Michael Nassar

Dia: Beacon’s presentation of wall drawings by Sol LeWitt from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s was selected by the artist himself.

Wall Drawing #1085, executed in graphite, was conceived in 1968 but not executed as a wall drawing until 2003 at Dia: Beacon, where it remains part of the permanent collection.  So it’s only natural that the museum would make space available for its companion, Wall Drawing #1211, which substitutes black, red, blue, and yellow for graphite.

To complement this monumental presentation, LeWitt chose and sequenced twelve additional works to be executed according to his precise preset instructions.  The result is an extraordinary confluence of clear and cryptic works informed by his singular aesthetic:  “In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work.  All decisions are made beforehand, so execution becomes a perfunctory affair.”

If you only know LeWitt for his bold graphics and daring colors, the wall drawings are a peek into a rigorous and mathematically stringent mind:  Wall Drawing #97 – Ten thousand straight and ten thousand not straight lines; Wall Drawing #69 – Lines not long, not straight, not touching, drawn at random using four colors, uniformly dispersed with maximum density, covering the entire surface of the wall; and Wall Drawing #123 – Copied lines, where the first drafter draws a not straight vertical line as long as possible; the second drafter draws a line next to the first one and tries to copy it; the third drafter does the same, and so on until both ends of the wall are reached.  For all of the necessary precision essential to most conceptual art, there is a rare droll wit and spirit on display here.  As LeWitt himself once famously remarked:  “One should be intelligent enough to know when not to be too intellectual.”

Sol LeWitt, Drawing Series… September 16, 2006—November 2010. Installation view of Wall Drawing #136: Arcs and Lines, 1972. Dia:Beacon, Beacon, NY. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Bill Jacobson

A friend was asking my advice about her upcoming trip to New Orleans last night, which made me realize that Fat Tuesday is practically upon us.  So in advance of Mardi Gras’ parade of excess, I thought I would post this story that came about following a visit I made back in 2007, a little over a year after Katrina made landfall and the city remained desperate for help on all fronts.  I returned again in 2009 for Mardi Gras, which turned out to be the best attended celebrations since 2005.  Yet away from the crowds and the tourists there still remained so much work to be done for the people who actually live there.  The clean-up and rebuilding has progressed at a glacial pace.  But I don’t need to tell that to anyone who’s recently visited the open pit that remains in lower Manhattan, do I?

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“I used to think that Angelina was a slut,” a marketing executive told me over lunch last week in the trendy Warehouse District of New Orleans.  “I mean stealing Brad away from poor Jennifer Aniston,” she added with an almost religious fervor before trailing off, realizing that in her excitement to finally talk about something other than Hurricane Katrina, she has perhaps said a bit too much.  “I love Jennifer Aniston,” she added sheepishly, as though it were an apology for her momentary outburst.

But who can fault her?  New Orleans’ tempered recovery is under relentless media scrutiny these days.  To read the papers – or worse, watch the evening news – you’d think the Crescent City had dissolved into Dodge City.  Which isn’t the case at all.  Yes, crime has spiked in New Orleans, but taken in context it’s the equivalent of the murder rate rising on Staten Island and having that scare tourists away from the Theatre District. As one local resident bluntly summarized the situation:  “If you’re not involved in street drugs, you’re not going to get shot.”

So when the world’s most famous couple decided to put down roots in the French Quarter a few months ago and raise their ever-expanding, international family, you can imagine that New Orleanians were not only ecstatic to have something else to talk about, but also to have their Herculean efforts at rebuilding a civil society out of the greatest natural disaster in US history validated, too.

“You still got to get out and see the mess in the lower ninth and St. Bernard’s,” said Marié, a street singer belting out Sophie Tucker songs along St. Peter’s Street, “but maybe now that they’re here, people will understand that we’re not all living in trailers.  Bring on the paparazzi,” she laughs as her arms flail up into a touchdown pose. “This is a city that dances at funerals, baby; we’re not going to be beaten down.”

