Goggle-Eyed Bee

 Went to go to the well-reviewed breakfast place just down the hill but they had no tables inside and it was cold so we went to the french place. Pat and I had croque-madams and chris had scrambled eggs with bacon.  Went to the mummies museum. It was fascination, some looked like papier mache their skin was so papery and wrinkly. Some still had on shoes, tights, even one (the doctor) with a suite. The babies were sad. Wandered around and in and out of some shops and stalls... poor Pat was very patient. We bought some bead bracelets, a pendant, Chris bought me a lovely silver chain for my birthday. We caught the funicular up the hill to Pipila, enjoyed the view, then walked back down past some interesting street art and colourful buildings. Went to the Cervantes museum, then to the 'cheese' for dinner. We started outside under a nice heater but had to move inside cause of a band that included electric bass, drums and a piano according were so fucking loud. Clearly a table right...

 Had some fresh strawberries and pineapple at home before heading down to the town via some coffees. Went to the house where Diego was borne, which is now a museum which has some rooms that are set up with furniture contemporary to his childhood, some rooms of his paintings and drawings - huge variety of style including early figurative drawings, cubist stuff from when he travelled to France, explorations of what looks like the Aztec codex drawings/murals, and some images by other people inspired by him or with him as the subject. There was also a little contemporary gallery attached with some interesting stuff. Went further down the road - past the university, which is itself a stunningly beautiful building - to the Pueblo museum which had some Leonora Carrington works among other things. Her stuff is wonderful and whimsical. There was also a little skeleton made of churros, haha. Further down the road was alhondiga, a massive edifice which was once a granary, then a barracks, the...

 Beautiful sunny start to the day. Did some washing and hung it out on the terazzo with Chris. Took some pics of the view and also the cute weird flowering cactuses in their pots, complete with morning dew. The spiral staircase is interesting against the lovely blue wall. Not good for anyone who doesnt like heights though - see straight out the metal grid to forever. Went to a cafe and had a macchiato and a small hot chocolate - think, dark, rich, murray and violet would have loved it. Shared a plate of fruit and a teeny cup of yoghurt with Chris - some banana, pear, cantaloupe, pineapple, and a weird tropical, sort of passionfruit-tasting, ripe apple looking... with round seeds in the centre fruit. Walked around the town more, it was a public holiday (day of the virgin Guadalupe or something), marching bands, people dressed up, firecracker noises, bells... Went to the market which is in a big hangar-like building. Reminded me of the one in Budapest, but less grand. Went to a littl...

 Up early for Uber to the bus station. Bus quite nice... fairly big comfy chairs that reclined, had screens, foot rests etc. We didn't get anything to eat though and it was 5 hrs, so by the time we got to Guanajuato we were pretty hungry. Got a weird bag of chipotle chips at the station and then a taxi up to near our airbnb. Place is cute. Lots of tiles and colour, a terazzo with an amazing view. Dropped our stuff off and then went for a walk around the town. It was a bit rainy. Guanajuato is beautiful though. Went to a little cafe whose entrance was over a little bridge (there are lots of parts of the town that feel kind of medieval european... buildings with what look like old guarderobes on the sides. Had ... in salsa verde with salad on top. It was ok but a bit insipid. There is an underground tunnel network for cars because most of the streets are narrow and twisty. 6,233 steps 4.19 km

 We had good intentions to get back to the Anthropological Museum early and do the last two rooms downstairs, and the top floor and then hopefully go to the Palacio National to see some more murals but we got distracted by markets (hey, it's Sunday). Bought some earrings and a necklace by a dude who made fantastic steampunk things, and a necklace and earrings for violet by another stallholder. Then bought some ceramic earrings from another market. Tried on a dress in a very designer shop. Lovely fabric but a bit odd. They had some crazy interesting stuff. Caught the bus towards the museum. Walked through another market couple of markets on the way. Bought some mango, some roasted corn in a cup with mayo and chilli... Did the remaining rooms at the museum. Some of the upstairs bit was closed for upgrade. Big lines for the bus which wasn't arriving to go home so we got an uber (<$10...). Had a chat with murray and violet and then ruth (for her birthday) via video. Had some coc...

