My first visit to Mexico City was 1958, and my stay was for one month. There was an Industrial Fair and I was to sent to man the show booth and President Lopez Mateos (48th) dropped by. There was no subway running then. The subway opened almost with the 1968 Olympic. I used un-peso coche to commute to and from my hotel and the Fair venue at Chapultepec Park. Anyone could share a taxi just pointing the finger up and the fare was just one peso along the Paseo Reforma.
The 700 acre (cf. 850 New York Central Park) Chapultepec is full of lush, sprawling green trees, serving as the city lungs that replenish oxygen to the citizens.
Chapultepec means grasshopper’s hill in Spanish. The summer house built for the Spanish Viceroy in early 1800 served as a military academy, then became a Castle, later designated as the UNESCO World Heritage site. Short-lived were Emperor Maximilian, brother of the powerful Franz Joseph, Austrian Emperor, King of Hungary, resided here with Empress Carlota. Why was Maximilian in Mexico after the Mexicans chased out the Spaniards? Because of French intervention. Mexico borrowed money from Europe, England, France and Spain to achieve independence. Strapped for funds and having to pay interest, Mexico asked for a moratorium, to which Napoleon III refused, then invaded Mexico. I opened a history book and found there was a call for a return to monarchism in Mexico. France accepted the moratorium with the condition that Ferdinand Maximillian be accepted as Emperor. After his downfall, Maximillian could have gone home, but he stayed and was shot to death. His last words, Viva Mexico, Viva Independence.
Maximillian's accomplishments while he was in Mexico include building Paseo de la Reforma just like Champ-Elysees in Paris, and preserving serene Jardin Boda in Cuernavaca, 30 km west of Ciudad de Mexico. He had a special interest in botany.
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