Author: Chris

Our flight from San Antonio to New Orleans was again uneventful.  The TSA seemed to be fully manned and security was a breeze.  The “Schumer Shutdown” continues to have zero impact on our travels.

We arrived at our condo and soon met up with our first set of travel partners for Myra’s birthday.  There would be 6 to start with, which would turn into 12 of us by the 3rd day.

We ate at the famous Brennan’s, which has been around since 1946.  The food was pretty good, and the famous dessert “Bananna’s Foster” that was invented here was a must order!  Here is a quick video as our host was preparing the dessert.

A shot of us at dinner.  The interior of Brennan’s is beautiful, particularly when it’s being graced by this group!

Here we are on Bourbon street later that night.  It actually looks cleaner than I remember, and definitely way less crowded than the last time we were here.

We had to walk pretty far down the street to actually find some jazz music.  We ended up at “Fritzel’s Jazz Bar”, the oldest operating jazz bar in New Orleans.  It’s located in a historic building from 1831, with the jazz bar opening in 1969.  We spent about an hour listening to “Fritzel’s All Stars”, and damn were they good!  Here’s a little snippet.

The next morning our group walked 15 minutes south from our condo to the National WWII Museum, an attraction that was built since we were last here in 2002.  Anybody that knows me knows I’m a huge WWII history buff, and this is the best WWII museum in the world!

The museum starts with a rather hokey train simulator where you pick up a dog tag of a specific soldier that you can interact with in multiple locations of the museum.  Not my thing, but the simulation was interesting.

Likely the most in-depth portion of the museum covers D-Day.  The original intent of the museum was to only cover D-Day, but they ended up deciding to cover the entirety of the war.  They definitely went out of their way to cover D-Day in exhausting detail.  Below is a depiction of a pillbox overlooking Omaha Beach.

This diorama depicts the volume of aircraft and vessels involved in the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944.

The museum is full of interesting items, this one being “Rupert”, a dummy paratrooper that was dropped in various locations to throw off the Nazi’s as to the actual focus of Normandy.  These were dropped complete with uniforms, boots and helmets, as well as with recordings of gunfire and exploding mortar rounds.  A few actual paratroopers would drop with them and set off other effects such as flares and chemicals to simulate the smell of exploded shells.  The allies really pulled out all the stops to ensure the Nazi’s had no idea where D-Day was actually occurring.

Another interesting item on display was this “Jap Hunting License”, a novelty item that was quite popular shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and was actually used as a promotional item for several companies at the time, this one from a printing company in Oxnard, CA.

Below is an actual Western Union telegram sent to the family of Private James A. Sudecz, killed in action in Italy on July 12, 1944.  These telegrams were sent out to far too many families.

In the center of the vast museum is a Parade Grounds with numerous statues and interesting architecture.  Here is one of the major hero’s of WWII, particularly regarding D-Day, Dwight D. Eisenhower.

I really liked the angular design of the various buildings as well as the “Canopy of Peace”, which hangs over the Parade Grounds.  Below is Kelly, Myra, Kim and John.

Another view of the Canopy of Peace from the exterior of the museum.

Just outside the museum is this set of statues, called “Lest We Forget: The Mission”.  The sculptor, Fredric Arnold, drew from his personal experience flying P-38’s, and was one of the few pilots to survive from his aviation class.  Following the war, he vowed to convey the incalculable cost of war and pay tribute to the 88,000 U.S. Airmen killed during WWII.  He completed this seven year project at the age of 94, just two years before his death in 2018.

After the museum everybody needed a cocktail and a snack so we headed over to the rooftop bar Rosie’s On The Roof at the adjacent Higgins Hotel.  Rosie’s got nothing on Myra!

William got an excellent shot of the city from the rooftop.

On the walk back John decided he wanted to be photographed behind a “Police Line”.  Here you go John!  Power to the people!

That night we ate at one of the best restaurants in New Orleans, Dakar.  It’s also considered the 6th best restaurant in the United States.  From left to right; Kim, Tina, Vaughan, Myra, William, Kelly, John and yours truly.

