If you’ve been following my ThrowBack Thursday posts, you probably already know that I love walking around downtown areas, photographing the ornate architecture of old buildings. If you do already know that, then it would seem you know me better than I know myself. Y’see, my plan for today was to spend the morning at the Alamo, then check out the River Walk. Both of these attractions are in downtown San Antonio. Yet it had not occurred to me that I should allow some time for ogling various buildings. And I was noticing some cool ones before I had even found a place to park.

I remained patient. I had all day, and those buildings weren’t going anywhere. Not in relation to me, anyway. I understand that the entire planet is constantly hurtling across the cosmos at incredible speed, and all the buildings are moving along with the planet. But so am I (usually). The point is, I went to the Alamo and asked the tour guide the two questions that had to be asked:

(1) When do we get to see the basement?

(2) When do we learn about all the thousands and thousands of uses for corn?

(Author’s Blogger’s Note: If you don’t know why the above questions had to be asked, then you need to watch Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. Trust me, you’ll like it.)

OK, so in reality, admission to the Alamo is free. A tour guide costs money. They also have an audio tour option that costs less money and includes admission to the adjacent museum. That’s what I did. I learned that, like so many other events in history, what I learned in school was greatly oversimplified. The battle of the Alamo was actually a part of a larger Mexican Civil War, which was not limited to Texas. I could go into more detail, but Wikipedia probably covers it all.

Upon leaving the Alamo, I set out for the River Walk. Now the River Walk is quite long (over 15 miles), and I walked less than a tenth of it, so maybe I just hit the wrong section or maybe Monday afternoon isn’t the right time to be there…but I found it to be overhyped. It was pleasant, quaint, really quite a nice thing to have in a bustling downtown area. But not the amazingness that I had expected based on what I had heard. Or maybe I was just itchin’ to start checking out architecture, so let’s take a look at what I found in that regard…

I could have done much more photographin’ but it was nearly 4:00 and I wanted to get out of town before rush hour. I needed to get to my Space Coast hotel in time to watch the Tar Heels blow a 15-point halftime lead.

Oh, I nearly forgot to remember the Alamo! Here’s the obligatory photo of the most photographed building in the state of Texas.