Day: January 29, 2026

Coyoacán, a historic neighborhood 7 miles south of Centro Historico, was the home of many famous artists and intellectuals. It’s described as having a “bohemian spirit with artsy cafes, shady parks and plazas, and excellent museums”. We specifically went there to see Museo Frida Kaldo. It’s a trek…we took the subway stop near our apartment to the end of the line and the walked about 45 minutes to the neighborhood where the museum is located.

The Frida Kahlo Museum (Casa Azul) is very popular, so we purchased our tickets online before we left Atlanta. We had a 1:15 pm reservation but that seems to be a very popular time as the museum was extremely crowded. In spite of that, we enjoyed seeing her family home, her collection of Mexican art and artifacts, her own paintings, and the beautiful gardens.

Kahlo had a complicated life…here’s one description to summarize:  “Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist who transformed lifelong pain—physical, emotional, and political—into fiercely personal self-portraits that explored identity, gender, and Mexican nationalism.”

Even a couple of large scoops of ice cream didn’t prepare us for an Uber ride through the chaotic streets of Mexico City in rush-hour traffic.  (we won’t try that again!)

A couple of days ago, we took the subway on our way to the city center and made a rookie mistake…there are pink signs and barriers to show that the first few cars are designated for women and children only. It didn’t take long to realize that Larry was the only male in the car…we got off at the next stop and changed. It is a nice feature of the CDMX Metro.

We went to the Palacio de Belles Artes metro stop to see the magnificent structure with an Orange-topped dome. It houses the Museum of Fine Arts, the National Architecture Museum, Ballet Folklorico,  the National Opera and many other cultural offerings.

Across the street is the Palacio Postal, Mexico City’s main Post Office. It was  designed by an Italian architect and a Mexican engineer.

A walk through Alameda Park, which sits behind the arts center…

…led us to the Museo Mural Diego Rivera to see his famous mural titled “Dreams of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Central Park.”  The mural painted in 1947-1948 includes images of important historical figures.

The photo from the floor above the mural shows the scope and size:

The photo below shows a closeup of just one section of the mural:

The close-up shows that Diego painted images of himself in the murals…and also Frida Kahlo (standing next to the skeleton) and Diego (boy with the umbrella.)

…and one more close-up photo of a Diego self-portrait (he’s the boy in the hat eating a sandwich).

Under some shade trees near the museum, men were playing some very serious chess matches with onlookers watching every move.

Flower stands are abundant and flowers are inexpensive. We see many people making their way home with a big bouquet. It’s a nice touch. Mexico City is full of parks, flower stalls, friendly people and good food.