As if to further emphasize that point, the local Times-Picayune reported last month that if you look at a 19^th century map of the original city, you’ll also be looking at a map of what was left relatively unscathed by Katrina.  The New Orleans that has seduced travelers with its heritage of music, food, and architecture (not to mention the grab bag of writers, artists and freaks) is still intact.  It’s just a little less crowded now, having been brought to its economic knees.

If ever there was a city simpatico with what has happened to the Big Easy, it’s the Big Apple.  Now more than ever New Orleans needs you – and you need it.  Here’s how you can combine a good time with a good deed.

What to do

One of the finest things about New Orleans is that you don’t have to do anything to get the full experience.  Dripping with history – and beads – at every corner, a simple walk down the street can yield as many unexpected pleasures as Christmas morning.  Browsing antique shops on Royal Street, the galleries of the Warehouse district or the sumptuous architecture of the Garden District can easily eat up an entire weekend.  However, if you want a proper tour there’s no better option than local historian Rob Florence’s Historic New Orleans Tours to give you a condensed yet authoritative overview of the many French Quarter highlights such as Pirate’s Alley, the Quadroon Ballroom, the magnificent Pontalba Buildings, Faulkner House and the building where Tennessee Williams wrote A Streetcar Named Desire.

Florence also happens to be an expert on the city’s distinctive aboveground cemeteries and none are as evocative – nor house as many curious characters – as the little St. Louis Cemetery, No. 1 on the edge of the French Quarter.  The oldest in the city, it houses the tomb of notorious Voodoo queen, Marie Laveau, along with that of Homer Plessy, the unlucky plaintiff of Plessy v. Ferguson, which enshrined the concept of separate but equal in American law. The imposing Italian Mutual Benefit Association monument was featured in “Easy Rider”: Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson tripped on LSD here before getting amorous atop it with their ladyfriends.

The Old Ursuline Convent is not only the oldest building in the Mississippi Valley (built in 1745 on the orders of Louis XV of France), but also home to the Exhibition of the Vatican Mosaic Studio through June 1^st, the first exhibition (and only stop) of these treasures outside of the Vatican. The thirty-seven priceless examples are the perfection of an art form.  A room of modern mosaics inspired by the art of van Gogh, Chagall and Monet is outstanding.  There is also a local mosaicist on-site demonstrating the craft.

What to eat

It’s been said that people in the Big Easy don’t just eat to live – they live to eat. “You gotta do it the way we do here,” a waiter tells me on my first night in town:  “We start planning for dinner while we’re eating breakfast.”  The only thing I’d add to that would be to make sure you leave room for dessert.

The clown prince of the Food Network, Emeril Lagasse, may today be atop a global food empire, but it all started here at Emeril’s, the funky Warehouse District restaurant that helped lead the revitalization of the area almost 17 years ago. And while Emeril doesn’t don an apron here much anymore, Chef de Cuisine Christopher Lynch does the ragin’ Cajun proud: crispy Gulf oysters with Manchego fondue get enlivened with smoked pimento, duck schnitzel re-imagines the classic Wiener with roasted shallots and confit and a luscious banana cream pie will haunt your dreams long after you’ve returned home. Emeril’s, 800 Tchoupitoulos Street @ Julia  Tel: (504) 528-9393

Louisiana native Chuck Subra’s seafood-oriented menu at La Cote Brasserie draws on the diverse Cajun and Creole cultures that contributed to what we now call South Louisiana cuisine. A crispy whole redfish smothered in okra tomato stew with a cayenne beurre blanc is the perfect example.  Charbroiled oysters topped with spinach and parmesan is another winner. In a nod to his grandmother, he’s serving up her hearty duck & andouille gumbo and winning raves. La Cote Brasserie 700 Tchoupitoulos Street Tel: (504) 613-2350

