We're in Mexico!!!

Our flights were fine. The only problem was that we flew out of St. Louis at 6 a.m., so we're travelig on little sleep and it showed on the plane:













This afternoon, Cliff, our guide (in the light blue shirt below with Maggie on the left and Rory on the right), took us on a walking tour. About two blocks from our hotel we passed the Alemeda Central Park, where Spaniards burned people during the Inquisition!!!

Here's a picuter of Rory & Sam in front of the Monument to Benito Juarez in front of the park:

Juarez was the only indigenous person eleceted preisdent in Mexico. Like President Lincoln in the U.S., Juarez freed the slaves in Mexico. He is beloved here and has many streets, monuments and even a city named after him.

On one side of Alameda Park is the Fine Arts Palace (El Palacio de Bellas Artes) the home of the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico. However, they are renovating the building due to the fact that it is sinking. We will see the ballet tomorrow, but it will be in the auditorium at the Museum of Anthropology.

Next, we visited a bakery, the LARGEST ONE IN MEXICO!!! They had 401 cakes on display and lots of other goodies. The pictures show Thomas, who is 6'6" and is another student in our group from Minnesota, standing next to one of the bigger cakes. The other view is from the second floor looking down on bakery shoppers. Don't tell Maggie, but we're going to try to get her a cake from here and surprise her with it on her birthday Thursday. (Shhh!)

Next, we visited St. Francis Church, the second oldest church in the city.

Right across the street is La Casa de los Azulejos, a blue-tiled house that is a famous part of Mexican history and now is a Sanborns, a popular store and restaurant chain in Mexico. (If you cna find Maggie in the photo, you win the prize!) We all four ordered different meals, and all were satisfied. I've been very proud of everyone's willingness to try new and different foods!

By the way, since everyone always asks, here's what my hotel room looks like (after one day, so it's a little messy). The kids are in comparable rooms. They include an extra faucet that provides clean drinking water for free! I've never seen that here. Usually, if the hotel provides water it's in a bottle and is limited or expensive. The name of the hotel is Hotel Metropol.