Friday, May 20, 2011

El Castillo de Chapultepec

"Chapultepec" comes from the word "chapulín," which means "grasshopper." This is the castle that Maximilian of Hapsburg lived in when he was the emperor of Mexico (1864-1867). Porfirio Díaz also lived here. The view from the top looks over the entire city, and the interior is embellished with numerous murals done by several of Mexico's most famous artists.

The castle is definitely my favorite part of the trip so far. I think castles always fascinate Americans because we don't have much in comparison to them in the United States. Honestly, there is no point in describing it to you because no words can do it justice. So I'll just post some pictures instead.
Alexi and Roxanne are starting to dominate all my pictures. Gotta love 'em! :)

The path on the way to the top.

Travis and me in front of the castle.


Travis stole my camera again... but this one turned out pretty cute!


Kind of overdone, but I still like.


After walking through the castle and listening to several presentations, everyone was MORE than ready to get some food. We ate at an outdoor restaurant in the park surrounding El Castillo before heading back to our homes. Four hours without sitting is quite a long time... especially in this heat! NAP is the plan, then some dancing tonight with some Mexican students from La Universidad de la Comunicación. Arriba! I love this country.

"Stand firm, and you will win life." - Luke 21:19