Remember the Alamo

I knew I was not suppose to forget the Alamo, but I am not sure I ever really learned much about it in school in  the first place.  I think our tour guide might have happened upon the reason why.   She explained that there were no Americans fighting at the Alamo.  It was only TEXANS and TEJANOS against the Mexican army.    

Unlike many Americans I have not seen any of the "Alamo" movies.  I had this bizarre image in my mind of a wooden fort single-handedly protected by Davey Crockett.   Before we toured the Alamo I followed a strange suggestion in my guidebook and took the kids to "The Alamo" at the nearby IMAX theater.  I was so glad I did.  It gives you a much better idea of what the surrounding area looked like 175 years ago.  Thanks to the film and the guide talks we attended I  now  know  that the Alamo was actually built as a mission, later abandoned, and it's involvement in Texas' fight for independence was strictly because of strategic location.  

Today the Alamo sits in the center of urban San Antonio and while most of it has been restored and preserved you still find these markers in the pavement directly in front of ice cream parlors and tourist traps.

Around the corner is the San Antonio River Walk.  I had seen this in a movie once (yes I am referring to Miss Congeniality) and it looked so picturesque that we walked the length of the canal.

After having all of my misconceptions about the Alamo refuted, I decided I wanted to know the actual history of the river walk. As we took a boat ride down the canal we not only learned about it construction under the New Deal, but we also learned about the architecture.  For instance the lack of railings along the river is deliberate.  The original architect insisted on  this because he felt the closer people were to the water the more serene they would feel.