Frida Kahlo

After a light breakfast we checked out of hotel number one and walked a block down the street to hotel number two. Number one was very nice, clean, adequate, and very reasonably priced. Number two is the hotel used by the tour company. We're sure they get a deal, because the room rate for us, individually, would have been rather high.

It was too early to check in, but we parked our bags and got a taxi across town to the Museo Frida Kahlo, also known as "Casa Azul" or "The Blue House." This is the home in which Frida Kahlo lived and worked for most of her life. It is now a museum to her life and work.

Our tickets were not until 12:15 p.m., and because of the large crowds, the museum is very strict about entry times. So we took a stroll around the neighborhood, which is the barrio Coyoacan. This is a fairly up-scale residential area that extends for a number of blocks out from a central plaza and the Cathedral of John the Baptist.

We walked first to what we thought was a park, but turned out to be sort of a shopping mall dedicated to garden shops, nurseries, and florists. Interesting, but not what we had in mind.

Doubling back to the plaza, we visited the real park there, as well as the church. Many interesting restaurants and shops surrounded the plaza. At 10:30 a.m., the restaurants were all still serving breakfast.

As we walked back toward the museum we spotted a bakery that was not much more than a literal hole in the wall. Only one small display case and a guy standing at a window. Yet, there were lots of people around, sitting on plastic chairs on the sidewalk. And there was a brisk carry-away business going on, with cars pulling up to the curb, someone jumping out and running to the window, and then returning to the car with their brown paper bag of goodies.

We enjoyed donuts on the plastic chair and enjoyed the commotion. There was a much fancier bakery almost right next door, but it was hardly doing any business at all.

The museum was quite well done, with a great many photos, home movies, memorabilia, and original works by Kahlo and her husband, Diego Rivera. Her studio is well preserved, and her ashes rest in the "daytime bedroom" next to the studio, where she spent much time.

There was also a very interesting exhibit on her wardrobe and the dresses she designed to hide her infirmities. Some of the braces she had to wear under these dresses were also displayed, and looked quite uncomfortable.

A taxi got us back to hotel number two, where we met our tour leader. After a bit of a break, we met most of our group in the lobby and took a walking tour around the neighborhood. Our evening ended with a dinner at a restaurant featuring food from northeastern Mexico.