Castles in the Sky

I completely forgot to write about saturday, so, briefly, here's the most interesting thing that happened to me today:

The International Fair is still raging and the Ecuadorian tent is still blasting their Andean pan pipe music. However, its not Andean. So far I've heard covers of Zamfir, Simon and Garfunkel (no, not el pasa condor, the entire album, probably for revenge), and My Heart Will Go On. And then today, there's this haunting melody in the air, and I listen for awhile and realize its the Andean flute version of the theme from The Last of the Mohicans.

It's great people watching, but it will improve the atmosphere of the office when they finally close it all down.

Anyway, Saturday:
Pancakes for breakfast, and then I walked from my apartment to Chapultapec park, coming in at the flower market entrance, which let me into a part of the park I'd never seen before. Really pretty. With all the rain, the grass is coming up and there were families picnicking.

Around the back of one of the military monuments, nestled into the base of castle hill, there is an intimate grotto like space ringed with plants and trees and bamboo, and speakers. In the middle of the lava gravel clearing sprinkled with bugainvillea, there were a scattering of curved benches for leaning way back.

I'd discovered the secret chill out lounge of Chapultapec park. Shortly thereafter, ambient chillout music courtesy of a pirated Buddha Lounge disc started playing. They also had a table out of free books.

Anyway, after recovering from the long walk, I walked up the long path to the castle. Mexico City is relatively flat, and the hill at Chapultapec is an oddity- it is really a rocky outcropping that towers above the surrounding valley, and a long walk up. On top of the hill is a good sized palace of the Imperial Kingdom of Mexico, which is now a museum of national history.

The views are amazing. 360 degree panorama of the city, with the sea of green of chapultapec's lush canopy a vast moat around the castle. It would be worth going just for the views. The castle is also great, a dignified and ornate castle that would not be out of place in Spain or Germany (one of the inhabitants who ruled from here, was, in fact, German, and didn't speak a lick of Spanish either. Another tragicomic chapter in the long sad farce that is Mexican history).

There's balconies all around the castle, period rooms, artwork, murals by the great muralists, gardens, fountains, massive butterflies flying around, and when you get to the top of the castle,  it's a giant roof garden with an observatory,  covered walkways, airy collonades, and a few delicate apartments which served as the home to the rulers of the nation. Looking across this garden, you see only tree tops in the distance and sky, and it feels much like a palace in the sky.

I caught the metro from Chapultapec park to the other Vasconcelos library at the old citadel. Once a cigar factory, its now a massive fortress like building which houses part of the national library. The other library is the totally new building with the flying shelves. This library was interesting as a massive complex of ancient walls, courtyards, and modern insertions and structures. They had free wifi so I was able to Skype Saori for a while while I was there. :)

Afterwards, I stopped by the la ciudadella tourist market since it was just across the street (didn't buy anything) and then walked to the historic center of downtown to pull some cash and eat some tacos before heading back home to plan my trip to Puebla. It was a good day.