Frida's house and Trotsky's bathroom

I adored the visually gorgeous movie, "Frida" about Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, (what? you haven't seen it? Rent it immediately!) so I wanted to visit the house where they lived in Mexico City. It was actually Frida's childhood home and parts of the movie were filmed there.

I was not allowed to take any photos inside the house, but found a few of Frida and Diego, in the house, to post. The garden, where photos were allowed was beautiful and very, very peaceful with birds chirping and flitting around. It was a beautiful sunny day and the blue of the house was brilliant.

Ray was feeling poorly the morning we chose to visit Frida's house, so he stayed in bed and Muriel and I hired a driver to take us to the quiet, shady suburb where the house is. There were a number of both Frida's and Diego's paintings on display, as well as some of Frida's wonderful, embroidered clothing. Diego's studio has been preserved and the kitchen looks as it did. I loved the colorful tiles and dishes and Diego and Frida's names spelled out in tiny stones high up on the kitchen wall.

Frida's bedroom is upstairs in this stone section of the house. Her bed, which figures quite prominently in the movie, is there. Because of her injuries, suffered in a trolley accident in her youth, she spent a great deal of her life in this bed, where, flat on her back in a body cast, she painted self portrait after self portrait of her reflection on the mirror above the bed. Seeing it was very poignant. It seemed very small and fragile.

When we left Frida's house, our driver asked if we would like to see Leon Trotsky's house, which is mere blocks from Frida's. It was in his Mexico City house that the Russian Revolutionary was assassinated and the house has been turned into a museum. It was there that I was suddenly, and quite viciously, attacked by the same ailment that had kept Ray back at the hotel. Some people call it "Montezuma's Revenge". We call it "The Trotskys"—now.