Mexico City- 2 days in the second biggest city of the planet
Going to Mexico City was something super exciting for me. I had waited a lot for it to come and finally seeing the second biggest city in the world was amazing. The whole city is full of life. The people eat on the streets. Grab their breakfast at one of the countless stalls, which are all over the city and sell a colourful mix of food. You find one of the most amazing museums here, but also small galleries in very European neighbourhoods. There are typical Mexican taco restaurants, next to foreign restaurants from all over the world. Exploring all parts of the city is impossible but I want to introduce the things I did or saw in Mexico City, which is also called Mexico, el DF or el Distrito Federal.
The first thing we did, after arriving here, was visiting the Soumaya Museum, founded by the famous Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim and named after his wife, who died in 1999. The museum shows art pieces from Europe, Asia and South- and Central America from different centuries. You find a lot of European impressionists and one of the biggest collections of Rodin worldwide. Even if you are not an art fan, visiting the museum will be worth it because of its great architecture. The building was built in 2011 and the façade is covered with silver tiles. The inside is totally white and instagrammers would call it “clean”. On the last floor, you are right under the ceiling and have a look at the roof framework. A lot of Rodin´s statues are also there and the contrast between the industrial architecture and the French art is amazing.
On the top of my to do list was definitely the neighbourhood La Roma, which also became super famous, because of the correspondent film by Alfonso Cuarón. I really liked the film and I thought it was super aesthetic. After searching for information about this neighbourhood, I found out about its food scene. We had dinner there at a Taco restaurant and grabbed ice cream at the (not traditional street food) market of La Roma. Also wandering the streets and looking at the houses or taking a break in a park is always a good idea there. By the way, the famous entrance door of the film La Roma is in the street Tepeji. From there you can walk to the Medellin market, which is also near the Market of La Roma. While wandering through the streets, we walked by the Shopping gallery Quintante at the Álvaro Obregón. It immediately got my attention because it looked like a castle with two small towers. The inside is just a short, red and yellow corridor, but very beautiful.
Another famous and interesting neighbourhood of CDMX is Coyoacan in the south of the city. The area is famous because of its colourful houses and the most famous couple of Mexico: Frida Kahlo and Diego Riviera. We started our second day there and had breakfast at a small Café near the cathedral, called “El Mundo Del Café”. Try their classic eggs. They are amazing: Two fried eggs with a lot of salsa, a tortilla and beans. To soak of all the salsa, you also get some pieces of crunchy baguette. Their banana bread is also a nice side dish. The top attraction of Coyoacan is definitely the house of Frida Kahlo, but it is very famous and I think waiting is normal there. I skipped this museum and instead visited the house of Trotsky, which is also a Mexican house like you imagine it with a big garden inside the yard.
One of the cultural highlights, but also a disappointment, was the exhibition of Ai Wei Wei in the MUAC museum of the Unam university. I had been super exciting about visiting this exhibition and it was advertised all over the city, but at the end it was very small and his art works were just shown in two or three rooms of the museum.
In the afternoon, I started exploring the centre of Mexico City and some of its classic spots: The cathedral, the Grand Hotel which is just one hundred metres away from the church, the Palacio de los Correos, which is definitely a must do and afterwards the beautiful Palacio of Belles Arts and its amazing art deco entrance. For having the best view at it, go up to the coffeshop of the mall “Sears”. You have to buy a drink for entering the terrace, but if you order your coffee to go, you can enter the terrace, while your drinks are made and can skip the long line. On my way through the centre, I came by the Palacio Cultura de Citibanamex, where an incredible exhibition about the female Mexican photographer, Graciela Iturbide, took place, who took mostly black and white photos in all parts of Mexico.
On my last day, I just had time for a short morning tour, so I went to the neighbourhood San Angel, where I ate a delicious breakfast at the market, consisting of a tortilla with chorizo (and of course a lot of salsa) and some fruits. Afterwards I walked down the street to the Templo del Carmen de San Angel, which is a small but a very beautiful church. The walls inside are decorated with blue tiles and the altar is made of gold. They also added a museum, which was closed during my visit.
After two days, I left the city and I can´t wait to go back. Of course, we hear a lot of bad stuff about Mexico’s capital and obviously, it isn’t the safest place on earth, but the city and its neighbourhoods are so interesting and full of culture, that it is always worth a visit.
