In San Antonio
Downtown San Antonio has a European feel to it: the river walk has been beautifully designed to wind around the center one level below creating a cool and lush oasis separate from the roads above. It’s spring break so the city is packed, tourists eat and drink at the restaurants along the walk while tour boats are almost end to end on the tiny river. There’s no skyscrapers here, only old buildings reminding us of some of New York’s old neighborhoods.
A short walk west is the historic market square boasting stalls of Mexican food with exorbitant prices, but we indulge. I cannot resist Mexican food, nor a deep fried Snickers bar!
The town is famous for Fort Alamo, the place where a few guarded the post against centralist Mexican ideals in 1836. Outnumbered, they all perished. But their fight wasn’t in vain, when the reinforcements rallied to “remember Alamo!”, coming from the North East and destroying Santa Anna’s Mexican army in a battle on the river. The victory lead to the independence of Texas from Mexico, setting the tone for others to follow (New Mexico, Arizona, California).
The federal movement that started in 1789 in the USA inspired the French to take down the monarchy with the Revolution in the same year. The new republic was short, until Napoleon became emperor in 1804. But his battles against the Spanish empire was beneficial in allowing many South American countries to win their own independence from Spain.
We were lucky to be in town when a NBA game was played, the San Antonio Spurs against the Atlanta Hawks. Unfortunately the legendary frenchy Tony Parker was injured. But the game was tight and the atmosphere was insane! The “awkward dad dance camera” was a memorable one 🙂
