I recently got a chance to visit San Antonio. I had only a brief time . . . after enjoying a very "Texas" car in the parking lot, my first stop was to the official San Antonio Spurs store, where I celebrated my favorite team. I then meandered through the famous Alamo, enjoying the ruins and history. (The church itself is quite small, but was only part of the larger complex where Davy Crockett and others held off Santa Anna for almost two weeks until they were overwhelmed and slaughtered.) Finally, I hit the riverwalk, which was also small but charming. I especially enjoyed how some hotels and buildings fed the river with interesting waterfalls and other paths that (in parts) even went through buildings.
My impressions of Texas:
- everything is bigger there. Our east coast highways seem paltry in comparison to Texas roads. Speaking of . . .
- the Texas highways both impressed and annoyed me. Impressed: they have no problems building roads over roads; places looked like rollercoasters. The construction intrigued me. Annoyed: the feeder road system can be difficult to navigate; I don't know how visitors did it before GPS.
- 'capitalism.' The whole area seemed like strip mall after strip mall. Endless entertainment, little observable zoning . . . there is just so much land, they use it for whatever they like.
- there is a heavy German influence in the area. I did not expect that.
Overall, I enjoyed the time, but am not sure what a tourist would do if they were in town for a few weeks.
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