Mexico City - March 2024

At the end of March I made another trip to Mexico City, with Diana. This was my 5th trip to this wonderful city which I always find stimulating and interesting. Diana had never been there and so it was all new and exciting to her. 

We arrived in the late afternoon on a United flight from Houston. The entry into the country couldn't have been easier and within a few minutes we were out in the terminal. They have a nice system for purchasing taxi tickets into the city. Tell them your destination, pay the fixed price fare and go outside to your taxi.  No hassling with individual drivers and you feel certain you are getting an honest deal.

Within 20 minutes we were being dropped off at our hotel, the Hotel Zocalo and Central Rooftop. The hotel was quite a nice smallish hotel, perhaps what they would call a boutique hotel, and the location, being a few hundred yards off the Zocalo square was perfect. 

We immediately went out for a walk around while it was still light.  I picked up a 1000 pesos (about US $60) from a nearby ATM.  While most places accept credit cards these days it is always handy to have a few pasos handy in case someone doesn't. 

In the Zocalo square, the entrance to the Metropolitan Cathedral was closed already, but the small chapel attached to the side of the main Cathedral, the Sagrario Metropolitano, was open so we wandered around inside. A cleric was seated in front of the altar and was giving some sort of sermon - completely unintelligible to us of course. We walked further on to view a little of the Aztec Templo Mayor area, at least the parts you can see from the outside. 

Diana, Jeannie, Richard

My friends Richard and Jeannie were also in the city and Richard called me.  We decided to meet them for a drink on the rooftop bar of our hotel. We met them in our hotel lobby and proceeded up to the bar. The rooftop veranda had a great view out onto the Zocalo, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Palacio Nacional and the huge Mexican Flag flying in the center of the square.  A wonderful sight just as the sun was setting.

The Metropolitan Cathedral

A couple of margaritas later we left and went to find food. We went to the nearby Cafe Tacuba, a nice basic restaurant that I had dined at many times before. It didn't disappoint. After dinner we walked on to the Palacio Bellas Artes, the Casa de Azuelas, and the Torre Americano.  All interesting buildings.

 

Altar in the Metropolitan Cathedral

Next morning we had breakfast on the rooftop balcony of the hotel. A marvelous location for a breakfast. We then entered the Cathedral and admired the beauty and grandeur of the interior. The skilled craftsmanship of the artisans that built this structure back in the 17th century is quite remarkable.

Measuring the tilt of the Cathedral

Mexico City is subsiding and the Cathedral being so old and so large a structure has been a victim of this sinking. In the main aisle there is a huge plumb bob suspended from somewhere high up that traces the movement of the Cathedral over time. Work has been done to remedy the situation but subsidence, earthquakes, and the nearby subway line mean that it is quite the challenge.

The Organ, Metropolitan Cathedral

Near the end of our visit to the cathedral, the organ struck up. What a wonderful sound in that beautiful space. 

We would have liked to visit the Palacio Nacional, one of the other beautiful buildings on the Zocalo but sadly it was closed. In the Palacio is a wonderful mural, the History of Mexico painted by Diego Rivera. We later learned that the current President of Mexico had taken up residence in the Palace and as a result public access was no longer possible. That's a shame. 

Mercado Merced

We decided then to visit a market, in particular the Mercado Sonoma.  That market has an interesting section devoted to herbalists and non-conventional medicines. Before we reached the Mercado Sonoma we stumbled across the main market Mercado Merced.  This was a large market selling all manner of goods.  There were sections of the market that focused on specific products - so there was a plastics section, a clothing section, a kitchen fixtures and utensils section. Side by side in these sections were dozens of shops selling the exact same things.  I wonder how they distinguish one vendor from another, why people choose one over the others when all appear to be identical stores.  

Mercado Sonoma

We walked on to Mercado Sonoma where there was a large section devoted to cuddly children's toys.  Literally thousands and thousands of soft toys from every TV or film series.  There was a live animal section which was a little sad.  Cats, dogs, rabbits, goats, birds, you name it.  They were not kept in the most humane conditions.  The herbalists section was full of interesting bundles of herbs and roots.  Each one for a particular ailment - diabetes, stomach complaints, even cancer.

Mercado Sonoma

The section containing religious icons and sculptures was amusing.  Statues of Jesus Christ alongside cowboys and bikini clad models and movie icons.

