I just came back from San Antonio, Texas

[hedgehog]

It was a business trip that I couldn't have afforded otherwise. After three days in an expensive hotel on the Riverwalk going to and from the Convention Center and seeing the tourists at night, I felt like I was among the Eloi in H.G. Well's Time Machine or a denizen of the Duke's Palace on Dune (The area is so dry that water restrictions will be imposed soon if it doesn't rain.) The visit to the Alamo really got to me. It was a very complicated event, but brave men took a stand there and died. It's a battleground and a cemetery, and people were walking around with Slurpees. Don't get me wrong, I like San Antonio. It just unsettles me to see a city center turned into a sort of Disneyland.

[Texasgal]

1. Ever since Ozzy pissed

On the alamo, it's never been the same! :rofl:

[GOPisEvil]

3. History demands that I correct the record!

Ozzy actually pissed on the cenotaph out in front of the Alamo, not on the Alamo itself.

Oh, and he donated $10k to the DRT so that he could play a concert in San Antonio again.

[Texasgal]

4. DAMN!!

I thought it was a good story anyway! :P

[GOPisEvil]

5. I wanted to go to that concert, too. My parents wouldn't let me.

:P

[Texasgal]

6. " HE PISSED ONE THE ALAMO SON"

WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO SEE THAT???" :P

[GOPisEvil]

7. My parents knew ALL about Ozzy.

"Bit the head off a bat? WHAT?!?!" :rofl:

[Texasgal]

8. That SATANIC WEIRDO!!! "

Honey, your CATHOLIC... follow the rules!!! :rofl:

[GOPisEvil]

9. lol - one thing my parents never pulled was religion...

They let me go to AC/DC, but that was with someone they trusted. :D

[Texasgal]

10. Cool parents!!!

I went to Iron Maiden and thought my parents were gonna put me in a HOME!!! :rofl:

[GOPisEvil]

11. "I don't know why you want to damage your ears, but it's YOUR money."

I do have good parents; I cannot lie. :)

[GOPisEvil]

2. You should have gone to the other missions.

Much less corporate - and run by the US Park Service.

The Alamo is run by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas who aside from being somewhat racist, did help save the Alamo from destruction. We came dangerously close to losing the Alamo forever.

I spent 20 years in San Antonio. I like it there, but I couldn't live there any longer.

[Maestro]

12. The other missions are much better.

I've been to all of them on the mission trail. The others are peaceful, somber and sublime; at least they were some ten years ago.

[GOPisEvil]

13. My favorite is Espada. Least number of visitors; most untouched.

Plus it has the old acequia running.

[hedgehog]

16. I didn't take the tour

I usually am too ornery for tours anyways but by the time I was done with work everything was closed. I saw the mission church from the outside and the plaza which if I understand correctly was once enclosed by walls that are no longer there. I'm not sure, but I think a Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum is located either on the grounds of the original fort or just outside it. As I said, the fact that some of the Alamo defenders were slaveholders complicates the story. But I'm Irish enough to appreciate brave men standing up for a doomed cause, and to hear the whisper of their ghosts.

[WolverineDG]

14. We're lucky that a part of the Alamo remains at all

The only surviving structures are the Long Barracks & the Chapel. The rest of the fortress where the Battle was fought are long gone, paved over, built on, driven on. What remains is what was at the back of the fortress.

As for the atmosphere around the Alamo, I've never found it to be like "Disneyland." There are many businesses (not just tourist attractions & hotels) in that area, so life has to go on.


dg

[hedgehog]

17. It's the Riverwalk that reminded me of Disneyland.

It was a safe and sanitized version of San Antonio.

[WolverineDG]

19. There's been a lot of controversy lately

More & more chain restaurants are coming in, squeezing out locally owned businesses. It's mostly tourists who go to the Riverwalk area now & apparently, they want chain restaurants.

dg

[GOPisEvil]

20. Idiot tourists! Eat local, ya dumbasses!

Eat at Casa Rio! :9

[WolverineDG]

21. What?

Hello? What about Los Barrios????? :o

What about the Liberty Bar (cool place, floor is extremely slanted & on the upside, you might bend back a few with Tommy Lee Jones).

and forget Mi Tierra! I've always gotten food poisoning there, btw.

dg

[GOPisEvil]

22. Oh, I was specifically referring to Riverwalk restaurants.

Los Barrios is overrated, but tasty. Liberty Bar is ok, but I like Josephine Street (right next door - and Tommy Lee Jones treats the public like shit). I also prefer La Margarita to Mi Tierra.

Am I contrarian enough? :D

[WolverineDG]

23. I do like La Margarita

although it's owned by the same folks who run Mi Tierra. Tommy Lee Jones doesn't always treat the public like shit, just the ones who bug him for autographs in public. He actually hit on one of my friends once, ages ago before he got married.

Casa Rio is okay, but I find the Riverwalk establishments to be overpriced & overrated (except for Schilo's, where they refused to charge us for the root beer once because it didn't brew right--they make their own, btw). God help us if they ever force Schilo's to close.

dg

[GOPisEvil]

24. You're right about Tommy Lee...but stories of him going off on people

are legendary. :D

How could I forget Schilo's? I love the old, German waitresses that yell at you to finish all your food. I love Schilo's!

[hedgehog]

25. Of course they want chain restaurants!

Like I said in my initial post, I was surrounded by Eloi!

[mitchum]

15. "...brave men took a stand" while trying to establish a slave state

I'm with Ozzy- piss on the Alamo

[hedgehog]

18. Well, like I said, it's complicated.

Oddly enough, I have no sympathy for the Confederacy and I understand that many of the men who founded Texas were dedicated to spreading slavery, but somehow I have a certain respect for the men who took their stand at the Alamo.