The next day, Monday, December 19, 2011, my first day in Mexico City after I've arrived last night my tour guide wanted to bring me back to Zocalo to see how it's going there during the daytime. He told me that it will be totally different from my experiences from last night.
We woke up around 0900H and started to prepare for the long day. This will be my first day in the city I never know of. Judging with my experiences last night it was quite a good city I think. After enjoying our morning coffee in the room we talked out on what places to go today and we have agreed to just concentrate at the Zocalo and around the vicinity.
We went down to the lobby and decided to leave the car at the basement parking. We took the taxi and my handsome tour guide instructed the driver to drop us of at the Alameda Park. The streets were back to normal again after all those crowds from last night's festivities. The traffic was sparse and the streets were as usual.
We disembarked at the park and the fair booths were still there but apparently were close and tucked in well. We went to the white curve structure at one of the corner of the park and snapped some pictures at the nice sculptural structure there with the monument of the one of the late president. From there we ambled towards the Zocalo on the main street.
From the park we can see the TransLatino Tower built in the 1950's and was dubbed as the tallest building during those period. I just can't stop snapping pictures while we walked towards the downtown area.
Along the way we passed by at the Palacio de las Artes Bellas. It was a very beautiful building with intricate designs and sculptures made by an Italian architect and engineer. The dome of the building was colored mixed yellow-orange and it was very beautiful from afar. This building was now an opera and stage building and the design appears antique and Italian inspired. We also took a lot of pictures from all angles and tried to explore the square around it. There were a lot of people also there on this sunny day.
We then continued on the main street and stopped in front of the TransLatino Tower and take more pictures. I've heard that the building is also open to the public and had an observation deck and a revolving restaurant. At that time when we were there I didn't knew about it so we continued to amble and stopped at the Palacio Postal. Have I known it we should have gone on top and took more aerial view of the city.
We made a left turn on the main street and took another major street towards the corner block where the Palacio Postal or the Post Office is situated. The building was a rectangular old building with gilded trimmings on top and occupies one whole block on that major street. We went through the door at the corner and went it.
Inside it was very shimmery and colored gold everywhere. My tour guide have told me that some of the trimmings of the stairs are made of pure gold, no wonder there were a lot of police and securities patrolling around the building. The lifts are looking vintage and the stairs are intricately beautiful. At the ground floor there was a huge Christmas Tree standing there and adjacent to the tree is a replica of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem or we called it Belen.
We went up through the stairs and started to snap more pictures of the trimmings as well as all the corners and floors of the building. The building is a two-story structure and very norms. The postal office employees were very buy at their booths accepting letters to be mailed from th customers and they didn't mind us at all snapping pictures.
We went out of the building and we walked further down a small alley and continued ambling towards Plaza Tolsa where the sculpture of El Caballito was standing. I've read about the story of El Caballito made by a famous Mexican sculpture and the structure was been moved around the city several times until it found it's final spot in front of Plaza Tolsa which is a museum of some of finest Mexican Arts and Paintings. In front of Plaza Tolsa is another huge building of the school of fine arts and adjacent to that school on the right is a red small church with some of the old Indian Chiefs plastered relief were found on the side of the church. I just can't stop snapping pictures everywhere.
From there I told my tour guide that I am hungry already because it was already past noon. After our hearty lunch we ambled towards the Zocalo and there we saw a lot of people around the big square near the tallest Christmas Tree and the Ice Skating Rink. The sidewalks were also teeming with vendors and people making us squeeze ourselves elbow to elbow with he passersby.
We decided to cross the street across the giant Christmas Tree and ambled around the big square and also went o check out the ice skaing rink which was full of people watching and skating. It was just like a big fiesta there. We also took some picturs near the huge christmas tree and also the church at the background.
We then cross the church again and went to the Metropolitan Church which was placed adjacent to a little chapel. We went in to the biggest church and checked out the inside then we decided to buy some tickets to see the bell tower. On top of the belfry we saw the whole area teeming with people celebrating the holiday season with their families. e also snapped some pictures of the aerial view of the whole Zocalo as well as the nearby building like the Palacio Nacional and the surrounding business establishments here with decors on their walls. It was a very fascinating sight to see above the bell tower.
We also listened to the explanations of our tour guide at the bell tower about the history of each bell as well as it's origination and also the history of the two churches erected side by side. It was a very big church for a very big city with a population of more that two million people.
After the tour a the bell tower we then went to the chapel beside the cathedral and also checked out the inside part. Then we went to the sidewalk and perused the crowded streets. We saw some native indiands with their feathered garb and headresses dancing to their thumping drum music equipped with incense smoke. We also snapped some pictures of them.
After that we went to check out the Templo Mayor but apparently the museum was close on a MOnday. How did I forgot about that? I didn't know that they close on a Monday. I was just Italy where the museums were also close on a Monday.
We were planning to check the Palacio Nacional nearby but we were thinking that it might be close because it is Monday so we brushed the plan to go there. Since it was almost dark at 1800H plus we looked tired we decided to amble back to the parking lot where we parked the car. While walking towards the parking lot we saw the Turibus so we decided to take the night tour.
We bought two tickets and boarded the bus enjoying the beauty of the streets and the buildings around the city. The tour lasted about one hour and we were tired when we got back at the original point but we decided to unload near the hotel so we went down on the mall near there.
We were so tired for the whole day walk and sightseeing but we were so excited of the things that we've seen and done. It was an overloaded experience for the whole day but it's worth it.
We were hungry when we got back at the hotel so we decided to eat the the hotel's restaurant. Then we went back to our room and called it a long day.
Day two was quite hectic but we were o happy we've done it t save our time. Next up the next day we were planning to go to the Guadalupe Shrine and go to see the Pyramids in Teotihuacan. Then from there we will go directly to Puebla to spend our third day.
Oh how magnificent it was to have done this journey with a very wonderful tour guide, a very caring person, and very hospitable one. I don't ask for more because I was content of what he'd done for this trip. Thank God!
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