Getting to Mexico City, which has been rebranded as CDMX, from New Orleans was a pretty simple affair. One hour on Southwest to Houston then a two hour direct flight to Benito Juarez in CDMX. Easy, peasy, no jet lag!
We arrived, and our luggage did too, hallelujah, got through customs easily, and paid for the official taxi to the Hilton Reforma. We'd reserved a nice room but our neighbor hooked us up with a sweet upgrade to a junior suite on the Executive Floor. The views from the room were incredible!
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| Nice view! |
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| The Jacarandas were in bloom |
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| Panoramic of our fabulous room |
Our lunch was delicious. Husband had to try the escamoles and loved them. The tortillas were incredible. My chile ancho relleno and husband's pollo en mole negro were both delicious and filling. We didn't have desert. My cafe cortado was delicious. We knew we'd be back!
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| Escamoles |
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| The best tortillas |
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| Chile ancho relleno de queso |
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| Pollo en mole negro gets you a protective bib |
We asked the concierge where we could go pick up our tickets and they sent us to a Farmacia El Ahorro. There they said they no longer distributed Ticketmaster and sent us to the nearby Gandhi bookstore. There they told us the Gandhi at Madero would give us the tickets.
All of these directions were in Spanish and when husband kept asking me what they said, it clicked that he didn't understand. I'm not sure if these folks knew English but it sure was easy not having the language struggle.
On our way to the Gandhi Madero, we browsed in Sandborns at Casa de los Azulejos. It's a bit of everything: a diner, several small stores carrying everything from electronics to cold medicine, and a restaurant. The toilets (free) are upstairs and behind a beautiful mural.
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| To the toilets |
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| The pretty restaurant |
We made it to the Gandhi at Madero and the (seriously surly) clerk gave us our tickets for The Killers. We also bought a map of Mexico City for $3 which I had almost bought on amazon for $14.
We kept wandering the Centro in the direction of the Zocalo. It was gorgeous evening. I was frankly flabbergasted at the size of the Zocalo. I asked husband if it was bigger than a Giza pyramid and he said yes. Astounding! The big flag was not flying this day.
We walked into the Cathedral but they were having mass so most of it was inaccessible. Then they ushered everyone out just before 6pm. We thought we'd return for a more thorough wander another day but didn't have time.
We decided to head to the Gran Hotel Cuidad de Mexico for a drink on their terrace. It was so hard to find the entrance! But once we did, and were allowed onto the terrace for drinks as the sun set, it was magical.
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| Security door on a Zocalo storefront |
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| Gorgeous old elevators (not in use) |
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| The Tiffany ceiling |
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| Margaritas on the terrace! |
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| It's a gigantic space |
Full and happy, we made our way to the CDMX sign and wandered from there over to the Templo Mayor and back to the Hilton.
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| Templo Mayor |
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| Cool bench |
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| Gorgeous doors |
Takeaways:
1. Getting to CDMX is so easy! And no jet lag!
2. But the altitude definitely impacted this below-sea-level resident.
3. Ticketmaster is needlessly complicated in Mexico.
4. We loved the Hilton Reforma and El Cardenal
5. The terrace at Gran Hotel Cuidad de Mexico is a must!
Next: Museo de Antropologia, Soumaya museum, Publico Comedor, Quintonil.
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