AND SO IT BEGINS

     The way to go in Mexico City is by Uber cab: quick and cheap. To summon one, we needed to buy that pre-paid telephone, since ours doesn't work here, but . . . Don't ask. I (Steward) am technologically challenged, so let's just say that the throw-away phone is really useless. Bob can use his own phone to summon a Uber cab from our hotel where we have WiFi, but after that we're out of luck. So, we summoned one to take us where we wanted to go, and presto! It was there. Great ride. Cheap.

    Our first stop was the National Museum of Anthropology, a world-class museum of Mexican History. You could spend days there, but neither our schedules nor our backs would allow more than a few hours. So our focus was on Teothihuacan, where we plan to go Monday, and on Tenochititlan (Mexico City). We saw that early Mexicans had a sense of humor, as evidenced by this early

Disney, grinning creature. They also seemed fixated on Death (one of Bob's favorite sculptures—don't ask why), and they went in for over-the-top symbols, as in this many-ton sculpture of the Sun and who knows how many different calendars

and what-nots surrounding it, and they liked to dress up, as in this really fancy-ball head dress. 

   Back on the street, since neither of us was particularly hungry after last night's over-indulgence and a hearty breakfast this morning, we took the advice of a Rough Guidebook to sample street food. So we snacked on a tlacoyo (cheese, bean paste and various toppings on a blue corn tortilla) and later something that looked like an English muffin drizzled with crème leche (Oh was THAT good), all for a wapping US$2.50 including a bottle water. Hey big spenders . . .

    Using a Google map that Bob ran off before we left home and Bob's good directional sense, we wended our way through Chapultepec Park, one of the world's largest, pausing briefly to watch four crazy men climb a cloud-brushing pole and descend on ropes swinging around it, to

visit Chapultepec Castle. It had been the royal residence of Emperor Maxmilian I and his consort Empress Carlota during their brief reign (1864 – 1867). In 1847, US marines captured it from a company of young student cadets. This triumph was later enshrined in the Marine anthem, “From the halls of Montezuma.” The castle now a collection of period rooms

(Think 19^th Century French knock-down) and, from a balcony, a view that the guide books describe as encompassing the City of Mexico and the mountains beyond, but which, today, as most days, I suspect, was shrouded in smog.

    Now came the problem of how, without a Uber phone, could we ever return to our hotel? Plan B was to take a regular taxi, but in order to find

one, we had to trudge back through the park, pausing to watch a swan boat on one of the lakes, to the Hyatt Regency where there were several to choose from. The trip home by regular taxi was three times the cost of this morning's Uber, but by then, our sour feet would have had us pay any price to shed those walking shoes.

    After a lie-down, shoes off, we walked a few blocks to have dinner at Limosneros Restaurant, which was highly recommended on Yelp. By going at 5:30, we found the restaurant empty of its mid-day crowd and too early for its evening one. Our impression of the place was that its actuality greatly exceeded its reputation, the best part of the evening being a chat with a young fellow at the next table who seemed to have been everywhere (New Orleans, Isle of Wight, you name it) and listened to all kinds of modern music (ask Bob for a catalog).