Because a couple of museums/sights were closed two days ago (Monday), we had quite a bit we wanted to do today in the megacity. I didn’t think we could do it all.
I wanted to go to have a ride around town, go see the ruins at Templo Mayor, see the Palacio Nacional and cruise the canals at Xochimilco. Sadly, the last two didn’t happen. It just means I won’t be left with nothing to do if I ever make it back to Mexico City.
On our bus ride around central Mexico City, we got to see the colonial parts of the city which is very European … reminiscent of Paris or Barcelona, ie. gorgeous buildings on both sides of wide boulevards with trees and walkways in the middle. The newer parts are rather American though with shopping malls and chain-stores.
Back at the Centro Historico, we went to the ruins of Templo Mayor which I knew very little about. It is an Aztec temple from the 1400s that had been built over by the Spanish. It was only discovered in 1978. Archeologists later discovered that it wasn’t just one temple but successive temples that had been built over each other in an effort to make it bigger and more impressive … and also to make it higher so as to be above the flood line.