Category: united states

in april i was lucky enough to be able to go to las vegas for the acep (american academy of emergency physicians) advanced pediatric emergency medicine assembly, which was of course an excellent conference! on my way home to philly, i decided to take a flight detour through mexico!

i had a layover in monterrey, mexico, during which i was excited to check out the vip lounge that i suddenly had access to thanks to my new credit card, but it was excessively crowded, to the point of multiple people sitting on each other’s laps.

i had two full days in mexico city, and it really hit the spot! great value for money, and a ton of things to do. i mostly just wandered around – huge, beautiful malls. there is a massive downtown park chulpuateca with many attractions including a colonial era castle with great views of the rapidly proliferating skyline. and, most famously, the excellent national museum of anthropology – one of the best museums i have ever been to! it is arranged around an open courtyard, with an iconic roof that has water falling from it. in the surrounding building is a very thorough history and present-day synopsis of mexico’s various regions, which are remarkably distinct from each other in many ways. a definite must see.

i also went to the upscale polanco neighborhood which is where mexico city’s wealthy jewish and lebanese populations reside and shop, and downtown zocalo square, the third largest square in the world, which also has one of the largest flying flags in the world. nearby is the torre latinamericana, one of the tallest buildings in mexico city, which has a great viewing deck at its top. also perused some cathedrals and the place bella artes which is mexico city’s beautiful opera house, and the plaza girabaldi which is filled with mariachi bands at every time. and for the first time ever, on the flight home i got upgraded to first class!