Friday is our third full day in Mexico City. A short walk from our hotel is the Museo de Arte Moderno and the Museo Nacional de Antropología. The Modern had an exhibit of Diego Rivera's Cubist paintings on the lower level and several installations by contempory Mexican artists. The Anthropology Museum has a vast collection of Mexican cultural artifacts. This is a daunting task, but the displays are well done and I got a thorough overview of the varied cultures and history of the country and a thrilling traditional performance outside by flying natives.
Saturday is shopping day here in Mexico City. Well, when traveling with three women who love to shop it is. I get bored by the often row upon row of the same kitsch. On our way to the Diego Rivera Museum we stopped by the
outdoor bazaar at San Angel, which is held only on Saturdays. Many painters set up in the plaza and further on there are row after row of crafts and knick-knacks, some very good. It's worth seeing.
The home and studio that Diego and Frida shared is not far from the bazaar; however, with traffic it's a least an hour. Did I say traffic sucks here? Unfortunately the studio was
closed for an installation, but I got some
pictures of the exterior. Very cool digs.
Then we braved more traffic, another hour, to see the
Museos Diego Rivera. It's a dark forbidding place constructed of what seems to be black volcanic stone. It's loaded with ceramic artifacts and historical relics. I kept looking for the dungeon and torture racks: this is not a welcoming place to linger, unless if you're a real goth. The
second floor does have the remnants of Diego's studio and the sketches and large layouts for the lost mural at Rockefeller Center. After a nice lunch the traffic slimmed out and we returned to base camp to pack and prepare for our last day and a tour of the downtown area.
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