Our Amazing Trip-Day 1/2 As I previously suggested, we decided to have an amazing travel experience, Mexico City, Lisbon, Porto and Spain. We left Saturday the 26th for Mexico City for four days. The double decker bus ride was amazing with incredible lounge chair seats.
It was such an easy trip, only $25 each for a 3.5 hour trip. No muss, no fuss. We arrived on time, caught a cab to our Air BNB and settled in quickly. Not wasting any time, we put our walking shoes on and began exploring. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant that had the best pizza we had ever indulged in. The area is called Polanca and I highly recommend it.
We went to bed a bit early and hit it hard the next day. We walked 11 miles and saw the most incredible area to live, explore and just be. The high rises, the architecture, the restaurants and the people were never disappointing. We toured the Soumaya Museum and it took our breath away. You will see a picture, it looks like a silver spaceship and it certainly rivals any museum in New York or DC.
The area is breathtaking, friendly and very affordable. I might admit, I travel quite a bit and have never seen architecture like this except in Shanghai. The question you will ask, did we feel safe? The answer is undoubtedly yes. Not once did we have any concerns. It is exactly like the states, the same values, needs and dreams. I might comment on the drivers, though, crazy. You have to be alert every moment because they are all in a hurry. YOU need to slow down and make sure you double check all your movements when crossing a street.
Day 2
Today, we decided to tour the heart of Mexico City, a 12 mile walk. A little harder today as our muscles were screaming from yesterday, but Advil is our new best friend. It was more typical of what I thought of as Mexico City. Incredible traffic, noise, and 22 million people following us every minute, lol. We did it with no regrets. The side streets were filled with vendors and their families trying to make a living. It was quite an experience to see how hard they work while still maintaining their joyfulness and comaraderie. I did not see anyone frustrated, short-tempered, etc. They are just trying to exist as we all are. Btw, we were able to witness a fairly large protest for wages, loud but quite controlled.
Unfortunately, all the museums were closed on Mondays. Most of the museums are free which means the government wants to share their heritage. They are an extremely proud country and have not lost touch with family first and “do unto others….”. Anytime we needed help with directions, people would step up and help us with a smile. We know some Spanish, so it helps.
Today we were informed that the next leg of our trip is jeopardized due to a country wide electrical failure in Spain, Portugal, some in France and Italy. As of 8 pm tonight, we still don’t know the next step, or if we are even going to be able to go. Apparently it was caused by an induced atmospheric vibration. That is a bit scary. More tomorrow with pictures!