You can tell from the lines out the door that Mother’s is a NOLA institution.  Although “that’s nothing,” says owner Jerry Amato, a bear of a man who can often be found directing traffic from a table just inside the door.  “Business is off a good fifty, sixty percent.”  Which means you won’t have to wait as long for home cooking at its finest:  hot fluffy biscuits stuffed with debris (the tasty scraps of beef that fall into the gravy while roasting), jambalaya or their famous baked ham — so famous they go through a whopping 175,000 pounds of it a year. Mother’s 401 Poydras Street Tel: 504-532-9656

What to hear & where to hang

In the city where jazz was born you’d be hard pressed to spend a day here and not hear the euphonious sounds of brass wafting down the street.  After you get your feet wet on famous Bourbon Street head to Frenchmen Street in the Marigny neighborhood.  Here you’ll find well-kept secrets like Snug Harbor (Ellis Marsalis and Charmaine Neville are regulars most Fridays and Mondays, respectively), d.b.a., where the cover’s never more than $10 and the bar has over twenty quirky brews on draught, or The Spotted Cat for fresh takes on classic big-band jazz and all sorts of funky roots music.

If music is not at the top of your list, sip a Pimm’s Cup in the courtyard at Napoleon House for a quintessential N’awlins experience.  Or head to Pat O’Brien’s, birthplace of the iconic – and ironic – Hurricane cocktail.  Lucy’s Retired Surfer Bar has the clever A Drink Called Wanda with its very own goldfish and cheap heaps of crawfish on Sunday afternoons.

Where to stay

The 217-room Renaissance Arts Hotel in the hip arts district is a converted turn of the century warehouse.  True to its name, this comfortable hotel has cool contemporary art on every available surface:  Dale Chihuly, Francis Pavy and Mitchell Gaudet to name but a few.   There’s even a sculpture garden inside the atrium and a branch of the esteemed Arthur Roger Gallery located off the lobby – not to mention the many Julia Street galleries right around the corner. Spring rates start at $139 per room. Family packages start at $159 per night and include breakfast and a picnic lunch for four. Renaissance Arts Hotel, 700 Tchoupitoulas Street Tel: (504) 613-2330

Spring rates at the nearby Marriott New Orleans at the Convention Center start as low as just $99 per room. New Orleans Marriott at the Convention Center, 859 Convention Center Boulevard  Tel: (504)613-2888

Notes on the Lower Ninth Ward

Just as every tourist that comes to New York feels compelled to visit Ground Zero, so too, do visitors to New Orleans feel drawn to the devastated areas along the city’s perimeter:  an area, by the way, three times the size of Manhattan.  The scale of it is epic and you cannot really appreciate it – if that’s the right word – until you see it.  Nobody wants to gawk, yet the human need to bear witness is a powerful one.  Just be sensitive and avoid joining one of those tacky tour buses.  Michael Love – a Kiwi transplant involved in building community gardens in the lower Ninth Ward – knows the area well and can escort you through some of the more sensitive areas.  You can request him from American Luxury Limos. Tel: (800) 631-5466 or

If what you see moves you to do more, Habitat for Humanity takes volunteers Tuesday through Saturday (504) 861-2077 or you can sign up on the website.

I confess:  most of the press releases that drift into my in-box don’t ever get opened.  You can tell from the mangled subject lines of most of them that some poor intern has been subjected to the trial-by-fire assignment of making the latest happenings in St. Elsewhere sound sexy.  More often than not I’m tempted to click the “spam” button, but we all have our little crosses to bear in life, don’t we?

Today, however, an email arrived with a simple, elegant subject line that set my imagination running wild and made me want to open it right away:  Create your own Northern Lights.

The folks behind Innovation Norway – the name alone tells you they are interested in a lot more than just PR -  have launched a program that allows you to create your own computer generated version of the Aurora Borealis against a fairytale-blue Norwegian backdrop.  Paint the sky with your mouse, or choose your astrological constellation to use with a palette of colors that reflect your mood.   It’s surprisingly addictive, plus there’s even a mysteriously meditative soundtrack to accompany it.  And once you’re appropriately blissed – or tripped – out, save the choicest bits of your handiwork and share it via Twitter, Facebook or email.

