Sightseeing in Mexico City

Amy in the Zocalo with the Palacio Nacional in the background. Every city and town in Mexico has a Zocalo, or plaza in the town center with a church and government buildings surrounding it. The Palacio Nacional is where the President used to work and is still used for Presidential meetings and events.

Pedestrian only street in Centro Historico

Centro Historico, a church with La Torre Latinoamerica behind it. There is an observation deck on the 44th floor. We went up for some great views of the city.

The huge Mexican flag (toward the right of this picture) in in the Zocalo. On the left is the Catedral Metropolitana and behind the flag is the Palacio National. In the middle of the Zocalo is a giant ice skating rink, free for residents of Mexico City.
Alameda Park

Palacio de Bellas Artes

An old building in Centro Historico covered in talavera tiles

The Angel of Independence on Reforma Avenue

Look for Amy (black jacket and waving)

Downtown street

The Basilica of Guadalupe

The old Basilica, which is sinking and leaning over, major construction is underway

San Juan Diego's miracle cloak hanging above the altar behind bulletproof glass

The old Basilica and the new one (1987) with the green roof

Omar and his parents

The zocalo in Coyoacan, a neighborhood towards the south of Mexico City

The church at Coyoacan's zocalo

Outside the Museo Frida Kahlo

The museum is in the house where Frida Kahlo was born, she later lived here with Diego Rivera

Yes, it snows in Mexico City---fake snow at an outdoor shopping mall

Museo Nacional de Antropologia

Six Flags con nuestros sobrinos

The day after Christmas Omar and I took our nieces and nephew to Six Flags, Mexico. Everyone had a blast!
Natalia, Hector, Renata and Paola with El Tio Chueco

Natalia and Amy competing a stuffed monkey

Hector, Natalia and Renata on the crazy pineapples (pinas locas)

Tio Omar con sus sobrinos

Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad!

Christmas Eve, Mexico City. Somehow I didn't end up with a entire family picture, but his parents, four brothers and their families were all at his parent's house for Christmas Eve. The evening began with the posada, followed by pinatas, exchanging gifts and a big Christmas dinner. The festivities continued until 3am or so, which everyone declared was an early night :)
Nacimientos (Nativity Scenes) on display on Reforma Avenue, a major boulevard in Mexico City.

Another Nacimiento, this was on the side of a building.

Christmas Eve dinner

Andrea, the youngest in the family, starts off the action on the pinatas.

Ania explains to Amy the tradition of 'posadas.' One half the family stands outside, the other half inside and the groups sing verses to each other, acting out Mary and Joseph looking for a room at the inn.
Renata carries Baby Jesus into the house after the group inside opens the door and welcomes all of us in for the celebration.

Amy meets Andrea, the youngest of the Garcia Sanchez family on Christmas Eve. I met her parents (Omar's brother Mario aka Pollo and Laura) in DC, but not Andrea. She introduced herself, "Hello, my name is Andrea."

Back to Bangkok

Last stop, Bangkok. We enjoyed some relaxing, eating, shopping and packing. Took a few last rides on the river taxi and the tuk-tuks and we were off, back to DC!
Chinatown

A night tuk tuk ride

Our last night in Bangkok we stayed (courtesy of Amy's Hilton points which included an upgrade for happy hour and breakfast at the rooftop executive lounge--thank you USCCB/FSC job) at the Riverview Millenium Hilton. We checked in early and checked out late:)

Views from our room

View of the hotel from the pool The pool

Happy hour in the executive lounge

City views from the rooftop lounge

Omar in the window of our room

Phuket, Thailand

The beach! We were running out of days and not ready to race a two day bus journey south to Phuket so we flew from Chiang Mai to Phuket Island in search of the beach. Because it was high season and because we found a very nice and very affordable hotel in Phuket Town we stayed there three days, taking buses out to two different beaches a short distance from the town. We also took a ferry to the Ko Phi Phi islands, famous for it's gorgeous white sand beaches, crystal clear water and the cliffs that surround the island. This is also where the movie 'The Beach' was filmed.

Beach #1, Day 1

The ferry to Ko Phi Phi, Day 2

First stop, snorkeling. You could see the fish from the boat the water was so clear.

Next stop, Ko Phi Phi Island

Beach #2, Day 3

.....and back to Bangkok.