I just moved to Mexico City, and my friend and I drove down from Austin, Texas. Monterrey is the natural 'resting spot' for the 940 mile drive, as it is just under halfway between Austin and DF.
It is a formidable city in its own right - the metro area competes with Guadalajara for #2 status and is headquarters to many of Mexico's blue chip companies like FEMSA and Cemex. It is the capital of Nuevo León, and is just under 2 hours from Laredo, Texas.
The area has a beautiful natural setting, right at the foot of the Sierra Madre mountain range. If the US and Mexico had no borders, Monterrey would be situated essentially where Denver is, but several hundred miles south - right against the mountains on a plain. These mountains are essentially the southern continuation of the Rockies.
It is a warm city (it was 27C when we were there) and pretty smoggy. The mountains trap some of the air, giving it pollution nearly as bad as Mexico City (at least in my limited experience).
This is basically downtown Monterrey in a nutshell. It is dominated by the Cerro de la Silla (Saddle Hill, since it looks like a saddle), which is about 6,000 feet above sea level (Monterrey's at about 1,500).
The Silla also doubles as the silhouette for NL's state highway signs:
Monterrey Centro is dominated by the Macroplaza, which is exactly what it sounds like, a really big plaza. It contains most of the city's cultural/governmental fixtures, such as the city theatre, N.L. senate building, and the government palace.
Monterrey has an abundance of 1960's and 1970's high-rise architecture, foreboding and cold, but I still like it anyway.
Most streets in Centro look like this, though:
The state government palace (i.e. state capitol)
The fabulous "Fuente de la Vida"
Monterrey city hall (I believe)
At VIP's, the venerable diner chain that is prevalent throughout Mexico. The sign is basically reminding the waitress that her place is out in the dining room with her customers, not in the back with the silverware.
61 pesos is $4.98
Monterrey has a small subway system, called Metrorrey (pretty cool name if you ask me). We had no time to take a trip on the train, though.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend much time in Monterrey. It was a nice city, but not our destination. I also regret not having any time to spend in the ultra-fabulous and rather wealthy suburb of San Pedro Garza Garcia. We had planned to eat dinner there, but decided to get going onto the toll road so we could make it to Mexico City by 1 or 2AM.
We drove through San Pedro on the way out, though. This is the Calatrava-designed bridge that goes over the sometimes river (I forget its name).
SPGG looks like middle class California!
This is in rural Coahuila (or possibly still N.L.) in the mountains on the way to Mexico City. And that's my car! They did not sell the Miata in Mexico until recently, so every time we went to PEMEX to get gas, everyone commented on how unique and cool it was! I am not joking, the car gets comments at least once a day.
The obligatory PEMEX sign (they're a state-owned monopoly, and gas is about as cheap as gas in Texas):
I'll start posting my Mexico City pictures shortly. So far, I'm enjoying the country and am not regretting moving here. (For the record, this was the first time I had been to Monterrey and I moved to Mexico City sight unseen. But I did my homework, which is why I think it's going to work out fine!)