We felt much better this morning, having had a day to acclimatize to the elevation. Had French toast for breakfast which was excellent. I always find literal translations of odd English food names funny, like perros caliente (hot dog) or in this case, pan frances.
We had tickets for the Symphony Orchestra at Palacio de Bellas Artes for their 12:15 performance. It’s only on Sundays that they have a mid-day performance, which we prefer.
It was about a ten minute walk down the pedestrian-only Av Francisco I. Madero. The police barricades had been taken down overnight so it made it easier to navigate the historic centre.
Every 2nd building we walked by was some amazing looking historical building that had some gallery or museum. We could easily spend another week here :)
The police barricades were still up around the Palacio de Bellas Artes so we walked 180° around to enter the grounds, and then back 270° to get to the Palacio entrance. Good thing we were way early!
Most institutions are free to the public on Sundays so it was pretty crowded inside. It was still easy though to get a good view of the floor-to-ceiling murals on the 2nd and 3rd floor. These alone were worth the visit!
It was about noon so we lined up to enter for the symphony. I had bought tickets months ago to get front row in the balcony, just to see the Tiffany glass curtain behind the stage. The only way to see the glass curtain is by going to a performance, so here we were :)
Unfortunately, for Symphony Orchestra performances, they back the stage with wood panels (I’m assuming for the acoustics?) and so there was no view to be had :( oh well
The symphony was quite good. We had a lot of things we wanted to see before the forecasted rain started at 3pm so we left at the intermission, or half time as I called it accidentally.
Unfortunately the forecast was wrong at the rain had already started :(
We tried to get into the 8th floor cafeteria in the Sears department store across the street for the classic pic of Palacio de Bellas Artes. There was a long wait that we didn’t care for. Then I realized it’s not just the cafeteria that has the great views, it’s every floor! So went to the 9th floor and leaned over some boxes of merchandise to get my pics.
Walked through Alameda Central to Museo Mural Diego Rivera, which houses just a single massive mural, Dream of a Sunday Afternoon on the Almeda Central. We had a bit of trouble finding the building, finally resorting to Google maps.
Due to the rain, there were only a handful of other visitors, so we were able to get great people-free pics. Spent about 15 minutes observing all the details in the mural.
Next up was lunch. We were in the heart of busiest tourist attractions on a Sunday and so every restaurant had a long wait. Found a busy local restaurant on a side street and had their comida corrida, a very typical 3-course meal served for lunch (chicken soup, rice, and then a choice of main). (2nd day in a row I’ve used an Oxford comma). Lunch was quite tasty!
It was pouring rain when we finished lunch, so we skipped the last couple items on the list for today (Palacio de Mineria for some more murals plus four meteorites, and Sanborn’s for the tiles) and just headed home.
We dried off a bit and then went down to the hotel restaurant for a double espresso and split a dessert. Chatted with the manager about the best way to get to Teotihuacan tomorrow (Uber). Also asked about the Pink Panther exhibition currently showing in the gallery part of the hotel. He offered us a VIP tour as guests (so we didn’t have to go with a group). The exhibition turned out to be by various prominent Mexican artists and their take on the Pink Panther. It was pretty cool, and not at all what I was expecting!
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