Birthday at Pujol

Protesting Clergy Abuse 

Is this the Wall that Donald wants?

Museo Soumya    

At the Warhol Exhibition

Appetizer

Soft Shell Crab

It's 1am and we are still eating and drinking

Two types of Moule

Today, our first full day in Mexico City, started with a real Mexican Breakfast. Chilaquiles with Green Sauce. In America, we don’t usually have spicy food for breakfast. This being Mexico, we went native. It is yummy and has the side benefit of helping with a hangover.

After breakfast a little more shopping at the hotel. We then walked to the Zocolo, the large plaza that is the center of Mexico City History and government. There is a lot of construction as the are redoing the plaza and it is surrounded by a wall. Hum. I wonder if they are figuring out how you get around a wall. That is a possibility. There was a lot, and I mean a lot of security. Police and soldiers were everywhere. I don’t know if that is typical or a demonstration or event was happening. The crowds of people all just ignored them, hawking their wares, taking pictures or just having fun. We went to a great hat shop that fronts the Zocolo, called Tarden. They everything from Panama Hats to Pith Helmets. Cathy and I both bought hats to protect us from the sun.

We then went to the Polanco District of the city. This is a rich area with lots of museums and fabulous homes. We went to see two museums the new Museo Soumya donated by the sometimes-richest man in the world Carlos Slim the other the Museum Jumex. The Museum Jumex was entirely devoted to Andy Warhol. One of the advantage of ageing is there are occasional benefits – the Jumex is free for Seniors. In the Museum there were 4 floors of prints, paintings, Brillo Boxes, etc on display. It was interesting to see so much of his work gathered from all over the world.

Can we talk about the Museo Soumya? Has ever so much art been collected and tastelessly displayed? The building is fantastic, from the outside an amazing structure to behold. The inside is reminiscent of the Guggenheim in New York City. You take an elevator to the top floor and walk down a spiral ramp. However, there is no art on the ramp. The ramp leads to a floor where you walk through the exhibit and then rejoin the ramp to walk down the spiral to the next lower level. Each level has a theme, which I assume someone chose for him. He basically must have said “Here is a huge amount of money” buy anything in a gilded frame. There are no galleries on each floor, rather the paintings are hung in small clusters like at a flea market. It is a disaster. I am not qualified to discuss the art, but I am highly qualified to discuss the utter confusion. The saving grace of the museum is that it is free! So, if you are in Mexico City I highly recommend that you go, so that you can enjoy the architecture and then laugh at the way the collection is displayed!

We then went to the Camino Real Hotel for Coffee. It is an eye-catching, ultra-modern architectural design and super vibrant colors.

We left our hotel at 9:00PM for our 9:45 dinner reservation. We took Uber, it was very easy. Pujol lived up to its reputation. Course after course of unusual preparations of food. The restaurant is beautiful. The staff young and energetic. You choose from a rather complex menu each course in the price fixed meal. We chose the wine pairing. We didn’t finish till after 1pm! I haven’t posted all of the food pictures but this is a very special place. We liked everything. It is obviously not an everyday place to have dinner but it was perfect for my birthday!