Veracruz is a vacation D and I took on a long weekend. We took an overnight bus Friday night at 9:00 pm(or that's when I got on, she got on earlier) and then cuddled under her blanket until 5 am when we arrived in Veracruz. I must say that I enjoy Mexico a whole lot more when I am not in Ixtepec...probably because when we go to other towns, the hotel room have more furniture than I do in my new apartment. Anyway, it's a colonial city and more well-known than Ixtepec, and much safer than Oaxaca is right now. My favourite part would have to be the shopping mall, Plaza de las Americas...or something to that extent because it was basically like the Mall of America...though probably smaller with wonderful restaurants that those of us living in non secluded areas like Winnipeg, Bundang, or Colima take for granted, such as Subway or McDonald's. I had Pesto Ravioli and it was fantastic! Onto the show!
The bell tower of the Cathedral. It kept time just like the cathedrals in Europe and made my heart ache for the bells of Colmar or Würzburg.
Another view of the Cathedral, really beautiful.
The old lighthouse on the coast. Forgive me, but D has the tourist book because it's all in Spanish, so my descriptions are less than stellar.
The big oil company in our area and possibly all over Mexico is called Pemex. This is the Pemex Tower. I don't know what it does, but it is a nice landmark.
Here is a view of the two of them from one of the main streets. I was also trying to dodge a bus, so the picture is not as nice as I would have liked. Oh what I won't do for my blog!
Here I am in the VIP movie theatre to see Babel which is extra special to people here in Mexico because of Gael Garcia being in it. In this VIP theatre, you can go to the bar and have a drink, or ten while you wait for your movie to start and check your purchases as well as recline in one of the leather sofas and read a magazine. In the theatre there are massive leather seats with cup holders and tables right beside the chair. As you see I am holding a menu and from there you can order your popcorn, soda, daiquiry, french fries or sushi to be brought to you once the movie has started...no more eating all the popcorn before the previews!
This is the fort at San Juan de Ulua. You might recognize it from the end of Romancing the Stone. It was built by the Spanish to protect against pirates and then became a notorious prison where most of the prisoners sent here never lived to be released. (How's that for info?)
A replica of the street trollies that were only taken off of the roads in 2001. This one is for the tourists.
Mom, look away! This was a sign along the road that we walked to get to the old city center. I thought it was hillarious.D and I spent most of our time enjoying the things we don't get at home, such as Chedrouille a store similar to Target or Zellers, and basically heaven for us. We spent numerous hours there on Sunday as that's when we got thunder, lightning and rain from a typhoon passing by. We hated to leave but had to make our way back to the train station so that we could catch our overnight bus at 11pm.