 Had breakfast at a new place this morning. They make their own beautiful bread and pastries. I had french toast which was actually just a huge slab of brioche with sweetened cream-type of stuff, fruit, and maple syrup. Chris had a yummy-looking 'Greek' omelette, Pat had 'eggs Ben Addict'. We caught an Uber out to Xochimilco which is the area of Mexico City that still has canals. There are colourful boats with chairs and tables and guys pole you around like the Venetian gondolas. There are other boats that have mariachi bands, food, drinks, etc Creepy doll island that wasn't the actual creepy doll island.  A little lizard caught a ride with us, and we share the cost of the boat with a couple from Toronto. I had a pulque and we shared a michelada. Caught another Uber home via some freeways that felt like rollercoasters with railings. Also saw a very big, rickety-looking roller coaster in the distance. Went to dinner at Broka for the second time. The guy recognised us...

Had coffees at the fancy cheese place and I got a take-away fig and goat cheese pastry which was amazing.  Chapultepec Park - got the bus there, walked through the beautiful park, admired the massive Montezuma Cypress trees, ponds, ducks, squirrels.. We got into the Castle for free (old age, and teacher benefits). Walked up the windy path to the castle at the top of the hill. Fantastic place to visit - grand building, beautiful murals, some museum-type rooms with art and artefacts and Mexican history, then other rooms which were preserved with furniture from the 18th and 19th Century. It was all very beautiful. There was even a beautiful roof garden. Spectacular views across the city. Statues of the 5 youths who defended the city from US invasion... Chapultepec means hill of the grasshopper so there were grasshopper motifs everywhere - stained glass, sculpture, fountains. Super cute. We came home early-ish to avoid horrible bus crowds and had some margaritas and beers and chippies....

Caught the bus out to Coyoacan to visit Frida's Casa Azul. We stopped at a little cafe once we got there and had some coffees, shared a slice of quiche, and an almond croissant. Spoke with an English woman who sat at our table who was also heading to Frida's. Frida's house is bigger than I thought it would be, with a beautiful big walled garden. The house has two parts, an older part and a 'newer' one which was designed by Juan O'Gorman. The more I see about him, the more I like (murals, architecture). The O'Gorman section had beautiful large windows which would have been lovely to paint and draw by. The house was filled (well... with tourists.. but...) stuff; house things, art materials, paintings (some originals but a lot of replicas), drawings, furniture (including her bed with the mirror in the canopy, her easel and wheelchair, her other bed with butterflies on the canopy, the urn with her and Diego's ashes, lots of her jewellery, dresses/outfits... ...

Coffees and a plate of fruit (apples, pineapple, and watermelon) with a little yogurt and muesli on the side before heading to the anthropology museum. The museum is huge and we didn't manage to see all of it - didn't even finish the first floor - but we plan to go back. It has lots of artefacts from Teotihuacan, the Temple Mayor and other sites that have been excavated, plus some great reproductions/replicas of things to show the way they would have looked. Lots of great info about the people, civilisations etc of all the different groups/regions around Mexico. Really fascinating. Had a large lunch there - guacamole. I had a nice tomale with vegies. Terrible bus ride home. Peak hour mash. We forewent the second bus and walked the rest of the way. I think it would have been slower on the bus anyway, the traffic was bad. Drinks and cheese and crackers, honey, crosswords. 11,046 steps 7.43 km

Got up at 3.30 am Caught an uber out to Pat and Chris' friend Javier's place. He drove us out to his balloon company. We went up in a balloon with about 21 other people, plus 2 pilots - Javier and another guy. Unfortunately, the wind was going in the wrong direction. We waited for a while to see if it would change direction. Javier showed us around his family's house there where they were preparing breakfast. There was a beautiful pool (empty), and a little chapel that had paintings and effigies that his mother and grandmother had made. Eventually, they called it, even though the wind hadn't changed much so our balloons didn't go over the pyramids of Teotihuacan, which would have been seriously spectacular, but the balloon ride itself was very beautiful. We went up through the low clouds and floated over the sea of them, then landed in a field - near a field of cactuses. They were very organised with a team of guys in a van loading us and our basket into a trailer, ...