The Harmonipan

The Harmonipan organ grinders were everywhere in the old town. They are a common sight in Mexico City and date back to a gift from Germany to the city during Porfirio Diaz's presidency. In recent years I think they have become less popular and to be honest the sound is a bit repetitive and grating on the nerves.  Rumor has it that restaurants and shops pay the grinders to move away.

We then went to visit the Secretariat of Education building where there are a large number of Rivera murals. Sadly this was closed to the public. When we asked when it would be open, the answer was September or October. That is a real shame that two of the best buildings for Diego's murals are closed. 

A printer's stall, Plaza San Domingo

We walked across the street to the Plaza de Santo Domingo where vendors offer their documentation and printing skills. You can pay someone to type up a form or document or you can get them to print business cards or announcements. Each station had an old typewriter or a printing machine. None of stalls appeared to be doing any business at all. 

The Liberator by Fernando Leal

We moved on to the College of San Il Defenso where there are more murals. Mexico City is the place for mural artists and I love their work. Il Defenso featured mostly the work of Orozco but there were some nice ones by Fernando Leal too. 

The removal of the Mexican Flag

Back at the Zocalo we watched the gigantic Mexican flag being taken down. This daily process required the choreographed effort of a column of soldiers who ceremoniously twisted the flag into a huge snake and carried it back to its home for the night. 

Man at the Crossroads - Diego Rivera

We next walked down to the Palacio de Bellas Artes and went inside to see the impressive collection of murals there (free admission for old people like us).  This is truly an amazing building in itself but it's murals by all the great Mexican Muralists - Rivera, Orozco, Siqueiros are a wonder to behold.  Somehow we latched on to a tour guide describing the Rivera mural - Man at the Crossroads (or Man Controller of the Universe) and listened to a 30 minutes of lecture describing the different parts of the mural. I had seen the mural before several times and while I recognized a few elements I was totally unaware of many of the components of the work. What a splendid mural and how lucky we were to get educated in it. 

The Main Post Office

After Bellas Artes we moved on for a quick look at the impressive old Post Office. A shadow of its former self but in its day it must have been quite the communications hub. 

Lucha Libre

We had an early dinner at the Sanborne's restaurant in the Casa de Azuelas and then made a quick stop at the hotel before catching an Uber to the Mexico Arena for the Lucha Libre  wrestling.  The spectacle was entertaining for a while but then became such a formulaic sequence of fakery that we grew tired of it and left after only 3 bouts. It did amaze me that no one appeared to suffer any really damage. There was lots of over exaggerated harm being done but 20 seconds later everyone seemed fine.   They should be admired for their athletic diving and rolling skills. 

Jose Marti

The next morning we set off on the subway, first to see the Diego Rivera Mural Museum, and then on to Coyoacan. The Mural Museum was supposed to open by 9:00 but didn't until 10:00 so we had an hour to kill. You are never too far from something interesting in Mexico City and we found an impressive church to visit, then a statue of Jose Marti, the Cuban independence fighter, and then a surprisingly good exhibit at the Laboratorio Arte Alameda. 

McSickle, Laboratorio Arte Alameda

The Allemada, housed in an old convent, featured art by a Pedro Lasch and it was quite political.  There were pieces about migration from Central and South America to the USA, artwork of the Twin Towers in troubled areas of the world like Gaza, Iraq, a flooded New Orleans, proposals for overturning the British Monarchy.   

Jacarandas and Police

Outside in the park the Jacaranda trees were in bloom and it made a lovely sight. A nice contrast to the large numbers of police lined up nearby.  We saw a lot of police presence in the city.  Large groups of them waiting to quash any protest that might happen. It made us feel safe, but it was more directed to the locals, to make sure they stayed in line. 

Dream of an Afternoon on the Alameda - Rivera

The Rivera Mural Museum is the home to a single mural,  "A Dream of an Afternoon in the Alameda.  It was originally created for one of the fine hotels in the city but when the hotel was damaged beyond saving in the 1985 earthquake the mural was moved to this purpose built museum.  Again it is a wonderful mural with a whole lot going on in it. 

We then took the subway to Coyoacan and walked over to the Coyoacan Market and then to the center of Coyoacan.  This is a quieter neighborhood with smaller homes. It was the neighborhood where Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo lived. It was also where Leon Trotsky lived and where he met his demise.

