San Antonio was astonishing to say the least. It seemed like the Venice of the US to me with the River Walk and the boat rides all along it. They have diverted the river into canals that go throughout the downtown area and there are walking paths, waterfalls, cafe's, shops and hotels all along it. It is beautifully landscaped and we spent hours just walking along it since it also connected us to places we wanted to go. We stayed in both the Marriott and the Hyatt Regency that were both right on the river and they were both fantastic. It was quite romantic to take an evening stroll every night. Even though it was August, it actually wasn't that hot by the river. There where big shade trees all along it and it wasn't bad even during the day. There are also a lot of beautiful bridges and so you can cross just about anywhere.
I saw this polygamist family and was surprised. I guess I shouldn't have been since Warren Jeff's relocated a bunch of his followers there from Colorado City. I should have stopped them and asked them since I grew up 20 miles from Colorado City, but I didn't think of it until they were gone. It would have been an interesting conversation I think.
The evenings were so nice!
Here we were sitting at Joe's Crab Shack for dinner one evening and a couple from Colorado that I had gone on the Mission's tour with and gotten to know a little, passed by, recognized me and stopped to say hi. It was nice to see them again. It's kind of funny how I can make friends with perfect strangers so easily, but don't really have friends in my own neighborhood. Why is that? Maybe I should just go on vacation more
It was fun watching David take an hour to eat dinner
I think I would love living here
We took the boat ride and loved it! In fact I wanted to go again
They had lots of waterfalls along the way
They even had Ivy covered bridges
Eating up high on the River Walk
The Tower of the America's is not as tall as the Stratosphere in Las Vegas but is taller than the Seattle Space Needle. I loved it of course since I love to take pictures of vista's. We could see about 13 miles in any direction. It was within walking distance of the Marriott and so we just walked to it. It is connected to the Convention Center where David had his conference
Convention Center grounds
Taking the elevator up gave me my shadow picture of the day
Coming back down we got a good view of the Convention Center grounds. They had gorgeous waterfalls
This is my solution for fighting the harsh mid day shadows
Walking back through the huge, beautiful convention center. It's really blue not purple, but I just couldn't get the colors right on this photo
The Alamo was of course my favorite historical sight. I have read the stories and always wanted to see it. I felt as though I stood on hallowed ground. The struggle there was reminiscent of the revolutionary war for me and I can see why Texan's love their independence and have their own culture.
This is the room where the women and children hid during the siege
Since the Alamo was right across the street from our hotel the Hyatt Regency, I went there twice. This picture is taken from the pool at the top of the Hyatt
I wonder how many men died right where I am standing
Market Square was a fun, colorful, little Hispanic market. It reminded me of our Mexican Riviera trip. I took the hop on hop off Trolley and stopped there for lunch one day.
I started out at the San Fernando Cathedral and then walked a block over to Market Square. This is the place where Santa Anna ordered no quarters for the men at the Alamo
Market Square is only a block or so of shops
I got lunch at a very popular bakery there
All the buildings where very colorful
Lunch consisted of a sweet potato turnover- their best selling item and a tres leches cake. Yum!
Mission San Jose was probably the most popular of the missions since it had a visitor's center etc, but I had the place to myself since it is being renovated inside and so it is closed until next week when they will rededicate it. The grounds were amazing enough though.
According to the official website "in 1718 Franciscans and Spanish representatives established the first mission. Within 13 years, five were located along the San Antonio River. The missions’ purpose? To acculturate and Christianize the native population and make them Spanish citizens."
While waiting for the Trolley I spotted these two Cardinals playing games. I had never seen any since they aren't native to where I come from. It was delightful
Mission Concepcion was great because I got my own personal tour by a Methodist tour guide who said he probably knew more about the Catholic church than most Catholics. I believed him after the tour. It was awesome!
All the fresco were originals
It was absolutely beautiful!
