Flights, Fajitas and Fiestas - San Antonio July 2017 - Day 5

BONZO · 20 Aug 17, 10:53 PM

Flights, Fajitas and Fiestas

Cast:

Alison – early fifties, with wanderlust (but insists on travelling in comfort and style)
Me – Shaun, mid fifties, also with wanderlust (used to be happy to travel anyhow but the comfort and style option is more appealing now!)

Link to trip report index:
Here

Thursday 20th July

San Antonio

We were up at a slightly more reasonable time of 6am this morning and we showered and relaxed over coffee whilst looking for a suitable place for breakfast. My choice was Mad Hatters Tea House and café. I’d picked this as I like to try “Mom and Pop” type places rather than chain places and this one seemed to fit the bill.

The weather forecast was hot again and we soon discovered that they weren’t wrong at all. As we walked along the heat and humidity was building so it was nice to get out of the heat and settle down for breakfast. First impressions was that it was a bizarre / quirky little place, a real mish mash of styles with un-matched tables and chairs and all done in an eclectic mix of down at heel Laura Ashley and Cath Kidston.

other thing about this place was that it was set up like a private house with various rooms dotted around and decorated in different styles.

We ordered our breakfast at the counter (there’s no waitress service), and were shown where we could get our hot drinks from.

This turned out to be a rack of random cups and mugs of varying styles and sizes like charity shop set up – strange.

I had the Mad Breakfast 3 which was scrambled eggs, ham, rye toast with a side of breakfast potatoes.

madhatterstea/menu/daily-breakfast/

This was ok but not the greatest breakfast I’ve ever had stateside but met my breakfast needs today. The strawberry butter was unexpected but delicious, I somehow I didn’t really pay too much attention to it on the menu. However, it did work well on my preferred dark rye toast though.

Alison had granola followed by a banana pecan pancake which she said was amazing! We both enjoyed several coffees.
It came to a grand total of $22

We stepped out of the café and crossed the road to pick up the tour bus that we had a ticket for (as it was hop on and hop off we thought it would be worth using it as transport!)

Once back at the hotel we just went back to our room to change and go back to the rooftop pool to cool down – Bliss!

Right, now that we’d cooled down significantly we took a short walk out into the town to just near the Menger Hotel and hopped on the bus for our city trip.

We had just missed an earlier one but took a photo upstairs before sitting in the aircon downstairs!

Our first stop was north at the old Pearl Brewery, I’d seen this place advertised so thought we’d hop off and take a look around. The architects have done a first rate job of revamping the whole area, amazing architecture and landscaping with various pieces of brewing equipment made in to modern art installations. A number of local and unique restaurants, shops and bars were dotted around along with high end apartments and the swish hotel Emma. The overall feel was Hoxton meets San Antonio, a very hipster kind of place.

There was a train parked up that used to serve the Brewery, so I climbed up (with a bit of difficulty as I’m not the most nimble!)

It was a bit early in the day to settle down for drinks even though the craft ales were calling so we walked back to the bus stop to wait for the next bus to move on.

We turned past VFW post 76 and I managed to take a quick picture before the bus turned. I didn’t catch all the dialogue the bus driver was saying so had to read up on it later although I did catch that it was the oldest post in Texas

In summary, this is what it’s about, I guess a bit like our British Legion clubs but more so.

The purpose of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 76 is fraternal, patriotic, historical and educational; to preserve and strengthen comradeship among its members; to assist worthy comrades; to perpetuate the memory and history of our dead, and to assist their widows and orphans; to maintain true allegiance to the Government of the United States of America, and fidelity to its Constitution and laws: to foster true patriotism, to maintain and extend the institutions of American freedom; and to preserve and defend the United States from all her enemies, whomsoever.

The bus stopped off at a couple of other historic buildings such as The Scottish Rite Cathedral and the Hipolito F. Garcia Federal building which looked interesting but not enough of a draw to make us leave the bus though.

We stopped at the Market Square / El Mercado where you could pick up some authentic knick- knackery and food where our driver was engaged by someone at the bus stop who asked about the tour and costs. We waited for what seemed like ages while they talked and talked. In fact they talked so much that I suspect the bus became behind schedule as we blasted through the rest of the trip and we didn’t get the opportunity to get off at the Blue Star Arts complex. Our driver was a bit dismissive of the place saying it was very high end and similar to the Pearl Brewery.

We passed the famous Torch of Friendship monument:

Not long after we went close to the Guenther House and Tower of the Americas that we’d visited the day before so we knew we were nearing the end of our trip. Soon enough we were back at the Alamo and feeling peckish as we’d planned to stop at the Blue Star Arts complex for a bite to eat. Never mind, another place on my list of places to try was the Buckhorn Saloon and Texas Ranger Museum that was close by.