 

Trotsky's Office where he was killed

We walked through the beautiful neighborhood to the Leon Trotsky house and toured the interior.  After being refused entry to many countries he was given refuge in Mexico.  He lived in a fairly simple home with his wife and grandson, tended his pet rabbits and worked on his writings. The house was well fortified with guard towers and iron doors. He survived one assassination attempt, orchestrated by the muralist Siqueiros but the second one, the one with the ice axe into his head, did him in. He couldn't escape Stalin's reach and nor could the rest of his family. Most of his family were exterminated or imprisoned by Stalin. 

Frida's wheelchair and easel

Next we paid a visit to the Frida Kahlo Museum.  This is housed in the house where she grew up, lived with Diego and ultimately died.  It is a very popular museum.  I had purchased tickets a month or so earlier which was fortunate because when we arrived there were no tickets available for several weeks.  Frida must have been a force of nature with all she had to put up with - polio, a spine damaging accident, not to mention living with a womanizer like Diego. The museum is full of her possessions and paintings. It is quite colorful and it has a lovely garden. 

Frida's Garden

We walked back to the center of Coyoacan and Diana did a bit of shopping while I sat in the park and took in the local scenery. 

Jeannie, Me, Richard, Diana

In the evening we had dinner with Richard and Jeannie at a nice restaurant at the back of the cathedral, La Casa de las Sirenas. A great meal on the balcony overlooking the back of the cathedral. 

The Cathedral from the Hotel Bacony

After dinner we walked through the square and watched the indigenous folk perform their sage burning and drumming ceremonies.  We retired to the bar in the top of the Gran Hotel Ciudad de Mexico. The hotel, once a department store is quite a stained glass work of art and the view from the rooftop bar is wonderful. 

The next morning we had to leave after an all too short trip. We took a taxi, through surprisingly quiet streets, to the airport and we were on our way back to the US. We will be back I am sure. 

Florida - February 2024

In mid February, I made another trip to Florida to visit Diana in St Petersburg.  Springtime is usually pretty nice in Florida before the onslaught of the summer heat and humidity, however, this year it was unusually cool and on top of that there was wind and rain.  

I paid a couple of trips to the Pas-a-Grille beach while Diana was at work.  A nice long shell beach running north-south along the Gulf of Mexico.  For me the only reason to visit the beach is to swim, but while there were plenty of people there sunbathing and walking no one was in the water.  Except for me.  I made a point of going for a dip both times.  

The Don Cesar Hotel

The highlight of the Pas-a-Grille beach is the magnificent pink hotel, the Don Cesar.  Built in the mid 1920's and opened in 1928, the hotel is a  thing of great beauty among a sea of less than wonderful construction.  In its early days it was a playground for the rich and famous including F Scott Fitzgerald, Al Capone, Lou Gehrig and FDR.  It then fell into disuse until the Army bought it and converted it to a hospital in WWII.  It has undergone many restorations and now will cost you north of $500 for a room for the night.

Columbia Restaurant, Ybor City

Early in my stay we went out to dine at one of the local landmark restaurants, the Columbia in Ybor City.  The Columbia claims to be the oldest Spanish restaurant in the USA, being in operation since 1903.  The building exterior is quite beautiful and the interior is equally beautiful, provided you like colorful tile work.  The food was OK but not exceptional.

Bending Arc by Janet Echelman

Near the pier in St Petersburg is an art installation of netting strung from poles, the Bending Arc.  In the daytime it is nice but it really turns into something special when illuminated at night.

Sponge Boat in Tarpon Springs

When Diana started her days off and when the weather stopped raining, we drove up the coast to Tarpon Springs.  This is a coastal community that is the center of the sponge fishing industry.  Apparently the town was first populated by Greek immigrants that had experience in diving for sponges back in their homeland of Greece.  Sponge Diving and the Greek heritage are now a major part of the tourist industry of Tarpon Springs.  There are many Greek flags and many opportunities to eat Greek food.

The next day we headed south from St Petersburg to Sarasota.  Sarasota became the winter home of John Ringling, the circus magnate.  He built an impressive home and art museum there and they have now added a circus museum to the grounds.  Normally a circus museum would not be high on my list of things to visit and when I got inside and found out that the museum was primarily a model of a circus I was even less enthused.  However, it turned out to be really quite interesting and it opened my eyes to a form of early 20th century American entertainment that I was not particularly aware of.

