4/18/2010 The Alamo & a Whole Lot More #3

Right on time we met up with John and Bonnie and it was so wonderful to see these Quail Run friends again.

We Ride the River Walk

Since we hadn’t seen anything of the River Walk, save what was in front of the cafe we were just in, Bonnie suggested we take the boat tour and we could decide what parts we wanted to revisit. That certainly worked for us.

So we went to the ticket agent to our cruise tickets. We saved $5.00 by showing our military ID’s so we only had to pay $6.00 apiece instead of the regular rate of $8.50.

Boats like this run up and down the “river” all day.

We only had to wait about five minutes before we were able to board. This is our boat captain, I never did get his name but he was very informative about what we were seeing and facts about the city.

There are so many bridges across the river and I don’t think any two are alike.

Restaurants. I think you can get any kind of cuisine you want to eat on the River Walk. Restaurant after restaurant after restaurant line the sidewalks.

Scenes From Our Boat Ride

I guess one hat wasn’t enough for this little dog so momma carried a spare.

Festival is going on right now. Festival is a 10 day celebration that goes on every year. One of the highlights of the 10 day affair is the River Parade which will take place on Monday night. Thousands of chairs are set up already along the parade route. These chairs are waiting to be set up in this section.

Tickets for this event are even $18 and change or $42.00 apiece. I don’t know what the difference is, why one is so much more than the other. Maybe where the seat is on the route.

These are the Hugman bells at the Arneson River Theater. They were installed in 1978 to honor Robert H. H. Hugman, one of the “founding fathers” if you will, of the River Walk. Scaffolding is being put in place having to do with River Parade. Perhaps lights or speakers will be attached.

So many chairs….I can’t even imagine the crowd that is going to be here for this parade. The rows of chairs are three deep. All the money collected for tickets to the River Parade go to local charities in San Antonio.

Aztec on the River Theater, built and opened in 1926.

Our boat captain told us to take notice of this very tall building on the left. He said it was part of an optical illusion.

Well, he wasn’t kidding! When we saw it as we came out from under one of the many bridges across the river it looked like it was falling towards us.

A large mosaic mural on the side of a building depicting scenes through the years of San Antonio.

One crooked growing palm.

Our two and half mile, forty five minute cruise was over. What a great way to see the River Walk and learn the history and “stories” about it. That was twelve dollars well spent.

More to come.