…… and really appreciate the time you are putting into making a memory journal of this trip. It sounds like ALL the immense effort you put into being ready to go and planning what to see and having the reservations TOTALLY paid off. It also sounds like the restorative time you both have needed. Wonderful.
You were SO CLOSE at that lucha libre show! Was it scary?