Fiesta Medals: the Volkssporting Connection
This article has been updated for 2019 San Antonio touts its annual Fiesta --18-28 April this year -- as a "party with a purpose." It traces its origins to 1890 with the first "Battle of the Flowers" parade, commemorating the Texians victory over Santa Anna at San...
May 17: King William / MaiFest Walk
Come walk with the Randolph RoadRunners through the Southtown and the Riverwalk in the King William Area. An afternoon walk starting at the Beethoven Männerchor Halle und Garten. Your $3 walk fee includes admission to the MaiFest, a $5 value. STARTING POINT: Beethoven...
We’re Experimenting with Translations: What Do You Think? Was denken Sie? Что вы думаете? 당신은 어떻게 생각하세요?
Once the Texas Trail Roundup is sanctioned ans an IML -- a premiere international walking event -- we expect to host visitors from all over the world. Yikes! How are we going to communicate with everyone? The trails themselves will be clearly marked -- each distance...
What is an IML Walk?
The Texas Trail Roundup has spent three years working hard to have our event sanctioned by the IML, which we hope will happen at their May 2019 meeting in Blankenberge, Belgium. Volkssporters may wonder: what is IML? Think of it as a cousin the IVV and the AVA. We...
Sunken Garden Theater: The Other Half of the Quarry
Yesterday we wrote about the Japanese Tea Gardens, which were constructed in an abandoned quarry that bisected Brackenridge Park. Actually, the Gardens only took up half the quarry. The other half -- the northern part -- is now the Sunken Garden Theater.When the Tea...
More Than Water Under the Bridge
We walkers have all been spooked by a creepy underpass. What (or who?) lurks in the shadows? On the San Antonio Riverwalk, that ominous feeling of dread has been banished by art. The undercrofts of our bridges are beautiful and safe Let's start with the FISH,...
The Faux Bois of San Antonio
Throughout the city of San Antonio you will find the work of Dionicio Rodriguez, carried on by his great nephew, Carlos Cortés: Faux Bois, or, false wood. In Mexico it is often referred to as trabajero rustico (rustic work) but it all means the same thing: concrete...
Simply Beautiful: The Japanese Tea Garden
It wasn't always beautiful. In 1915, the new San Antonio Parks Commissioner, Ray Lambert, embraced the “modern” ideal of healthier urban environments for the wealthy and working class alike. His grand idea was to create a park near downtown by connecting a 199-acre...
UNESCO World Heritage Site: What’s the Big Deal?
On July 4, 2015 the San Antonio Missions became a UNESCO ( United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Site. What's the big deal? In 1972, various international bodies united to draw up the World Heritage Convention. It was...
Un Poquito de Mexico en HemisFair Park
The 10km Friday Friendship walk will take you through HemisFair Park. Just before you get to the Tower of the Americas you'll be instructed to walk to the left of the Mayan Statue and head towards the big blue sculpture titled "Unamita." What are these things doing...
The Sssssssnakes of San Antonio
For some odd reason when non-Texans talk to us about walking in the Lone Star State they look worried and ask about snakes. Texas isn't snakier than other parts of the United States. It must be all those Western movies that feature an obligatory rattlesnake. So, to...
Empty Tomb: The Cenotaph
From the Greek words kenos (empty) and taphos (tomb) cenotaphs are tombs or monuments erected to honor a person or persons whose remains are elsewhere or their whereabouts unknown. This one in San Antonio's Alamo Plaza is sometimes referred to as "The" Cenotaph. It...
A Walk through Academia: Trinity University
Sunday'sTexas Trail Roundup 21k walk will take you through the campus of Trinity University, located between Brackenridge Park and the historic Monte Vista neighborhood. Presbyterians founded Trinity in 1869 in Tehuacana, Texas (about 40 miles NE of Waco) from the...
San Fernando Cathedral
The site for the Church of San Fernando was selected on July 2, 1731, when Juan Antonio Pérez de Almazán, captain of the Presidio of San Antonio, laid out a central square for the villa of San Fernando de Béxar. The cornerstone for the first attempt to build a stone...
Our Enchilada Red Library: More Than Books (But We Have Those, Too)
On every walk you get a view of San Antonio's Enchilada Red Central Library, opened in May, 1995. It's a prominent part of the San Antonio skyline. Here's a short video explaining how it got built: You'll walk past our two previous libraries on Friday's Friendship...