A Castle, For Real

 

El Castillo en Chapultapec is the the castle on grasshopper hill.  It is where the emperors lived while they were still in charge.  I've never been in a castle like this that still had so many of the belongings of the people who lived there.  It was luxury at its finest.  It also had some awesome views of the city below.  

Outside in the garden there were security guards that blew their whistles at anyone who stepped on the grass.  The grass here is meant to be seen and not touched, especially at the castle.

 Rocky kept looking for the princess that lived there.  We never did find her, but we did find her carriage.

 There was an entire wall of these amazing stained glass windows and the upper floor was a garden with rooms surrounding it. 

 I guess that I'm still a little girl like Rocky because I was fascinated by all the little knick-knacks that the royal ladies left behind.  There were all kinds of mini pocket watches, jewels, treasure boxes and dresses on display.  There was a history museum there too, but I buzzed through all that and went right to the tiaras.  We didn't spend very much time there because we had other more important historical sites to see, but I think this may have been one of my favorite. 

We headed next to Coyoacan which is one of the 13 boroughs of the city.  This section is named for the coyote and it is most famous for the Frida Kahlo museum, La Casa Azul, or the Blue House.  It is where she and Diego Rivera lived a lot of their lives.  After she died Diego insisted that it all remain closed for 15 years and then it could be opened.  The woman who was in charge of opening it up died about 11 years into the deal so they opened it up early and found all kinds of artwork and personal belongings of the artists.  It is now a really cool museum. 

I don't have any photos because you had to pay like 6 bucks to take your camera in and that is way too expensive for cheapskates like us.  Most of their major works have been distributed to museums but there were some really neat pieces.  All Frida's books and her studio and bedroom were there just how she left them when she died.  They even have the brace that she always had to wear and a bunch of her clothes.
It was really neat, and a little bit haunting. 

 

 

Frida and Diego Forever