The micro-site also includes destination information and special offers from Norway’s travel partners, for anyone who wants to see the Northern Lights for real.  For a change, I was  actually interested in navigating my way around, looking for inspiration and discovering factoids – like during the Viking Age, the Northern Lights were considered the armor of the Valkyrie warrior virgins; who knew?  Thanks, Innovation Norway, for the creative break in my day.

If you’re lucky enough to be in Berlin this Saturday, I am gnashing my teeth in jealousy.  January 30th is Lange Nacht der Museen – or The Long Night of Museums for those who don’t Sprechen sie Deutsch – a highlight of the cultural calendar in a city that takes its Kultur very, very seriously.

About 60 museums and galleries across the city  – including the incredible Museumsinsel, or Museum Island, in the former East Berlin, Deutsche Guggenheim, and Schloss Charlottenburg, to name but a very few – open their doors late into the night, giving visitors an all-you-can-see buffet-style evening of exhibitions, guided tours and special events.  This year’s theme focuses on Berlin as a capital city of science and each location will offer a site-specific program dedicated to that theme in addition to their regular exhibitions.

Although many museums are within walking distance of the central City Hall meeting point, many more are spread out across the city.  Practical as ever, free shuttle buses are on hand to help you navigate your way between museums and see as much as possible. Best of all, every bus is manned by a blond, blue-eyed steward who’ll answer all your questions.  OK, maybe that last line is a bit of wishful thinking — however the all-incluseive €15 ticket price is not.

How could I have forgotten to include an image of the Liberty Hotel yesterday?  The central lobby is one of the coolest places in Boston.  I’m particularly fond of the cleverly named Clink – a seasonal, sustainable Modern American restaurant, where original jail cells create cozy dining nooks – and Alibi – a cocktail bar set in the old drunk tank.  Click the image for greater detail.

Inspiring stories of adaptive reuse shapes a unique group of converted hotels which offer experiences rich with history and intrigue – while being conscious of the mantra inherent in the 3 R’s.  Boston’s Liberty Hotel, once the storied Charles Street Jail, underwent a $150 million renovation to reopen as a 300-room luxury boutique hotel.  In Lancaster, PA, the unearthing of a 19th century tobacco warehouse gave way to the Lancaster Arts Hotel, which displays the original red brick and stone walls. The cleverly named Jumbo Hotel is a 25-room hostel hotel at the Stockholm-Arlanda airport and is actually a converted Boeing 747.  At Das Park Hotel in Austria, the “rooms” are massive concrete sewage pipes with a double bed, side table, light, and sleeping bag tucked inside and guests pay whatever amount they feel is reasonable.

Mt. Beacon B&B not only has the most charming of hostesses in the mother-daughter team of Barbara and Lauren Walling, but also a decadent breakfast that just might send you back to bed for a little nap.

I’m reading Vera Pavlova’s amazing new book of poems, If There is Something to Desire:  100 Poems.  Simple, elegant, and direct, her verse storms the heart in highly disciplined miniatures that vibrate with emotion.  They are transporting – in that way you once hoped poetry could be:  mapping an inner landscape like a well-thumbed Michelin Guide.

It’s difficult to believe but Pavlova is the first contemporary Russian poet since Joseph Brodsky to have a solo collection of verse translated and published in English.  Thanks to my good friend Yelena Demikovsky of Red Palette Pictures for introducing me to this extraordinary artist.  Yelena made a short documentary film about Pavlova that is currently making the rounds of a few festivals.  You can view the trailer for it on the Red Palette site.

Here are three brief, sterling examples.  Read them and weep.

Then click the link above to buy the rest.

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#46

When the very last grief

deadens all our pain,

I will follow you there

on the very next train,

not because I lack strength

to ponder the end result,

but maybe you forgot to bring

pills,  a necktie, razor blades……

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#17

Why is the word yes so brief?

