Leaving California: Day 38

We awake to a strange and loud chirping noise which comes from next to the door. After a lot of hammering on the wall and slamming the door, it doesn't go away and so we do. Rebecca even gets half the money back from the front desk.

So we drive downtown and find parking. As we are walking into the center, we get the feeling of being in a real city: old houses, curved streets, the smell, etc. We emerge right next to the Alamo, where they commemorate a bunch of soldiers who were too stubborn to follow orders to run away from an army of 4000 and thus, quite logically, got massacred. Well, that's my view anyway, and what do I know.

There is a lot of activity everywhere and we find out, that the annual Fiesta starts today. We go down to the Riverwalk which is actually quite nice at first sight. Later on, we think that the whole thing is quite artificial and the food doesn't really live up to the location and is overpriced.

At the marketplace the atmosphere is more Mexican, with a cool Mariachi band and lots of booths and strange shops. In the afternoon it gets pretty hot again and so we make an excursion to the main library, which is located in a very interesting modern building with lots of space inside for reading and browsing.

Later on we decide to leave San Antonio and cruise North to check out Austin. Which we do and after we find a motel, we go and have dinner at the Austin version of the Coyote Cafe. The city seems pretty nice and interesting and as we drive through downtown, music is pouring out of many places.