Circus Advertising

Circuses were very popular in the late 1800's and early 1900's.  There wasn't a lot of entertainment in the pre-TV and pre-movie days and so circuses provided one of the only entertainment options available.  They became a major operation with three rings inside a huge tent.  Ringling and Barnum and Bailey grew into significant operations and they eventually merged into one company.  At it's height there were some 1500 employees traveling along with animals, acts and equipment.  They had a 60 carriage train that moved everything overnight into the next town where they would offload everything, feed everyone, including the animals, and perform a couple of shows before packing it all up and moving on to the next town where they repeated the whole process again.  What an amazing logistical exercise.

The model of the Ringling Brothers Circus

The model of the circus in the museum was the life's work of one Howard Tibbals.  It is a complete replica of the entire circus as it would appear in the 1920's. It is built to a 1/4in to 1 foot scale with the train, the big top, with three rings inside, all the animals, the performers, the audience, the canteen, everything.  I was totally surprised at how fascinating it was.

Human Cannonball

The other parts of the museum had less impressive exhibits - a canon for the human cannonball, Mr Ringling's private railcar, a steam organ, and a tightrope width rail to test your balance - I failed miserably.

Banyan Trees

The museum is in the same grounds as the Ringling House and the Art Museum.  There was a lake, a rose garden, the Ringling's family graves, and lots of wonderful Banyan trees with their many vertical limbs draping down to the ground where they take root and presumably provide stability and food to the tree.

Ca d'Zan (rear facing the sea)

The Ringling mansion was designed and built in the 1920's.  It's design exhibits elements of the Italian Renaissance and Venetian Gothic architecture, both favorite styles of John Ringling.  It is referred to as  the Ca d'Zan, which apparently translates to the "House of John" in the Venetian dialect.  Ringling and his wife traveled extensively in Europe as did many wealthy Americans of that time.   They were quite wealthy and as they toured they purchased all manner of furnishings and art to decorate their new home, just like Citizen Kane and William Randolph Hearst.

Interior of Ca d'Zan

The garden and the house are located on the edge of Sarasota Bay so it is a beautiful setting.  Sarasota became the circus's winter home when cold weather prevented circus shows in the northern states.  Life must have been quite nice there during the first half of the 20th century.  It is still pretty nice today, though the surrounding area is now built up with high rise condominiums.

The Ringling Museum of Art

Mr Ringling and his wife also built an art museum adjacent to the house and today this houses an impressive art collection.  Much of it was purchased by Mr Ringling but there have been many subsequent additions to the collection.  It is an impressive building enclosing a central quadrangle with lawns, trees, fountains and sculptures.

The Ringling Museum of Art

There was a nice combination of old pieces from Mr Ringling's collection (a couple of Canaletto's too) and modern pieces too.  A delightful art museum that is well worth a visit.

The Tampa Theatre

The following day we paid a visit to Tampa.  The first thing on our list was a tour of the Tampa Theatre.  This 1920's picture house is a wonderful example of what was then referred to as an atmospheric theatre, a theatre where the interior was so exotic and wonderful that a visit to the theatre would have been more than just watching a movie.  The theatre opened in 1926 and it was the first commercial building in Florida to offer air conditioning, another reason it would have been a great experience to pay a visit.  Apparently you could stay all afternoon or evening with the price of a single ticket.

Tampa Theatre Stage

We had signed up for the theatre tour.  The guide took us around all parts of the theatre (including back stage) and told us all the stories of what a wonderful experience it must have been to visit the theatre in its heyday.  

Above the Exit Door

Water Fountain

Ornamented edge of a row of seats

The decorations were quite elaborate and exotic but we were told that most of it was done at minimum cost.  Much of the ornamentation was simply painted plaster.  The tapestries were not woven but printed and some of the decorations were just made of papier mache.  Those responsible for the restoration had done an excellent job in recreating and preserving the building.

The Wurlitzer Organ

The tour finished off the tour with a recital on the Wurlitzer organ.  They cranked up the air pumps backstage and raised up the organ from below the stage and we had a little education on Wurlitzer theater organs.  Of course, no organ recital in USA could omit the old classic "Take me out to the ball game..." and ours was no exception.