It should be

the longest,

the hardest,

so that you cold not decide in an instant to say it,

so that upon reflection you could stop

in the middle of saying it.

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#11

Let us touch each other

while we still have hands,

palms, forearms, elbows . . .

Let us love each other for misery,

torture each other, torment,

disfigure, maim,

to remember better,

to part with less pain.

The big advantage of shopping the capital city is that you can find goods from all over Mexico, though they’ll be more expensive.  The greatest concentration of tourist shops can be found in the Zona Rosa – pricey leather, jewelry, handicrafts and souvenirs abound.  Plus there is a huge trade in fake designer labels, none of which look remotely genuine. Some good crafts can be found at the government subsidizedFonart shops – a smart place to check prices before you venture into the maelstrom of the markets.

Every area of the city has its markets that stock food and essentials intended for the neighborhood.  In many ways, they are the lifeblood of community in Mexico, kind of like Main Street USA.  They are abundant and well worth the time; just be prepared to haggle a little. La Merced , at  La Merced Metro is the city’s largest market, contained (barely) within a collection of huge modern buildings.  From 6 am – 6 pm daily, you’ll find almost anything you could conceive of finding in a Mexican market..  At the corner of Luis Moya and E. Pugibet, there’s a small daily market that sells nothing but flowers – loose, bushels of petals, in enormous arrangements, even paper and plastic.  There are two interesting markets in Coyacan, just up from the main street north of Plaza Hildalgo:  while the daily market specializes in food, the Sunday market takes over the entire plaza with essential souvenirs such as tipico clothing and the ever-present Mayan Marcos dolls.

A lot of the obvious nightlife in Mexico City is fairly tame, however, modeled on the European version of dimly-lit discotheques.  Two attractions however, stand out for even the most jaded of queens – the mariachi music at the Plaza Garabaldi and the Ballet Folklorico.  Finding other forms of live music can be frustrating and ultimately disappointing:  most places play rock and Latin, while good jazz is impossible to find anywhere.  The nightclubs concentrated in the Zona Rosa tend to mix it up a bit, often offering early- and late-night themes.  There are a few dedicated queer bars, but don’t expect any type of big-city style, they tend to be on the squalid side, aimed at the backroom crowd.  The venerable Dolce Vita seems an exception, catering to the so-called beautiful people, replete with velvet ropes. Mixed clubs are more in abundance and generally offer a happier night out:  try Mekano at Genova 44 or Urano at Hamburgo 123.  Venues may have a relatively high cover charge, but that usually includes a couple of free drinks.

The English-language Mexico City Times generally has good listing of weekly events throughout the city and is available at any newsstand.  The flyer Ser Gay can be found in and around the Zona and offers a local’s guide to the nightlife

The evening gatherings in the Plaza Garabaldi are not for the faint of heart.  Each night you’ll find hundreds of competing mariachi bands, in all their tight, silver-studded charro finery and vast sombreros, to play for anyone among the wandering crowds who’ll pay them.  You may also come across norteno bands from the border areas, or the softer sounds of marimba musicians from the south.  Wander around and get your fill.  Should you want an individual serenade, pick out a likely looking group and negotiate your price.  At the back of the square is a huge market hall with stalls serving simple food, a change of pace from the pricey bars that surround the square.  Ballet Folklorico is an internationally acclaimed compilation of traditional dances from around the country, elaborately choreographed and designed in a style that would fit right in on Broadway.  Seeing the Ballet at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, where the theater is an attraction unto itself, is a treat.  Tickets, however, can be hard to come by.  Book a few days in advance through the box office (512-3633)

