Xmas In July
The inspiration for this post came from a couple of facebook friends who were complaining about Christmas in July sales; as I’d mentioned in my post https://lahainalaura.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/riverwalk-at-christmas-i/ the city changed to wrapping the trees with LED lights in 2011 to the dismay of many resident, in 2012 they returned to draping rather than wrapping the lights as had been done in previous years. These are a few pictures from this past Holiday Season on the Riverwalk.
The Bexar County Courthouse.
The oldest tree on the Riverwalk.
The Hilton Palacio del Rio and Marriott Rivercenter.
Riverwalk at Christmas II
Welcome back to our boat tour of the San Antonio Riverwalk. Christmas is always one of my favorite times of year because I like all things sparkly and shiny, so I loved the way the Riverwalk looked and as a San Antonio native it is always awesome to hear the “OOO”‘s and “Ah”‘s of the tourists visiting our beautiful city. The Riverwalk while always alluring is simply magical during it’s Christmas transformation.
Coming underneath yet another bridge we can see the restaurant Casa Rio, while I have not had dinner there it has long been a resident of the Riverwalk and what a gorgeous view to have while you are eating; needless to say I have added dinner there during the next holiday season to my to-do list.
Here we are approaching the bend before the Arneson River Theater which can also be entered from historic La Villita.
This picture gives you a sense of how many trees they have put lights on, there are some turns on the River where it looks like a lite forest.
In some ways it reminds of a the Sugarplum Fairies as I think they would probably live in a place that looked magical like this.
The Tower Life building which opened in 1929 is both a landmark and historic building in Downtown San Antonio, it can be seen from many places in the city and is the only San Antonio building to boast gargoyles on the corners of its sides which makes it a favorite of mine.
Here we are almost upon one of the street level bridges, I am always in awe of how tall the trees are above street level.
As we pass under the Navarro Street bridge one can see the height of these trees, while they are rooted on the walkways of the Riverwalk these giants climb high enough into the air that their beauty can be appreciated even while driving or walking through downtown San Antonio.
On Friday I will post the final shots from this journey, I hope that you will join me one last time on this holiday cruise.
Riverwalk at Christmas I
It has been quite a while since my last post and this post comes late, these pictures were taken at Christmastime and the reason it has taken me so long to post them is that I have returned to school and have been swamped with homework. However, over the course of Spring Break I took the time to edit these pictures so that I could post them. I hope you enjoy the magical beauty of the San Antonio Riverwalk during the holiday season; on our Rio San Antonio Cruise.
We began by the bridge that many tourists ask about, if they’ve seen the Selena movie; this is the one that Jennifer Lopez sat on and was kissed by the actor who was playing Chris Perez.
There are actually a few of these bridges on the Riverwalk and this is the second one we passed. This is the first year that the city converted to LED lights and while I do miss the old lights, the reflections that the new lights cast on the water are amazing.
One of the great things about the Riverwalk is that there is no shortage of eating establishments, they have something for everyone’s palate and you can enjoy the beauty of the season while sitting riverside while you dine.
The building on the left is the Hilton Palacio del Rio, it was built for the Hemisphere World’s Fair in 1968 and is a modular building; meaning that each room was built and furnished independently and they were all helicoptered into form the building.
The Marriott Riverwalk although a much newer building is just as impressive as it looms over the River and can be seen from several vantage point.
This mosaic has been a part of the Riverwalk longer than I have been alive but has been named for Lila Cockrell, one of the city’s longest standing and most beloved Mayors.
Most of the trees that are lite and line the river are Bald Cyprus and they are huge, climbing incredibly high into the air.
The last picture of this post is of the Marriott again, I loved they way the lite the outside of the building creating blocks of color.
Join me again later this week for more shots of our Winter Wonderland.
Lahaina Laura 