It not only felt nice to be back in Mexico City, but our room is so comfortable. We both slept really well and it was nice to be back in a large bed (vs the two barely doubles in Acapulco). We got up this morning and enjoyed Bailey's and coffee; it was a cool morning at only 5 degrees C. We relaxed for a good while this morning.
We set out in search of a hop-on hop-off bus. As some may know we checked them out the last time we were in Mexico City but we didn't have enough time. Soon after stepping out we found a fruit stand and got a huge cup of fruit, sat in a park and had some breakfast.
We walked the 1.5 Km to the 'purchase' station of Capital City Bus only to find out we could have bought them on the bus, directly beside our hotel. There two options for tourist buses in Mexico City; Turibus and Captial City. While Capital City is the official and slightly cheaper tour, it is definitely less popular and also the buses are slightly older. For 160 pesos each (about $11) we got a two day pass.
The bus has three routes, of which we took the downtown or green line. The first half of the tour snaked its way through much of the area we had already been to. These buses do add some value with cute little stories.
After touring the Historic and Roma districts, we headed to Chapultepec and Polanco districts. Polanco is an upscale neighbourhood with fancy cars, designer malls, art galleries and expensive coffee shops. The tour bus called it the 5th Avenue of Mexico City. It was quite posh and although I would love to go shopping here, Tim waved to the area and said bye bye.
Chapultepec district has a large park in the middle of the city not unlike Central Park in New York, albiet twice the size. It has a large zoo, castle, some man made lakes and today it seemed about half a million people. Despite it being busy we got off the bus. You wouldn't do anything in Mexico City if you were afraid of a crowd.
We found some food, a chicken 'torta' and set ourselves up under a nice tree for a picnic. Even though the park was very busy, it was equally tranquil. People were going about their business, enjoying the park eating snacks (Mexicans LOVE their snacks), paddle boating, or just sitting on a park bench with family.
We enjoyed watching the giant squirls which were apparently very accustomed to eating from people's hands. I thought one was going to jump on my head.
There is a Castle located in the park and we wanted to climb up and check it out. This unfortunately posed two problems, first we had a big bad which was not allowed. Second, the bag check area only took change which we had none having just spent it on the washroom. Oh well, our hotel is very close, tomorrow.
We headed back to our hotel, had a nap and set out to find some dinner. Tim had read a good amount about an area called Condesa. It is a trendy area of town not far from our hotel which seemed to have high hopes for dinner and perhaps a little night life.
After a short walk we were in the right area, but apparently not on the right night as everything was quiet as a ghost town. We found two places with promise, a British Pub and Cafe style diner. Tim wanted the Cafe as the salads looked really good and he wanted light and refreshing versus greasy and heavy.
We sat down, I ordered a beer and Tim order a cafe Americano. Both came quickly and I was puzzled how my beer was served. It looked like a rim of sugar but after a hesitant first sip I discovered it was salt; interesting. Tim said his coffee was one of the best he has ever had; not surprising as the barista had freshly pulled it from a huge coffee machine that could accommodate any style.
We ordered a Caesar salad and a chicken wrap and the food was quickly delivered. It was okay, tasted fine, but after our coffee and beer; and at almost 8pm, neither of us we hunger. The food was probably as rich and heavy as the English pub but we ate what we could and checked out.
We stopped at a grocery mart along the way back to our hotel and picked up some cough syrup, snacks and a couple bottles of nice wine. The walk back to the hotel was nice, quiet and seem a bit strange by comparison to the busy streets of the day.