We have to say, it lived up to the hype!  It was absolutely amazing!  If you come to New Orleans, make sure you book this two months out, when reservations first open up.

Coming up, we take a driving tour of New Orleans, Kim and I head back to the WWII Museum, we take a walking tour of the Garden District and a Ghost Tour of the French Quarter.

 

We went back to the sight of the Saga Light Show, San Fernando Cathedral, to see it during the day time.  This cathedral was founded in 1731, with the original portion of the church built between 1738 and 1750, making it one of the oldest cathedrals in the United States (locals claim it’s the oldest, and I’m not one to argue with a local, particularly not in Texas).

We didn’t spend much time inside as a wedding was about to happen.  The cathedral was built by soldiers from the Presidio de San Antonio as well as settlers from the Canary Islands.  For this reason the interior  has an image of the Virgin of Candelaria, the patroness of the Canary Islands.

In 1836 the cathedral, still a parish church, played a role in the Battle of the Alamo when General Santa Anna hoisted a flag of “no quarter” (surrender or die) from the church’s tower, marking the beginning of the siege.

Just across the Main Plaza is this interesting looking building, the Bexar County Courthouse.

Just outside the courthouse this historical plaque once again referred to immigrants from the Canary Islands.  These Spanish settlers formed the first organized civil government in Texas, founding San Antonio in 1731.  This makes San Antonio the second oldest city in the United States, behind only St. Augustine (which we are visiting towards the end of this trip).

We spent some time at Historic Market Square, a collection of shops selling Mexican goods.  Pretty much every store was selling the sort of thing you’d see if you ever visited Tijuana, minus the Chiclets  at the border crossing.  I’d skip it unless you are into that sort of thing.  I didn’t take any photos.

I also didn’t take any photos of the restaurant on the second night, Bliss, but it was the best meal we’ve had in a long time!  We had the best grilled Octopus we’ve had since we visited Spain, and Kim’s “Shrimp and Grits” was out of this world good!  My scallops were excellent as well.  If you come to San Antonio, come here!!  Here is a photo off the internet of the interior.  Gorgeous spot!

Walking on the River Walk on a Friday or Saturday night is like walking on the Vegas strip….crowded as hell with a lot of obviously over-indulged people!  I would opt for mid-week if possible….Thursday night was a ghost town by comparison.  It does look beautiful at night.

The line to take a boat ride looked like it might be at least an hour long if not more.  Still, it’s beautiful at night.

We decided to opt for the boat tour on on our last morning, when it wasn’t nearly as crowded.  Our guide pointed out the bridge in the background, called the Selena Bridge, as it was used in the movie “Selena”, which we’ve never seen.  Jennifer Lopez stars as Selena, and she was proposed to on this bridge in the movie, so it’s a big attraction for Selena fans (I have no idea who she is).  According to our guide Jennifer Lopez was actually proposed to on this bridge, but he was unable to answer our question “which marriage”?  There have been too many.

The guide pointed out this building, which was the first air conditioned hospital in San Antonio, where none other than Carol Burnett was born.  At least some of the people on the boat knew who that is!  This is the Nix Building, built in 1930, a 23-story hospital that made it the tallest and largest in the US at the time.

After the tour we walked over to the Saint Joseph Catholic Church, which is completely surrounded by a mall.  The church was built by German immigrants and completed in 1871.  The archdiocese refused to sell out to the mall developer so they had to build around it.

It reminded me of “The Little House” book I read as a child.  Loved that book!

We wanted to see the stained glass windows that were imported from Munich in 1902.  Unfortunately the church was closed, but still beautiful from the outside.

Of course we were again near The Alamo, so I had to get one last shot from a different angle.

The Walgreen Drugs in downtown San Antonio was one of the first of the stores, opening in 1901.  They still have the original neon sign!

That is it for San Antonio.  If you plan a trip here I think 3 days is sufficient.  We found ourselves searching for things to do with 4 days.  Onward to New Orleans, where we meet up with friends for Myra’s 50th birthday!  Hopefully I can find some time to post a blog or two!