The saloon was built in 1881 and it is where Teddy Roosevelt recruited Rough Riders and Pancho Villa is rumoured to have planned the Mexican Revolution. Many of the original furnishings are still in place, including the back-bar which was hand-crafted of marble and cherry wood. The bar features 7 locally brewed beers on draft including, Shiner Bock, Lone Star, Alamo Beer and 4 seasonal Real Ale craft beers. Definitely my kind of place!

Coupled with the bar is a museum, although we didn’t visit it’s a similar to Ripley’s Believe or not but with a Wild West and local theme, lots of guns, animal skulls and horns and a recreation of San Antonio at the turn of the century in Ranger Town.

In the corner of the bar was a small café serving up cheap bar food so we ordered up a couple of BBQ pork sliders and washed these down with a couple of local beers from the bar while we took in the views of the artefacts that adorned the place making it very unique and atmospheric.

It was only a short walk back to our hotel and once again we made full use of the rooftop pool to cool down, this really was a bonus for us in the heat.

After a bit of a snooze we washed and dressed and went out for dinner and thought we’d check out places in the local mall for a change and we settled on Chilli’s for old times’ sake as one of our go to places in Florida. My goodness, it’s hotter now than at any other time of day, I’ve really never experienced evening heat like this anywhere else in world.

We decided to eat in to get out of the heat and we propped up the bar while a table was made ready for us as they appeared to be a bit short staffed. No matter, we just settled down to nice ice cold beers until our table became ready.

I had one of the new Smokehouse Combo’s: jalapeño-cheddar smoked sausage, hand-battered Chicken Crispers with roasted street corn, homestyle fries, chili-garlic toast and garlic dill pickles. Real, honest no nonsense food that hit the mark with me.

Alison had a half rack of ribs with a half portion of shrimp. After a couple of Dr. Peppers we tried a couple of Margaritas just to round things off for the night.

Wonderful!

Total cost of $62 for the evening which was really good considering all the alcohol!

We braved the night time heat, being grateful that we didn’t have to far to go back to the hotel and crashed out for the night.

Melbatb · 21 Aug 17, 07:01 AM

Another packed day

The bus tour seems a good way to see a lot!

Lots of good food again - making me hungry!

Glee Fan · 27 Aug 17, 09:53 AM

Bus tour sounds really interesting. What a shame the driver rushed through the end of it. Dinner and cocktails look yum! Bargain price too!

