Day 5 - Saturday, May 20th


We got up and headed out to breakfast. We didn't know where we should go, so we headed down to the Marriott. Unfortunately, their service was their usual crap. I don't know why the Marriott hotels have such a low quality of customer service. The breakfast was so-so, but the bacon was very good. It tasted like jerky. It was a very interesting flavor. I am pretty sure it was not pork.

We decided to go to the San Antonio Zoo. This was a pretty cool zoo. They admission price was quite reasonable. The zoo was well laid out. We could cover the entire place without too much overlap. They have some souvenir booths that I have not seen since the last time I went to the Los Angeles Zoo, circa 1972. They have wax molds of animals. If you have not seen these machines before, they are pretty cool.

They have a cute little boat ride for a $1. It was very difficult to get into, as it was not made for tall people like me. The ride lasted about 6 minutes. Check out the video of the ride.

I wanted to see the bears unfortunately they were off exhibit. These where the only animals not out. The other animals were out and about.

After the zoo we went to the Japanese tea gardens. This was a really cool looking garden. There were lots of walkways and waterfalls. The walkways were narrow and made of cobblestones. It was very peaceful there. We walked around for about a half hour and then headed back to the car.

We were starving and had no clue where to go eat. We did not want to drive back to the hotel to find lunch so we pulled up our trusty neverlost and it gave us a few suggestions. We picked La Madeleine a nice little French pastry restaurant. The food was good and hearty.

After lunch we drove back to see the famous King William Street. This is an area of San Antonio that has some expensive old homes. This is San Antonio's first historic district. There are collections of English, German and Spanish style homes. It is interesting to see some of these very nice homes next to homes that are all run down and about ready to be torn down. There was a wedding party arriving in the park at the entrance to the area. Even though it was strange, it didn't seem out of place.

After touring the area we headed over to Market Square. We stopped into La Margarita, and had (what else) a margarita. The market is sort of like a farmers market without the farmers. It was more like Alvera St. in Los Angeles. After a little shopping we headed back to the hotel to rest before dinner. We went to Michlino's. This was a nice little Italian restraunt.

The weather had turned quite humid. We ate inside rather than out. After dinner we walked along the river and then back to the hotel.

DAY4<------>DAY6