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Yours truly before the cathedral.
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Just behind the cathedral.
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Facing the Sagrario.
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A block from the cathedral. The soil under the city is soft clay, and many buildings have a pronounced tilt. Restoration projects have had success at stabilizing many, including the cathedral.
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Where I stayed: the Hostal Moneda, $11 per night.
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This house has become the Spanish Cultural Center.
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Detail of the Center's facade: built back when Spain still ruled Mexico.
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Next door to the Spanish Cultural Center.
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Mexico City has more lovers per capita than anywhere else I've seen.
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The Mexica ("Aztecs") wandered south from their mythic home of Aztlán, in search of a place where they would see an eagle upon a cactus with a snake in its beak. They ceased their wanderings at Lake Texcoco, and founded Tenochtitlán. This is now the symbol on the Mexican flag.
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On the bottom of one of the buildings on the square.
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There are many of these, and their machines are very loud. I heard this one playing The Blue Danube.
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Compare with the fortifications in La Habana, Cuba, or Cartagena, Colombia. This is the Palacio Nacional, formerly the palace of the Viceroy.
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The ruins of the main temple of Tenochtitlán.
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These kids were playing soccer with an old ball in a side street off the square.
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In this house died the legal expert Don Ignacio Luis Vallarta, 31st of December of 1893.
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A plaque, translated: "In this house, as with three others under the protection of the delegation of Peru, persecuted Juaristas came for refuge, there lived Manuel Nicolas Corpancho, the diplomatic representative of my country, who for offering such gallant asylum and for his total identification with the vigorous and proud Mexican people, who fought against the French forces of occupation and their worthless collaborators, was expelled from Mexico the 20th of August of 1863. (signed) Alfonso Benavides Correa, ambassador of Peru. Mexico D.F. 18th of July of 1973. On the centennial of the death of Don Benito Juarez, meritorious one of the Americas"
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