I am clearly still partially on UK time as I was awake early so walked out to The Alamo which was only five minutes away and was illuminated at night. It is surprising what a difference moving 500 miles to the west makes as sunrise was significantly later than it had been in New Orleans.
I got talking to the Alamo Ranger who was outside the site even at that time in the morning. It seems that the UK and the USA were actually on the same side in the conflict here. Whilst that is always the case now, the British are usually the bad guys in American history (see A Day of Being The Bad Guys). Apparently there were people from 12 different countries killed here. We are booked on an audio tour tomorrow, so we will find out all about it then.
Today was to be designated relaxing day or, according to my wife, rebellion day. Am I such a tyrant? She spent the morning by the pool, which she literally had all to herself. Typically, we British are the only ones mad enough to sit out in that heat. I went for a stroll around San Antonio. The Alamo is definitely the
main thing to see, although there is also the Tower of The Americas. I decided, however, to visit that tomorrow as the ticket includes unlimited visits meaning that I could go back at night, and we have other plans tonight.
Opposite The Alamo are a row of what seems like and tacky attractions, so I dont think there is anything there for us, particularly as we dont have the kids with us anymore. Apart from that, there is also the Institute of Texan Cultures near the tower.
I tried to get some postage stamps as there is a large Central Post Office in the Federal Building right by The Alamo. Unfortunately, this seems to be the only place in Texas that still enforces mask wearing so I will have to go back there later, once I have managed to acquire a mask.
In line with the mantra, we decided to go on a around the Riverside. It traced the loop that we had walked the day previously (see McDonalds to The Rescue) and took about 30 minutes, whilst we got about San Antonio and the Riverwalk area. Apparently around 150 people fall in the river
every year, although most of it is actually a lot shallower than it looks. Apparently, they drain much of the Riverwalk every year to clean it all out, I presume because there is no natural flow to the water. The item found is mobile phones (several hundred in fact), presumably selfies that have gone horribly wrong.
We had hoped that it would be shaded, but the sun was directly overhead and it was still extremely hot, so afterwards, we went into the nearby Rivercentrer Shopping Center to cool down.
We had a fantastic evening meeting our relatives in the Hard Rock Caf, which is inevitably on the Riverwalk. They also live in the UK and were coincidentally out here at the same time, so if was very strange to be meeting up 5,000 miles from both our homes.
We walked back to our hotel via a very indirect route just to chill out on the Riverwalk for a while as it is very pleasant at that time in the evening. The are also a lot busier in the evening, presumably as it is a much cooler experience. The Riverwalk looks amazing, in the
