Graffiti Near Reforma 222

Palacio Bellas Artes

"monstrous ant-hill on the plain/ Of a too busy world"--Wordsworth

The English poet might not have been a fan of el Distrito Federal, but this architectural monument is especially beautiful from above.

Tenochtitlán

 Cortés's map of Tenochtitlán (present day Mexico City).

A description of the city in Cortes's Second Letter to Carlos V of Spain: "Esta grand cibdad de Temixtitán está fundada en esta laguna salada, y desde la tierra firme hasta el cuerpo de la dicha cibdad por cualquier parte que quisieran entrar en ella hay dos leguas.  Tiene cuatro entradas todas de calzada hecha a mano tan ancha como dos lanzas jinetas.  Es tan grande la cibdad como Sevilla y Córdoba.  Son las calles della, digo las prencipales, muy anchas y muy derechas, y algunas déstas y todas las demás  son la mitad de tierra y por la otra mitad es agua por la cual andan en sus canoas." 

Entering Mexico City

The city is enormous and, traveling within it, feels enormously chaotic.  From above, one can catch a glimpse of the order that runs this place.  Even at night, traffic jams and packed, busy streets, illuminated by headlights, are rampant.

The Cape in Winter

"In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been anxious to improve the nick of time, and notch it on my stick too; to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and future, which is precisely the present moment; to toe that line."  -Thoreau, Walden 

On the Seine

Paris

Yesterday I went to Montparnasse Cemetery, where many famous writers, painters, intellectuals, and politicians are buried.  My personal favorite tombstones were those of Jean-Paul Sarte, de Beauvoir, Julio Cortázar, César Vallejo, and that of a sculptor whose name I've forgotten.

I broke a sandal here and walked half-way home barefoot, avoiding as best I could the gifts birds and dogs had left on the street (until I found some 10 Euro too-tight sandals to take me to the Metro).  Paris may be beautiful, but it's also dirty--my feet can attest to that.