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Mad about Mexico City — Day 3

Our last day in Mexico City was pretty much focused on Frida Kahlo.  We both really wanted to get to her museum, locally known as La Casa Azul or the Blue House.  We decided to walk there and then bus or metro it back to our hotel.  It was about a two-hour walk to the museum which allowed us to see a lot of neighborhoods that we hadn’t seen before.The walk was pretty much a straight shot, with a little excitement along the way. 

There are all kinds of food cooking on almost every corner of the city
And markets galore — these were some that we passed on our way to the museum
Along with being a book and crossword puzzle nerd, I also love to iron so this cafe caught my eye
We were on a pedestrian walkway to cross this very wide road
A little later we came across this — all ended well (except for the car)

Once at the museum, we waited for about an hour in line to enter the museum and then had a good hour to 90 minutes inside the house and very lovely grounds.  The museum provided a good overview of Frida’s life, including her childhood bout with polio that caused one leg to be shorter than the other, the traffic accident at age 18 that would create health issues for the rest of her life, her relationship/marriage to Diego Rivera, their relationship with Leon Trotsky, as well as her career.  We loved it!

NOTE:  In a related aside — If you have not yet seen the movie Frida with Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina, we highly recommend a viewing.

The long line for the Frida Kahlo Musem, the blue house where she and Diego lived
The initial courtyard as we entered the property
The kitchen — Frida and Diego preferred traditional ways of preparing food rather than using ovens
A display of her paints plus her wheelchair from which she would paint

Two clocks that Frida painted. The one on the left has the September 1939 date when she decided to divorce Diego for sleeping with her sister. The one on the right has the December 1940 date when they remarried.
A second courtyard on the property
Some of the corsets that Frida had to wear following her accident
A painting by Frida after she had to have part of a leg amputated due to gangrene. The quote is “who needs feet, when I have wings to fly.”
This is Frida in an upper body cast that she has decided to make into art

We ended up taking the metro back to our hotel.  That was a very warm, crowded experience.  Of course, when you are paying $.50 each, you don’t really complain too much.  Once at the hotel, we got an Uber to take us to a hotel closer to the airport as we had a very early flight to the States on Wednesday.

The atrium of the Grand Prix Hotel where we spent our last night in Mexico

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