Grand Hotel Mexico City

Five of us flew to Mexico City to meet our tour coordinators Sandy and Vidal of Zanka Travelers. They had flown in the day before for medical appointments, They had arranged for our pick up at the airport and delivery to our hotel.

The pedestrian street our hotel was on. 3 blocks the other direction was the main Zocolo

Our first Mexico City Meal was at Sepia where we enjoyed a 6 or 7 course tasting menu. Even though it was small “tastes” it was still a huge amount of food followed with “tastes” of several fabulous deserts and great wine. This was prepared by a well renown chef who comes from our own little corner of the world, Barra de Potosi, just up the coast from Zihuatanejo. This was my first introduction into gourmet dinning.

Our chef

Our first full day of touring began with the short walk to the main Zocolo, or town square or park, where the presidential palace is located and this lovely ancient cathedral along with the ongoing excavation of Aztec temple ruins.

We toured the Presidential Palace which was full of Diego Rivera’s murals.

One of the sights and sounds of Mexico City is the organ grinders. I only donated to the ones that had a monkey.

Lunch was at this lovely place with beautiful stained glass windows

One of the major highlights of the trip for me was to visit the Diego Rivera museum. It contains only one mural. This 50 ft mural was rescued from a hotel that was damaged beyond repair in an earth quake. Entitled Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park, it depicts three principal eras of Mexican history, the conquest, the Porfiriato Dictatorship and the 1910 Revolution where we meet many prominent figures of the times. Absolutely magnificent!

Impossible to capture the entire 50 ft mural

One of our favorite meals was at a Lebanese restaurant where the food was generous, different, and very tasty. We had another great meal at a Spanish Tapa’s place where again the food was unbelievably interesting and good.

A hot air ballon ride has been on my bucket list for years, and what better way to do this than a ride over the pyramids. I must say this was the highlight of the trip for me. We boarded very early am into these lovely wicker baskets while they inflated the balloons and then we slowly rose up and floated over the landscape. We had excellent pilots as they guided us up the side of the Luna pyramid and just barely clearing the top. It was lovely ride and a very gentle landing, much smoother than an airplane landing.

I have a great video of the flight over the top of the Luna pyramid. Hopefully this site supports video. It’s my first attempt.

Followed by a champagne toast and a breakfast. What a ride!

One of my requests was to see the Freida Kahlo blue house and museum in the suburb of Coyoacán.

The gardens were exceptionally lovely, and the studio they painted in had great windows for light. Many artifacts of their 25 years of life there remain along with some of her wardrobe and the horrible wood back braces she wore.

The last of of our adventures was the boat ride on the last of the Mexico City water ways which were once many. These boats were a lot like “bumper boats” as the boats are large and powered by one man with a long pole and the canal is not very wide. So there is lots of jostling, singing, laughing and partying going on. It would be a fun day to pack a picnic and a jug of wine and float all afternoon. Since my birthday is soon approaching they managed to have the floating troubadours and mariachi band sing me a happy birthday song while floating on the canal.

So many wonderful adventures and sights that we would not have seen and enjoyed except for the excellent planning done by Sandy and Vidal of Zanka Travelers. They know of the best restaurants, the very best, most knowledgeable local guides. It was a wonderful trip, we know we only skimmed the surface and will need to make more return trips.