After a few days of productivity, we decided to visit Bosque de Chapultepec on Friday. It is the largest city park in Latin America and contains a zoo, an amusement park, museums, numerous statues and fountains, and dates back to the time of the Aztecs.
Upon entering the park, we came across the Niños Heroes monument. The monument commemorates the six teenage military cadets who died defending the Chapultepec Castle from invading U.S. forces during the Mexican-American war in 1847.
Niños Heroes
We decided to start our day with a visit to the castle, which sits at the top of the hill so we had a bit of a walk before getting there. Lucky for us, the day was nice and the path was beautiful with lots of trees and tiny wildlife coming out occasionally to greet us.
Path to the castle
Cute little furball stopped by for a picture on the way to the castle
Little pond on the way to the castle
Close-up of the statue in the middle of the pond
The castle was well worth the walk with its perfectly-manicured gardens, numerous statues and fountains, and stunning views all around. We spent a few hours there, visiting the National Museum of History located inside, exploring all the accessible areas of the castle we possibly could, and enjoying the view from the top floor.
One thing to note is that selfie sticks are not allowed inside the castle gates and we had to leave ours with security at the entrance. We got it back upon leaving and were able to use it throughout the rest of the park.
Statue in the garden of the castle
View from the castle terrace
One of the mural paintings in the museum
Lots more art in the museum
Coat of Arms of Mexico in stained glass
Close-up of the stained glass art
Beautiful giant green vases in the museum
If you get bored or artifacts, there’s skulls at the museum
Mexican flag at the top of the castle
Top-floor exterior
One of the many flower pots in the top-floor exterior
Lots of butterflies made everything prettier
Statues of the Fallen and Grasshopper Fountain
Close-up of the Grasshopper Fountain
Top floor of castle
Top-floor Garden
Yes, we like to take lots of pictures
More stained glass art
We stopped for a late lunch at what was the nicest Starbucks location I have ever been to and then decided to take advantage of the lovely afternoon by going paddling with the ducks at the lake. It was fun and our leg muscles got quite a work-out.
Lunch at Starbucks
Paddling with Duckies
We wanted to end our day with a visit to the zoo; however, we got there a few minutes after it closed. I guess we’ll have to come back another day to see some monkeys.
We did find the Canadian totem pole that was donated by the Government of Canada to the Mexican people for the 150th anniversary of its independence in 1962. It was carved by members of the Kwakwaka’wakw nation (indigenous people of British Columbia) and symbolizes the friendship that unites the Canadian and Mexican people.
Chapultepec Park
Canadian Totem Pole
We did get video footage of the park so keep an eye on our YouTube channel for that.