Mexico still suffers from a paucity of gay-specific accommodations. What little there is is widely considered “unhygenic”.  However there are a wide variety of mainstream hotels among the thousands that populate this city that you can choose from.  Beware however, that many hotels do not allow you to bring home guests.  Stranger still, many of the larger chains that boast executive floors feature floor guards -  Benecio del Toro in Traffic comes to mind.  The wary should be so, your every move is accounted for by men who seem just the other side of savory.  Hotel Nikko (Campos Eliseos 204, 525-280-1111) is one of those hotels.  But gazing out your 45th floor window into the park you tend to forget such things.  The beautiful Majestic (Madero 73, 521-8600) sits along the Zocalo.  Its seventh floor restaurant makes for a panoramic breakfast view, plus it’s a bit cheaper and more conveniently located than the chi-chi Zona Rosa establishments.  You’ll never go wrong at a Four Seasons and the  hacienda-style building along Reforma is no exception (Reforma 500; 011-525/230-1818) Gillow (Isabel La Catolica – 518-14-40) passes quite nicely for a luxury hotel.  It features large (by Mexican standards) rooms, an in-house travel agency and a great restaurant.

Speaking of food……for anyone raised on a steady diet of Southwestern, Tex-Mex, Cal-Mex or Burritoville, the taste of authentic Mexican food may come as a slap to the face.  The use of corn is abundant, its smell  pervasive, there’s no getting around it.  It may cause more intestinal distress than the water, nevertheless, it is the main attraction.  A meal on the aforementioned Majestic Hotel’s rooftop is a necessity, especially as the ravishing sunset flirts along the parade of colonial buildings that surround the Zocalo; Cafe de Tacuba (Tacuba 28; 512-8482) is home to one of the country’s top bands, hence the eponymous name. Though the excellent food comes at a price, that hasn’t stopped folks who’ve been packing it in since 1912.  Cicero Centenario (Londres 195; 553-3800) was once one of the city’s shining stars on the continental scene; a series of lost chefs have left it severely disabled.  The faded glory of what once was is severely overpriced.  San Angel Inn (Diego Rivera 50 616-0537) is a very popular, upscale restaurant in a beautiful old hacienda.  be sure to call ahead for reservations.  El Tajin (Miguel Angel de Quevedo 687, Coyoacan; 659-4447) features specialties from Veracruz.  Fish dishes such as Huachinango a la Veracruz and Mojarra al Mojo del Ajo make it worth the extra effort in finding the place.from the archive

It may be smog-choked, even crime ridden in parts, but the lure of Mexico City is irresistible.  The most populated metropolis in the world boasts colonial mansions and excavated pyramids alongside fabulous museums and galleries, all shadowed by the concrete and glass of encroaching NAFTA development.  Above all, the city is alive – exciting, sometimes frightening, always bewildering, but boldly alive.  You cannot avoid it, and if you genuinely want to know anything of Mexico you shouldn’t even try – even if the attraction does sometimes seem to be the same ghoulish fascination that draws onlookers to rubber-neck a car crash.

Though the 10% rule of thumb would peg this city as having 2 1/2 million friends of Dorothy romaing its congested streets, that is simply not the case. Mexico, like Ireland, wears its provinical Catholicism on its sleeve:  any deviation is firmly rooted in centuries of shame. The queer scene may slowly beginning to make itself visible, but it has been a long road.  It doesn’t approach the carnival-like atmosphere found along the Pacific coast citites that have become a gay tourist mecca, the paucity of rainbow flags will attest to that.  You’d be wise not to walk hand in hand down the street with your lover; though the backrooms are nightly filled to capacity with eager flesh — such is the paradox of Mexico City.

Designed to rival the grand thoroughfares of Europe, the Paseo do la Reforma is the most impressive street in Mexico.  It doubled as a ceremonial parade from the palace of Chapultepec to the city’s Zocalo, or central square.  It remains the smart thoroughfare:  ten lanes of traffic, lines of tress and imposing statues at every intersection.

