It has been close to 5 years since I was last in San Antonio for a conference. I had enjoyed my time in the city so much that when I spied another conference I wished to attend located there I quickly put in my application. With the hectic pace of work and life this year I hadn't done much more but book flights, hotel, conference, and a car. Really, what more did I need?
Yes, I know. It is me talking.
The flight was god awful - I left Toronto at 6:30 am, connected through Chicago, and arrived in San Antonio early at 11:00. I always curse myself for booking those early flights but in this case I saved ETFO $ 300 so it seemed worthwhile. Mind you, when the alarm went off at 3 am I wondered about that.
When I arrived in Texas my luggage was first off of the belt. I walked out and a shuttle bus (AKA the freezer - I have never l felt air conditioning like that) to the car lot was standing by the curb. I had booked a mid-sized car, the attendant looked at me and said 'sir, we don't have any of those itty bitty cars here in Texas, take whatever you want for the same price.'
OK
Now I am tooling about in a brand new SUV. They had LOTS of SUVs in Texas.
I was hungry - it had been 9 hours since I had had anything to eat (not including the Garretts popcorn at O'Hare) so the first stop needed to be lunch! I had read about a BBQ pit located near the airport so I plugged it into my GPS and I was off!
Texas brisket - pit cooked over oak + a beer = happy Jerry!
After the pit stop (pun intended) I hopped back into the car and headed to the hotel. I was booked in the Plaza Marriott which is about 2 blocks from the convention centre on the edge of the historic King William district. It is a lovely hotel with a huge garden where peacocks wander. My room is on the main floor with a terrace overlooking the garden.
Later, I was to discover that peacocks are freaking loud during the night.
After settling in I popped over to the convention centre to register and get my bearings. The downside of these huge convention centres is that you can generally not find a single place you need to be by the time you need ot be there. If things go as they normally do I'll finally find my way around on the last day - just in time to come home!
On the way back to the hotel I decided to wander about La Villita. Located on the south bank of the San Antonio River, La Villita was San Antonio's first neighborhood. It was originally a settlement of primitive huts for the Spanish soldiers stationed at the Mission San Antonio Valero (the Alamo). After a flood in 1819, brick, stone and adobe houses replaced the earlier structures. In 1836, La Villita was the site of General Santa Ana's cannon line in the Battle of the Alamo and a map from early that year showed the village to be of considerable size.
Late in the 19th century European
immigrants from Germany and France moved into the area. These pioneers
became San Antonio's business leaders, bankers, educators, and craftsmen.
The cultural mix that occurred at this time is best illustrated by the
variety of architectural styles reflected in La Villita's buildings. The
architecture portrays the evolution of buildings from palisado to
Victorian Houses.
The first part of the 20th century
saw La Villita decline into a slum area. In 1939, as ground broke on the
San Antonio River Walk development, city fathers led by Mayor Maury
Maverick acted to preserve this colorful part of San Antonio's history.
Today La Villita is a thriving art community that stands as a monument to
San Antonio's past.
After wandering about for a few hours I headed back to the hotel where I relaxed in the gardens until dinner.
In addition to a BBQ feast one of the things I wanted to enjoy when I was in San Antonio was a Mexican feast! When I was last in the city I enjoyed an amazing meal at Rosarios so I headed back there for dinner last night.
It was every good as a remembered . . .
the salsa made with roasted jalapenos had a wonderful smoky taste. . .
The Margaritas a happy kick . . .
and the carnitas were brilliant!
I was in bed by 8:00 San Antonio time but after a day of travel, adventure, too much sun without my hat, two margaritas, and a 2 hour time change it was a well-deserved early night!
I know you are enjoying it... San Antonio is one of my favorite cities!
Have a margarita for me~
Posted by: sandi | June 23, 2013 at 09:41 AM
Love the travel posts...all the photos and descriptions and the photos of the food and little comments on it all. I laughed when I read about the hotel having peacocks and then laughed harder when you found out why I would have laughed in the first place. Those peacocks sound like someone is being strangled...they scare the heck out of me.
Posted by: Kayte | June 24, 2013 at 09:41 PM
I had a few just for you Sandi!
They sure do Kayte. When I stayed at that hotel the last time I wason an upper floor so I never heard them.They always seemed to be outside my room . . . ARGH
Posted by: JDeQ | July 08, 2013 at 06:57 AM