We made it to San Antonio and back and now the vacation I wanted/needed is over and I need another one to catch up on rest. One of the awesome things about the hotel we stayed in was that it was downtown and walking distance from several things I wanted to see/do. This is probably why I'm so tired now. We walked a lot.
But first, the room:
Our room at The St. Anthony was at the dead end of the hall. You can't tell from this picture but the chandeliers were really pretty.
I liked that the room had a foyer. I accidentally deleted the picture but this is another looking into the foyer from the bedroom. The door was to the right.
The minibar in the foyer. Slide those little booze bottles back and there were soft drinks. Those would be the only two Cokes I would see until Sunday.
Stir sticks because why not...
I really liked the bench in the foyer.
Looking into the bedroom from the foyer.
The bathroom.
THE SOAP. I LOVE THIS SOAP. I used bar soap AND shower gel just because it smelled that good. It's citrusy with maybe a drop of vanilla and it just smells clean. While it does smell like a woman would have no problem using it, it smells masculine too. I decided I wanted to buy some so I googled it. I found the brand's website but not this scent. They have other scents but I decided I won't be buying any. Why buy a bottle of hand soap for $65 when I can get Soft Soap for less than $2? I did stick the hand lotion in my bag before we left though. Oh, I also went to the bathroom before we left and all the soap was gone. I asked Cosme about it and he had put the rest in his bag.
They say the hotel is haunted and I believe it. We had a few odd things happen, mainly with the lights. I already posted most of it on fb.
The weekend started with dinner. Remember that non-haunted hotel I wanted to stay in originally, Hotel Havana? They have a Cuban restaurant, Ocho, and I knew I wanted to eat there. We had mojitos and appetizers of artichoke dip and empañadas. Having two appetizers, we decided we'd share the 12 oz ribeye instead of getting one each. It was good. We shared flan for dessert with a cup of "Cuban" coffee. The bartender googled it and said it was espresso poured over a sugar cube. That might not be how I had it in Miami but it was still good.
We walked back to the hotel and hung out at the pool before going back to the room to rest up for the next item up on Friday's to-do list. We started our walk over to the Alamo around 9:30 because I wanted to get a picture of it at night. I got a few and I hope they turned out but I don't know because
I still haven't taken the card out of my camera. Actually, those are the only pictures I got with my camera. On our walk over, San Antonio seemed like a familiar place. Once we got closer to the Alamo, I realized that SA reminds me of the French Quarter in New Orleans. It was just the vibe it gave off, I guess. I got my picture and we headed back to the hotel.
The next morning I woke up pretty early and just laid there and chilled on my iPad but decided to wake Cosme up when the bathroom light came on. We got ready and went for breakfast at The Original Blanco Cafe. Or is it just the original Blanco Cafe? Whatever.
I had migas. They were fine but I like Cosme's better. They did have homemade corn tortillas and that is something I don't get
I was wearing my "Tacos y Texas" t-shirt. I felt like their sign was trying to one up me.
We walked back to the hotel to wait for the market to open and then started that walk around 10:00.
We stopped at the San Fernando Cathedral. I took a picture but my phone didn't save it. (That's a problem I have with that phone.) I did get these two pictures that I thought was really cool.
We finished our walk over to the market and I bought stuff. We were going to grab a bite to eat there but it was a long wait. We headed back to the hotel after shopping and walking to cool off and rest for a minute. My toes and legs were hurting and Cosme was just sleepy. We were trying to think of somewhere to have a late lunch/early dinner. That was hard. We didn't want to wait until 5:00 and we didn't want to eat at a chain that we could have in Houston. We decided to walk a couple of blocks over to the Riverwalk and find something.
We found a restaurant that was packed. We thought the food must be good. Wrong. The sangria was good. I originally wanted a Bulleit and Coke but I enjoyed the sangria while a case of Pepsi glared at me.
The jalapeño corn dip would have been good if it had less jalapeño so I could actually taste something else. The beef fajitas were not what we're used to so I'm glad we only shared a plate for one. We're picky when it comes to fajitas, very picky. These did not meet our standards. I always heard San Antonio was supposed to have awesome food but in our whole weekend, Ocho was my favorite. I will point out two things though: 1. We were downtown near the Riverwalk and that whole area is a tourist section. So I guess if someone is there from some other state who might not be familiar with TexMex, that food might be okay. 2. Like Lauren pointed out, why would I think the food in San Antonio would be any better than other Texas towns...
We figured San Antonio is a Pepsi town. Even our hotel had Pepsi on the menu so I can't understand why they had two cans of Coke in the minibar. I don't understand it but totally appreciated it.
So we had our food and drinks and I could have passed out right there. I guess walking all day in the heat and then topping it all off with cold sangria will do that. We went back to the hotel to cool off and rest again and shower. We didn't make it out again after that and ended up ordering burgers from room service. Our bathroom ghost must have known we were exhausted and not in the mood for shenanigans because after being on all day, we turned the bathroom light off and it didn't come back on.
We checked out the next morning and stopped at Lulu's Bakery for breakfast and a 3 pound cinnamon roll to-go. (We heard about in on Man vs Food years ago.) We have a whole 12 oz cup full of icing that we distribute as needed.
It's good. We really didn't see much difference between it and Mrs. Baird's. They should really add more cinnamon filling with all that bread though.
So we made it back home and here I am. I actually woke up this morning not feeling exhausted. If I don't go let the dogs out though, my to-do list will grow with a mess to clean up.
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