Sunday, August 6, 2000
San Antonio! The Alamo, Riverwalk and lots of other sites! We had a short drive after saying goodbye to Magic and the ranch and headed toward one of Andy's favorite cities. We started with an Imax movie about the battle of the Alamo. It was a very moving rendition and very educational. I never knew that Davey Crockett died at the Alamo. Vienna and I learned a lot and gained an appreciation of the site.
The Alamo, itself was next on the list. Not quite as exciting as the movie, but it was nice to see the actual place where it all happened and a very important icon in Texas life. Luckily, everything we wanted to see was downtown San Antonio. They just built the whole city up around the Alamo so it was all in walking distance.
After the historical part of our day, we had lunch at a place on the riverwalk called Dick's. It's sort of fun because the waiters are rude to you on purpose. It is actually a little disappointing when they aren't as rude to you as to other tables. It's great entertainment, though and our waiter made a hat for Vienna that said, "I fart a lot". Believe it or not, it is family oriented. Pretty good food, too.
Later, we hit a couple of antique stores and then it was back to the riverwalk. This is arguably the neatest part of San Antonio. They have built a park up along each side of the river that runs through town and a lot of it has stores and restaurants and hotels right up to the edge of the river. You walk along the river and are completely in a little shopping district. It is very beautiful with all the plants and bridges and windey sidewalks. We really enjoyed it. We went to a few shops and even into a Planet Hollywood. Vienna has always wanted to see one. We dined in a very special way, as well. One restaurant, Boudro's serves dinner on a barge that winds its way around the river as you eat. We loved the ambiance and the food was great. We got to see the entire riverwalk and even passed by a dance show that was playing and got to float right in front of all the people that were trying to watch from the other side. It was a really neat experience. It sure better have been for the price! Anyway, by the time we were done with dinner, it was getting late so we stopped briefly at a chocolate shop and then it was straight back to the motel for a good night's sleep. Tomorrow would be another great day on our trip!
We then went to see something that I really enjoyed. The Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum. I thought it would really freak me out and be gross but most of it was really neat. Some really tiny things, amazing things from around the world and of course strange human oddities. My favorite thing was a wacky looking machine used in the movie Chittie Chittie Bang Bang. It was the machine used in the movie to make "Sweet Toots" and apparently, it really makes candy-even some that whistles. It was neat. Andy's favorite part was the miniature circus. Vienna's favorite part was the stories and pictures of amazing survival stories. People with pipes through their heads or chests or something like that. It was all fascinating, though. Especially, the things you would learn from around the world like how tribes actually shrink heads and how the Chinese used to bind up ladies feet so they would be deformed and all scrunched up. They called it Lily Feet and it was supposed to be beautiful. EEWW! That part did freak me out.
