May 25 - A Wonderful Day in S.A.!
First stop....The Alamo!
A piece of history that the Americans certainly take very seriously. I was here first thing in the morning and by the time I left there were 15 to 16 school buses dropping off student's who were there for a class trip.
The history of the Alamo is very interesting - from a Spanish Monastery to a battleground between U.S. and Mexican troops to a commercial warehouse in the 1950's and finally a National Historical Monument/Tourist attraction.
|
Picture from the square in front of the Alamo |
|
Unfortunately, no picture were allowed inside the buildings...but to be honest not a whole lotta stuff inside to take pictures of! |
Next stop was Hemisphere park - home of the 1968 world fair (and location of the Hemisphere Tower)
|
I think? it was something like 700 feet....not the CN tower, or even the Calgary Tower...but it did still provide a full panoramic view of the city and surrounding area (and only $11 to go up!) |
|
The main fountain in the park, at the base of the tower |
|
View from the tower looking East |
Right across the Freeway was the Alamodome...this is where I thought the San Antonio Spurs basketball team played (They have won the NBA championship something like 4 times in the last 8 years...and are a VERY big deal in S.A.). It turns out that this was not true as about 10 years ago they moved to a new stadium called the AT&T center. It is weird, because the Alamodome is only about 16 years old and holds something like 62,000 people. The roof is too low for baseball or football and so now it only used for Arena football and other events. Today it was being used for a graduation....the security guard told me it was a class of around 7000 students! (just a few more than Chad's upcoming grad of about 150 students :)!
|
Joe, my security guard/tour guide...the stage in the background will hold the high school graduates |
|
Here is the new AT&T stadium...the jerk security guard here would not even let me in to take a picture...even with my "I'm a Canadian comment". It was a very LONG walk to get here....and in 90 degree heat it almost killed me....and I went through a pretty less than desirable neighbourhood. I misjudged my map and should have driven....but I did not get knifed or shot, so all is good! |
On the way back from the AT&T stadium I detoured over to LaVitta, a historical little Mexican village - full of little shops. However, I was either a bit early, or we are not quite in the tourist season because most of the shops were closed
Still on the tour, and I went through the King William area....this is where many wealthy merchants and citizen's built their mansion....lots of beautiful old houses. Most of which had a plaque out front telling about the original owner and house history....this was great and I really enjoyed this part of the day
As an aside, the river walk is very famous.....but a few miles away from downtown and this is what the San Antonio River looks like with out the cement walls and built up development.
I (finally) made it back to the hotel for a swim and a nap. After my swim, I headed to the Riverwalk again for supper and a beer (actually 3 beer.....but I needed to rehydrate because I had sweated buckets all day!!!).
I also wanted to see the riverwalk at night. My little camera is not very fancy and so nighttime pictures are not to clear...but with the lights etc. the riverwalk is awesome at night.
There are tons of restaurants and cool little pubs and lounges. Below was my "rehydration spot", an Irish pub, complete with a piano man...who was really good!
Finally back to the hotel....I was a pretty tired puppy and was asleep basically as my head hit the pillow!
The next morning...one last picture of the Riverwalk and then off to Austin!
No comments:
Post a Comment