January 21, 2012

We are in San Antonio now, and when one is in San Antonio, what does one do?  Go to the Alamo, of course!  We were fortunate to have our nephew Lance, wife Marla and daughter Jordan as our tour guides.  They drove us to see the Alamo, and I got my first surprise - the Alamo is downtown.  You step up from the curb and into the outer mission walls.  

Some of the original grounds have been covered by nearby buildings but enough is left to give a nice space around the mission.  The outer walls house some display areas, a couple of Spanish cannon, and one amazing live oak.  This thing isn’t original, of course, but it was transplanted here a long time ago and looks just right as it arches over the old well and along the benches.

My second surprise is that the mission isn’t very tall - just a little over one story.  And the famous arch at the top of the wall was added by the US Army sometime in the mid 1800s.  But when I consider all that it’s been through, it’s wonderful that so much of the detail remains.

The long barracks beside the chapel have been restored and now host the gift shop, so it didn’t have the same impact for me as the main building. . . but I still spent a lot of time there, and bought a trinket.  

And on to the Mission.  Unfortunately, but understandably, they do not allow photography inside so I don’t have any pictures.  Inside is one large room with a ceiling as tall as the outside frame allows.  There are a few displays of artifacts, but most of the space is open.  It is still being restored and the conservators sometimes find old dates and such carved into the higher sections of the walls.  A smaller side room is roped off.  I am very, very glad they don’t have a bunch of tourist stuff inside.  I cannot describe the feeling this place gave me - all the conflict and passion; desperate men in a terrible battle which, at some point, they had to know they would not survive.  This is not about history, this is history.  The whole time I was there I could barely breathe.

But eventually we had to leave.  So we walked away from the Alamo and headed to River Walk.  River Walk is a long stretch of downtown land along the San Antonio river that has been re-developed into a modern shopping area.  It’s very relaxing to walk along the river, checking out the shops and restaurants and watching the tour boats drift by.  We looked at several restaurants before deciding to try the County Line BBQ; it was OK, but I’m sure Texas has better to offer.

There was still some daylight left so Lance drove us to another old Spanish mission - the Mission San Jose.  What a beautiful place!   

It was restored in the 1930s but you sure can’t tell what was done.  It has exactly the right look; the inside of the chapel is completely restored so it can function as a church, but the rest of the buildings are in a lovely balance between care of preservation and the disrepair of age.

Isn't this a beautiful place?

In contrast to the plain walls, the main entrance is surrounded by some of the most gorgeous carvings. 

The grounds are walled in and are home to some wonderful trees that grow so close to the ground that in some places they actually grow into the ground.

 

At the end of the day we stopped at H E B, a big Texas grocery store.  This is a great store - a lot of good product at very reasonable prices.  Back at their place Lance and Marla fixed a 'liscious dinner for us.  What a great day - can’t wait for tomorrow!