The Hillsborough River, Tampa

After the theatre tour we walked down to the Hillsborough river and over to the west side and the grounds of the University of Tampa.  Walking along the river by the University was all very idyllic.  Students were lounging on the lawn or lying in hammocks.  Many females were sunbathing in bikinis.  All very distracting for the male students I am sure.

The Tampa Hotel and Plant Museum

The University occupies part of the old Tampa Bay Hotel.  This majestic old hotel was built in the late 1800's by the railroad and shipping magnate, Henry Plant.  The design of the hotel is quite exotic - there are towers, cupolas and minarets.  It certainly looks very distinctive among the remainder of modern buildings in the city.  

The Mens Reading Room, the Tampa Hotel

Part of the hotel, the part not occupied by the University, is now a museum, the Henry Plant Museum.  The museum depicts how fine the hotel was in its glory days.  It was one of the first all electric buildings in Florida.  There was electricity and telephones in all rooms and most rooms had private baths

During the Spanish American War many of the old veteran soldiers stayed in the hotel, including Teddy Roosevelt, and they used to relax on the veranda in rocking chairs while they were waiting for the action to begin (it took a while).  This gave the name "Rocking Chair War" to the conflict.

The Newman Cigar Factory

The next day we went back to Tampa again.  This time to tour the Cigar Factory in Ybor City.  During the late 1800's and early 1900's there were a lot of cigar factories in Tampa, particularly in the Ybor area.  The cigars in those days were all hand rolled mostly by Cuban immigrants.  However, today only one cigar factory survives, the J.C. Newman Cigar Factory.  

Cigar Manufacturing

We signed up for the tour and had a great education in the various processes of the cigar making business.  While initially the cigars would all be hand-rolled the process was automated in the mid-1900's.  The machines are still in use today but they are no longer being built.  With so many moving parts, I am sure it is a demanding process to keep them working continuously.  Interestingly, the machines were actually made by the AMF Company, the maker of 10 Pin Bowling machines.

Cigar Storage

We were shown through the basement where the cigars are aged, and where the raw tobacco is stored until it is ready to be processed. 

Stripping the tobacco leaf veins

Then we moved up to the main factory level where machines strip the veins from the tobacco leaves (by women who are called strippers), and where the cigar machines turn out a nice cigar every few seconds.  There are three components to the cigar - the filler which is smaller irregular pieces of tobacco leaf, the binder,  a paper and tobacco composite sheet that binds the filler together, and a wrapper leaf, a finer quality leaf that gives the cigar its smooth outer edge.

The Hand Rolling Room

We then went further upstairs to the hand rolling room.  Here there were around 10 workers rolling cigars by hand.   This once was a much larger room with literally hundreds of workers.  Now it is much reduced but there is still the stage present where a reader would be employed to read stories and news articles to the workers as the continued to roll cigars.

It was all very educational but I wasn't tempted to buy any cigars and take up the habit.  We left the cigar factory and walked over to the nearby La Segunda Bakery.  This is one of the old bakeries in the area that is well known for baking Cuban bread.  We had a fine Cuban sandwich and a Muffaletta sandwich for lunch.

Jose Marti Park

We then paid a visit to the Jose Marti Park.  This is a little plot of land in Ybor city that is owned by the people of Cuba.  It is the site of the house where Jose Marti, the Cuban National Hero was nursed back to health after being poisoned in 1892.  When the house was demolished in the 1950's the land was donated to the people of Cuba.  Until the Embassy in Washington opened in 2015 it was the only Cuban owned land in the USA.

Jose Marti Park

In the park, there is a map of Cuba and a statue of Marti and there are a lot of chickens and roosters wandering around, as there are in many places in Tampa.

Hindu Temple

Ornamentation on the Temple

A little ways out of town there is a modern new and quite large Hindu temple.  Since this is not typically what you find in an American city we went to have a look.  It was quite a beautiful temple with some wonderfully detailed ornamentation.  We couldn't go in but from the outside it was well worth the visit.

A piece of the Berlin Wall

On the next day, my last, we managed to squeeze in one more thing - a quick look at a section of the Berlin Wall in St Petersburg.  It stands outside an old station that is now a pottery and clay arts center.  Not the most dramatic of sights but still, a piece of history from a distant land and a bygone time.