We started our trip in San Antonio - this was the first night on the River Walk having dinner!
Our hotel was the historic Menger Hotel, right across the street from the Alamo shown in this picture. The hotel was built in 1859, just 23 years after the battle of the Alamo.
The day after we arrived, we took the Grand Tour which included a tour of the Japanese gardens...
A trip on a boat on the river that runs through the canals of San Antonio....
This is what the boats look like.
We also toured Mission San Jose, one of the five missions established by the Spanish. It is the largest and most renowned mission in Texas, has exquisite church carvings and the famous Rose Window.
This one shows the rose window
This is Mission Concepcion, the oldest unrestored church in America, with original frescoes and many impressive rooms.
Here is Donna looking at the frescoes on the wall - some of them had been restored.
More frescoes
This is one of the American cannons from the Alamo!
The Sunday after our tour, we had a relaxed morning sitting around the pool, after the most incredible breakfast I think any of us had ever eaten. We drove to Austin and got our hotel on Lake Travis. Early evening we went to the Congress Street bridge, just south of the capitol in Austin and sat along the river waiting for 1.5 million bats to make their nightly appearance. While we were waiting, a pair of swans swam over to greet us!
This is the bridge from our vantage point.
If you look closely or if you have a zoom option, you can see a faint dotted line above the trees - those are the bats - they stream out in a very orderly fashion and it must have lasted for 45 minutes. It really was one of the most amazing things we'd ever seen!
The next day we visited the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum, one of the nicest museums I think I've ever been to -three stories packed with the history of Texas from the first Indians to the present day.
After visiting the museum, we went to Scholz Garden for lunch - a real German bier garten that has been in Austin since the 1800's!
We started our trip in San Antonio - this was the first night on the River Walk having dinner!
Our hotel was the historic Menger Hotel, right across the street from the Alamo shown in this picture. The hotel was built in 1859, just 23 years after the battle of the Alamo.
The day after we arrived, we took the Grand Tour which included a tour of the Japanese gardens...
A trip on a boat on the river that runs through the canals of San Antonio....
This is what the boats look like.
We also toured Mission San Jose, one of the five missions established by the Spanish. It is the largest and most renowned mission in Texas, has exquisite church carvings and the famous Rose Window.
This one shows the rose window
This is Mission Concepcion, the oldest unrestored church in America, with original frescoes and many impressive rooms.
Here is Donna looking at the frescoes on the wall - some of them had been restored.
More frescoes
This is one of the American cannons from the Alamo!
The Sunday after our tour, we had a relaxed morning sitting around the pool, after the most incredible breakfast I think any of us had ever eaten. We drove to Austin and got our hotel on Lake Travis. Early evening we went to the Congress Street bridge, just south of the capitol in Austin and sat along the river waiting for 1.5 million bats to make their nightly appearance. While we were waiting, a pair of swans swam over to greet us!
This is the bridge from our vantage point.
If you look closely or if you have a zoom option, you can see a faint dotted line above the trees - those are the bats - they stream out in a very orderly fashion and it must have lasted for 45 minutes. It really was one of the most amazing things we'd ever seen!
The next day we visited the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum, one of the nicest museums I think I've ever been to -three stories packed with the history of Texas from the first Indians to the present day.
After visiting the museum, we went to Scholz Garden for lunch - a real German bier garten that has been in Austin since the 1800's!
2 comments:
Great pictures! What a great summer. We are looking forward to Christmas...in TX, right?
Absolutely - we are already starting to plan activities!!! Can't wait!
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