It’s a teeming procession that’s made worse by an onslaught of pedestrian crush and traffic fumes – and don’t forget the altitude.  You’ll be well served by hopping one of the frequent buses, which allow you to jump on and off at will.  The roundabouts at each major intersection feature distinctive statues that provide easy landmarks:  Christopher Columbus at the Glorieta Colon – Plaza d Republica is just to the north; Aztec emperor Cuauhtemoc comes next at the crossing of Insurgentes – a bottleneck for some of the worst city traffic; El Angel, appropriately golden, atop a 50m column is the third to look out for – the place to get off the bus for the aptly named, Zona Rosa, or Pink Area , Mexico City’s version of Greenwich Village-cum-Castro.

You’ll know you’re there by the street names:  Hamburgo, Londres, Liverpool, Roma.  Packed into a tiny area are hundreds of bars, hotels, restaurants and above all else, shops.  Teeming with the city’s highest concentration of beggars, queens and tourists, the Zona has multi-lingual policemen who wander around specifically to help tourists (little flag emblems on their lapels denote languages spoken).  More impressive, however, are the scores of unofficial guides whose only apparent task is to get you into their stores.  While you will want to cruise the constant activity, the street entertainers and the incredible diversity of shops and places to eat and drink – you’ll notice that this is no longer where the premier hotels and shops are located, though the prices in the Zona belie that fact.

On the fringe, there’s the Museo de Cera (Londres 6; 525-546-7670).  A thoroughly tacky wax museum with a chamber of horrors that includes Aztec human sacrifice.  Also here is the Museo de lo Increible (Same address) which displays such kitsch marvels as flea costumes and hair sculpture.  On the other side of Reforma is a much quieter, upscale residential area.  The streets are appropriately  named for rivers; hence the cruisy stream of boys with wedding bands (this is a Catholic country after all) who seem to be looking for more than just a stroll round the neighborhood

Just beyond the area of the Zona, lies Chapultepec Park and a pair of the most spectacular museums in the world. The recently refurbished Museo Nacional de Antropologia (Gandhi, just off Reforma; 525-553-6386; free)is possibly the eighth wonder of the world, packing a civilization’s entire pre-modern archeological history into one coherent building. Virtually next door, the Museo de Arte Moderno (Gandhi, just off Reforma; 525-553-6211; free) offers an equally impressive history of the period that followed.

The vast, paved Zocalo or Plaza de la Constitucion rivals Moscow’s Red Square.  It is the city’s political and religious center as well as its historic downtown and well worth a day of exploration.  It is dominated by the great Baroque Cathedral, dating back to 1573 (M – Sat 11 am – 5 PM; free). The Palacio Nacional, (daily 9 am – 5 pm; free) takes up an entire side of the square, housing the President and standing on the former site of Montezuma’s Palace.

Any visit should include the magnificent Diego Rivera murals that grace the central stairway and courtyard (there are fourteen courtyards in all) with the panorama of Mexican history.

Constantly buzzing with activity, for most of the year the Plaza is spectacularly illuminated in the evenings.  Among the constants, a troop of ceremonial guards marches out from the Palace to strike the giant national flag from its grandiose pole in the center.  The bar of the nearby Hotel Majestic provides a romantic vantage point for the pomp.

Behind the Palcio Nacional is the Museo Nacional de las Culturas (C Moneda 13; T – Sun, 9:30 am- 6 pm; free) a collection devoted to the archaeology of other countries.  Originally the official mint, it has been immaculately restored and is more interesting than you might think.

For all its grandeur, the Zocalo offers a dose of reality as well.  Lines of day laborers queue around the cathedral looking for work, each holding a sign bearing his trade and a few rusted tools at his side.

The area also holds other periods of the country’s history.  This was the heart of Aztec Tenochtitlan, and in the recently excavated Templo Mayor you can see remarkable remains from the temples on this site.  (T – Sun 9 am – 5 pm)  It’s all highly confusing, since a new temple was built over the old at the end of each 52-year cycle.  The result is a whole series of temples stacked inside each other. To make sense of it all, grab a diagram from the ticket office and look at the models in the museum.