Had breakfast in a cute little place that opened like a lot of places round here in like a converted garage. More chilaquiles. Pat had huevos divorceados. Chris had an omelette. Pat went back to the house and Chris and I walked around Roma Norte looking at cute little boutique shops. So many gorgeous crafts - woven bags, beads, ceramics, jewellery, second hand, new, designer clothes. I bought some silver earrings (2 pairs), Chris bought a ring. I bought a little plate that has an alebrije on it.  We went past a nice little restaurant. Went home and got back and went back for dinner. Great food. I had a couple of vermouths. They made our guacamole at the table. It was served with chicharones. I had some little prawn taco things which were awesome. 9,705 steps 6.52 kms

Went out to UNAM - sort of saw the big famous murals from the bus window but it's a massive campus and the part that we were going to was not that part. We had a little snack while we waited for Marie-Carmen and Alan. I had aroz con leche which was nice. Interesting campus with brutalist concrete buildings and lots of vulcanic rock in the gardens and grounds. The orchestra/band was amazing. So much fun. Huge venue, big responsive crowd, singing, clapping, dancing along. The orchestra even danced and was very animated. It was a lot of fun. I bought a CD. They were treated like rock stars. We caught an uber to a large bookshop to have some lunch - soup, salad, limonada. Bought some cheese and a baguette on the way back ($40!!!). Came home and had some rum, chippies etc. 9,996 steps 6.72 km

Had breakfast at a little cafe called Galapagos. Very cute. Huervos revueltos machaca, avacado toast, coffees. Went into the city with the intention to go to a gallery before meeting up with chris and pat's friends but got stuck cause all the roads were closed off for Saturday markets and family stuff, so the bus routes we would have used weren't running. So we wandered the markets a bit I bought a woven top from Oaxaca. I tried a cricket. It was difficult to make myself put it in my mouth haha but it was actually quite tasty. Bought some mixed nuts. Met with Marie-Carmen and Alan and had empanadas (pollo chipotle and coliflor) at the Museo Franz Mayer. They had some live music going there too. Amazing collection of silver things, including a couple by Leonora Carrington whose big sculpture we had seen kids climbing all over earlier in the street. Wonderful surrealist animal kind of stuff. Came home and had some rum on ice and nuts. Also, had some of the See's chocolates I ...

Slept in, in my luxurious bed. Caught an uber to LACMA. They didn't open till 11. Good gallery with some cool stuff. Fav thing was a little installation you walked through that was like a garage in Fallout. Had a burger and a milkshake at a place down the road.  LA smelled like the sea, it was nice. Weird place though. Caught another uber back to LAX. Got in at midnight. 6,304 steps 4.23 km

Early start to catch 8 am flight to Montreal, then back to LA. Pizza at the airport. First flight they wanted to charge for headphones! (YUL > LAX, Air Canada). Aiport shuttle to hotel... looked very basic but had the best bed yet. Big king sized bed with white sheets, long pillows. Heaven. Watched some eps of Castle and had the best night's sleep in a while. 6,926 steps 4.65 km

Visited the Templo Mayor in the Zocalo. Fantastic ruin of an Aztec temple that dated between 1300-1500 ish. It had been built in layers, each new ruler adding a new, bigger and better layer to the existing temple.  Lots of interesting archeological things to see in the attached museum - sculptures and offerings, sacrificial knives that had eyes and teeth. Rained on the way out. Lunch at El Cardinal... sopa mexicana, bacalao (smoked, salted cod) empanada Early night. 13,540 steps 9.08 km