20 Aug 17, 10:53 PM	#1
	20 Aug 17, 10:53 PM BONZO Imagineer
BONZO Imagineer Join Date: Mar 02	Flights, Fajitas and Fiestas - San Antonio July 2017 - Day 5 Flights, Fajitas and Fiestas Cast: Alison – early fifties, with wanderlust (but insists on travelling in comfort and style) Me – Shaun, mid fifties, also with wanderlust (used to be happy to travel anyhow but the comfort and style option is more appealing now!) Link to trip report index: Here Thursday 20th July San Antonio We were up at a slightly more reasonable time of 6am this morning and we showered and relaxed over coffee whilst looking for a suitable place for breakfast. My choice was Mad Hatters Tea House and café. I’d picked this as I like to try “Mom and Pop” type places rather than chain places and this one seemed to fit the bill. The weather forecast was hot again and we soon discovered that they weren’t wrong at all. As we walked along the heat and humidity was building so it was nice to get out of the heat and settle down for breakfast. First impressions was that it was a bizarre / quirky little place, a real mish mash of styles with un-matched tables and chairs and all done in an eclectic mix of down at heel Laura Ashley and Cath Kidston. other thing about this place was that it was set up like a private house with various rooms dotted around and decorated in different styles. We ordered our breakfast at the counter (there’s no waitress service), and were shown where we could get our hot drinks from. This turned out to be a rack of random cups and mugs of varying styles and sizes like charity shop set up – strange. I had the Mad Breakfast 3 which was scrambled eggs, ham, rye toast with a side of breakfast potatoes. madhatterstea/menu/daily-breakfast/ This was ok but not the greatest breakfast I’ve ever had stateside but met my breakfast needs today. The strawberry butter was unexpected but delicious, I somehow I didn’t really pay too much attention to it on the menu. However, it did work well on my preferred dark rye toast though. Alison had granola followed by a banana pecan pancake which she said was amazing! We both enjoyed several coffees. It came to a grand total of $22 We stepped out of the café and crossed the road to pick up the tour bus that we had a ticket for (as it was hop on and hop off we thought it would be worth using it as transport!) Once back at the hotel we just went back to our room to change and go back to the rooftop pool to cool down – Bliss! Right, now that we’d cooled down significantly we took a short walk out into the town to just near the Menger Hotel and hopped on the bus for our city trip. We had just missed an earlier one but took a photo upstairs before sitting in the aircon downstairs! Our first stop was north at the old Pearl Brewery, I’d seen this place advertised so thought we’d hop off and take a look around. The architects have done a first rate job of revamping the whole area, amazing architecture and landscaping with various pieces of brewing equipment made in to modern art installations. A number of local and unique restaurants, shops and bars were dotted around along with high end apartments and the swish hotel Emma. The overall feel was Hoxton meets San Antonio, a very hipster kind of place. There was a train parked up that used to serve the Brewery, so I climbed up (with a bit of difficulty as I’m not the most nimble!) It was a bit early in the day to settle down for drinks even though the craft ales were calling so we walked back to the bus stop to wait for the next bus to move on. We turned past VFW post 76 and I managed to take a quick picture before the bus turned. I didn’t catch all the dialogue the bus driver was saying so had to read up on it later although I did catch that it was the oldest post in Texas In summary, this is what it’s about, I guess a bit like our British Legion clubs but more so. The purpose of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 76 is fraternal, patriotic, historical and educational; to preserve and strengthen comradeship among its members; to assist worthy comrades; to perpetuate the memory and history of our dead, and to assist their widows and orphans; to maintain true allegiance to the Government of the United States of America, and fidelity to its Constitution and laws: to foster true patriotism, to maintain and extend the institutions of American freedom; and to preserve and defend the United States from all her enemies, whomsoever. The bus stopped off at a couple of other historic buildings such as The Scottish Rite Cathedral and the Hipolito F. Garcia Federal building which looked interesting but not enough of a draw to make us leave the bus though. We stopped at the Market Square / El Mercado where you could pick up some authentic knick- knackery and food where our driver was engaged by someone at the bus stop who asked about the tour and costs. We waited for what seemed like ages while they talked and talked. In fact they talked so much that I suspect the bus became behind schedule as we blasted through the rest of the trip and we didn’t get the opportunity to get off at the Blue Star Arts complex. Our driver was a bit dismissive of the place saying it was very high end and similar to the Pearl Brewery. We passed the famous Torch of Friendship monument: Not long after we went close to the Guenther House and Tower of the Americas that we’d visited the day before so we knew we were nearing the end of our trip. Soon enough we were back at the Alamo and feeling peckish as we’d planned to stop at the Blue Star Arts complex for a bite to eat. Never mind, another place on my list of places to try was the Buckhorn Saloon and Texas Ranger Museum that was close by. The saloon was built in 1881 and it is where Teddy Roosevelt recruited Rough Riders and Pancho Villa is rumoured to have planned the Mexican Revolution. Many of the original furnishings are still in place, including the back-bar which was hand-crafted of marble and cherry wood. The bar features 7 locally brewed beers on draft including, Shiner Bock, Lone Star, Alamo Beer and 4 seasonal Real Ale craft beers. Definitely my kind of place! Coupled with the bar is a museum, although we didn’t visit it’s a similar to Ripley’s Believe or not but with a Wild West and local theme, lots of guns, animal skulls and horns and a recreation of San Antonio at the turn of the century in Ranger Town. In the corner of the bar was a small café serving up cheap bar food so we ordered up a couple of BBQ pork sliders and washed these down with a couple of local beers from the bar while we took in the views of the artefacts that adorned the place making it very unique and atmospheric. It was only a short walk back to our hotel and once again we made full use of the rooftop pool to cool down, this really was a bonus for us in the heat. After a bit of a snooze we washed and dressed and went out for dinner and thought we’d check out places in the local mall for a change and we settled on Chilli’s for old times’ sake as one of our go to places in Florida. My goodness, it’s hotter now than at any other time of day, I’ve really never experienced evening heat like this anywhere else in world. We decided to eat in to get out of the heat and we propped up the bar while a table was made ready for us as they appeared to be a bit short staffed. No matter, we just settled down to nice ice cold beers until our table became ready. I had one of the new Smokehouse Combo’s: jalapeño-cheddar smoked sausage, hand-battered Chicken Crispers with roasted street corn, homestyle fries, chili-garlic toast and garlic dill pickles. Real, honest no nonsense food that hit the mark with me. Alison had a half rack of ribs with a half portion of shrimp. After a couple of Dr. Peppers we tried a couple of Margaritas just to round things off for the night. Wonderful! Total cost of $62 for the evening which was really good considering all the alcohol! We braved the night time heat, being grateful that we didn’t have to far to go back to the hotel and crashed out for the night. __________________ http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sign...igpic534_1.gif 1988 ~ Contemporary ~ Honeymoon 1989 ~ Off site 1994 ~ EuroDisney ~ Santa Fe 1999 ~ Off site 2001 ~ CBR (Aruba) ~ Poly (Tahiti) 2003 ~ WL & HRH 2004 ~ Pop Century, RPH, CSR, PBH, Contemporary 2006 ~ DLP ~ Newport Bay 2007 ~ POR ~ HRH ~ GF 2008 ~ All star sports, BCV, RPH, Vero Beach, VWL 2010 ~ OKW ~ BCV ~ HRH ~POP Century ~ Vero Beach ~ VWL 2013 ~ AKL ~ HRH ~ BCV ~ Vero Beach ~ VWL Edited at 11:00 PM.