Spanish Word of the Day

Quote: Wizard

Moving right along, the layout of Mexico City is a lot like Washington DC.

Probably both Washington DC and Mexico City are a lot like Paris. Washington's urban plan was developed by Major L'Enfant, a French engineer who served in the American Revolutionary War. Mexico City's history obviously goes back to the 14th century, but Porfirio Diaz was a huge Francophile, and he had a lot of influence on the look of the older city.

Although we tend to think of Mexico City as comparable to New York City, there are fundamental differences. NYC was fairly well developed in the 19th century. Two years after the five counties of NYC combined into one city, the population was 3,437,202 with 1,850,093 living in Manhattan (more people than today). The population of Mexico City was much much smaller and the city was confined to the Cuauhtémoc borough set up in 1928. By 1928 NYC had much of it's present day scale and look. Mexico City just exploded in population after 1928 resulting in a bit of a jumbled mess as Nareed pointed out. The oldest parts of the subway are still less than 50 years old.

And of course concerns about earthquakes means that the first building over 200 meters tall, Torre Ejecutiva Pemex, is almost 35 years old, and only three other buildings over 200 meters have been constructed in the last 35 years.

Guess where in Mexico City this picture was taken.

Quote: Wizard

Guess where in Mexico City this picture was taken.

My guess is one of the back sections of Chapultepec Forest as the front section is almost always jammed with people.

Quote: Pacomartin

My guess is one of the back sections of Chapultepec Forest as the front section is almost always jammed with people.

I was indeed in El bosque de Chapultepec. The section was on the east side, which I presume is supposed to be more crowded, but it wasn't crowded at all.




Here is another picture taken from El Bosque. It was a small public amphitheater. In the middle was one of those huge chess sets, although the scale is hard to tell from the picture. A pawn would have been about 18" high.

Here is what bothers me -- all the pieces are white!!! I'm going to have to let Nareed defend that one.

Quote: Wizard

Here is what bothers me -- all the pieces are white!!! I'm going to have to let Nareed defend that one.

Huh?

I'm sorry. I simply fail to see what any of this has to do with me.

Quote: Wizard

I was indeed in El bosque de Chapultepec. The section was on the east side, which I presume is supposed to be more crowded, but it wasn't crowded at all.

Do you have a time stamp on that photo?My one day in the park was accompanied by hundreds of stands all selling tortas for 5 or 6 pesos, and what seemed like 5000 school children all in line to tour the anthropology museum.

Huffington Post did an article defending Mexico City as an exciting tourist destination which is easy to get too. That's encouraging news, since MC not universally recognized as a tourist destination.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sucheta-rawal/why-mexico-city-could-be-_b_7969218.html

Quote: Pacomartin

Do you have a time stamp on that photo?My one day in the park was accompanied by hundreds of stands all selling tortas for 5 or 6 pesos,

When was that? 1960? ;)

Quote:

and what seemed like 5000 school children all in line to tour the anthropology museum.

The museum is on the other side of Reforma from the park.

Quote:

Huffington Post did an article defending Mexico City as an exciting tourist destination which is easy to get too. That's encouraging news, since MC not universally recognized as a tourist destination.

Admittedly there are some interesting sights here and there, but the traffic problem is a major, major drawback. I would advise a late (ie post 9 pm) arrival on Friday and getting the hell out early (ie pre 8 am) on Monday just to avoid any serious traffic. Or to time your visit to a vacation period.

Quote: Nareed

When was that? 1960? ;)

Whoops! I meant 50 or 60 pesos. They were cheap tortas, but they weren't free.

Quote: Pacomartin

Whoops! I meant 50 or 60 pesos. They were cheap tortas, but they weren't free.

Funny. There's a torta stand near work, which draws clientele from much farther than it should. These are considered reasonably prized at 40 pesos. Naturally at a tourist trap they'll be more expensive.

Quote: Nareed

Huh?

I'm sorry. I simply fail to see what any of this has to do with me.

It is your city. I assumed you would be proud to represent and defend it.