El Castillo de Chapultepec

Giving way to a stunning 360 degree panoramic view of the city (as far as the eye permits, given the smog), and sitting high upon a steep hill on the edge of el Bosque Chapultepec, at the foot of el Paseo de la Reforma, you find the the fortress-like castle, El Castillo de Chapultepec. Built in 1785, it served as a residence for the viceroys of Nueva España, acting as local rulers for King Ferdinand and Queen Isabela. Later converted into a military academy (1843). Its real claim to fame was probably when Austrian Emperor Maximilian and Empress Carlota of the Hapsburgs arrived in1864, refurbishing el Castillo as their main residence, later enjoyed by Presidential-Dictator Porfirio Díaz, who was finally ousted by Benito Juarez. Several of the rooms on display in the Alcázar towers are reminiscent to the Victorian period, with their lavish furnishings and décor having been crafted and shipped from Western Europe and Asia, many as gifts from a variety of foreign dignitaries including Napolean. They include marble baths, oak paneled ceilings, French brocade drapery with matching upolstered furniture groupings, oriental rugs, fine China, murals, and stained glass.
For more info and photos, visit http://www.mexicocity.com.mx/castillo.html
The castle is also part of the Museum of National History, whose exibits chronicle the rise and fall of colonial New Spain right through to Mexican Revolution.

Museo Nacional de Historia: El marco natural de este museo es el Castillo de Chapultepec, proyecto de residencia imperial que habitara Porfirio Díaz y los primeros jefes Revolucionarios. Reúne piezas representativas de los períodos de la historia mexicana: La Nueva España, luchas de Independencia y formación de la República. En algunas de sus salas y espacios se observan varios murales importantes de la Escuela Mexicana con temas históricos. Se accede por una rampa que rodea el cerro de Chapultepec (Primera Sección del Bosque).

I found it easy to spend four or five hours touring her countless rooms, flanked by balconies, and a couple of gardens with fountains, one containing several sculptures of Aztecs near a fountain, the other being an inner courtyard atop the Alcázar, surrounded by murals of open-bloused Mexican women dipicting various poses of cotidian life (all in good taste, mind you!).

I finished my tour in the carriage house, where two relatively ordinary yet famous black horsedrawn carriages were on display. One being for the daily use of Maximilian, the other being the one that delivered Benito Juarez to the castle, to overthrow Dictator Díaz. A third carriage, however, was the main attraction. An excessively large and frilly, pink and red upolstered carriage, littered with wood sculptured angels and children at play, and velvet covered straps and silverplated accents dazzled us all. All thre blazoned the crest of Mexico, also seen on the national flag, an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its mouth (look up the history on this... it dates back to the Aztecs who originally inhabited all of modernday Mexico and the lake that once filled this valley).