Days 36-37 (June 7-8): San Antonio, Texas

Well, I certainly cannot complain that there is nothing in downtown San Antonio. There is a lot, such as:

- the Alamo (more on that below);

- directly across the street from the Alamo: Ripley's Believe It or Not, the Guinness Museum, Tomb Raider 4-D Adventure and Louis Tussaud's Wax Museum (I am guessing he is the husband...);

- within a block or two of that sterling stretch, a Fudruckers, a Coyote Ugly, a Rain Forest Café, a Hooters, ...

That is dangerously and rapidly approaching 'tacky' territory...

(And, oh yeah, there is also a shopping mall downtown. Now, granted I have not especially been looking out for them, but this is the first downtown mall I have noticed in my travels. It must either be a Canadian thing to build mammoth malls on prime downtown property. I am just going to assume right now it is because of the cold weather and not go on a rant. I do, however, reserve the right to go on that rant in a later post.)

And 'tacky' may not be entirely fair. There is a at times lovely Riverwalk along the San Antonio River, which meanders through downtown, with numerous terraces, restaurant patios and shops (as well as the aforementioned franchises...).  On the Saturday night, however, one could barely manoeuvre through the Riverwalk crowd. (Also, how can you call a body of water roughly 12-15 feet across at best a ‘river’?  It is barely a creek…)

There are a number of museums and a botanical garden and a historical district, none of which I managed to check out, so, again, maybe I am selling San Antonio short. I did, however, visit the Institute of Texas Cultures (yes, plural. Also, insert here your own joke about Texas culture.), which highlights the different cultural groups that have and still do call Texas home.  Over week-end was hosting  the Texas Folklife Festival; think of it as a multicultural festival, where community cultural groups were selling foods and wares and there was ongoing live entertainment (seven small stages' worth), ethnic dancing and a Tejano ventriloquist.

I also visited the Tower of the Americas (think Space Needle in Seattle, or whatever that tower is called in Calgary); I like panoramic observatories and have not encountered too many so far. It confirmed what I had come to suspect: Texas is flat. 

Looking East from the Tower of the Americas, with the Alamo Dome in the foreground.

Before I forget, I should get back to the Alamo. What struck me as different is that the Alamo is presented as a landmark in the history of Texas. Not the history of the USA; the history of Texas.  I saw no mention of any recognition by the US government of the Alamo as a national landmark or historic place. It is run by a private, non-profit organisation ('The Daughters of the Republic of Texas’; I kid you not…) on behalf of the Texas Government. All the material concerns Texas history, and the role played by San Antonio and the Alamo in Texas gaining its independence from Mexico. Very Texas-centric…

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Random comments:

- Yes, I had Tex-Mex, twice, both times in the Riverwalk area, one meal was very ordinary, the other, quite good, at a restaurant on the ‘walk near Houston Street, where it seemed they were giving the standards a bit of a spin.

- I did get out of the downtown core on Saturday night by heading to The Cove. A rather large, unassuming joint, they feature live music (a local blues group when I was there), a varied menu built on ingredients sourced locally (I had fish and shrimp tacos) and a fairly extensive bottled beer list.  Also, they operate a car wash and a laundromat on the same premises.

- On Friday night, in the sportsbar ('The Ticket') where I was watching the Bruins complete their sweep of the Penguins and move on the Stanley Cup Finals, a spontaneous 'Go Spurs Go' chant erupted. There may have been some drunkenness involved, but still.

- It was thundering and lightning-ing on Friday afternoon (a lovely display)' so I took in Star Trek: Into Darkness, in IMAX 3-D.  Without revealing spoilers, while the movie had some fun moments, it just seemed to me to be a lazy effort of recycling and playing around with an existing Star Trek story.  The first reboot movie firmly established that we are dealing with the same characters, but in a different timeline; Abrams and his clique should try telling different (and new) stories.  Also, Zoe Seldana is hot.