Spectacular show: IPW San Antonio

San Antonio did a really great job in hosting this tourism convention with over 5.000 delegates from more than 60 countries for the first time! Superb events, shows, parties every evening, special deals, tours, give-aways, and everything perfectly arranged, people friendly all over, and, all places easily walkable from our Hilton hotel. No shuttle busses or waiting in line necessary this time - a big plus, too!

Sunday, our first IPW day, started with the official German delegation’s breakfast in the Hlton Hotel at 8 am, followed by a press brunch at the Witte (Natural History) Museum. Dancers, singers, food boothes set up in the park surrounding the museum, performers on stage. The museum was shut down for our group of international journalists. 

Press tours next. Among several choices we had, we opted for the „Art is Everywhere“-tour. It was a good choice! First, the bus brought us to the McNay Museum (right and below) - a wonderful private art collection, founded by a lady, who donated all of it and the historic mansion to a foundation to become a spectacular public museum surrounded by a park.  

 

 

On to the San Pedro Creek Culture Park. While the Riverwalk at the San Antonio River is rather touristy, this promenade along the San Pedro Creek is dedicated to public art, murals, sculptures, installations, etc. We met with some of the artists (photos below) - an eclectic mix! - and, would have walked further along the promenade if it wouldn’t have started to rain. We went back later, on our own, on Wednesday, to check out more and to admire the beautiful Alameda Theatre, which is about to be restored. 

Last stop was „Hopscotch“ - a new immersive artsy experience (more for young people), where we got a „Texas flight“ of different cocktails (photo on the right side).

We had an hour to freshen up before the opening event „Viva San Antonio!“ took place at La Villita on the Riverwalk - minutes away from our hotel. The event included the different ethnical groups in the area, among them Germans, therefore „Oompah bands“, bratwurst and pretzels, but, also Mariachi, and, modern music, lots of excellent food - first of all, Mexican – and, of course, Margheritas and local beers.

On Monday evening - after a long day inside the air-conditioned Convention Center at Media Market Place - a boat parade was arranged just for IPW. San Antonio has many festivals, among them La Fiesta as one of the biggest, and, many of them take place on the river. Colorful boats of all kinds and topics, lights everywhere, fantastic scenery. We watched the second round of boats parading from our balcony on the 16th floor.

The tourism show itself was ,,, as usual: one full day of appointments (Media Market Place - left photo),  press conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday (photos below, one from New Orleans PK with famous musician Kermit Ruffins). In addition, we „walked the floor“ - the exhibition hall where states and destinations, attractions, hotels, etc., have set up their boothes. We talked to people, met with old friends, were pitching ideas, playing around with new projects, etc. It was strenuous, feet were hurting in the evenings, brain spinning. Lunch was served every day in a huge ballroom (photo below), and there was entertainment, e.g. live bands as the „Counting Crows“ or Broadway show presentations. 

Tuesday - parties on invitation in the evening. There were fewer „private parties“ of single destinations in the evening than before-COVID, but the ones we attended were fun: one was a rustic BBQ (open-air) with „The Great American West“, whereas New York State and New York City (right photo, restaurant The Range) chose fine-dining restaurants for their receptions. Last point on the itinerary this evening - after a couple of miles walked in 90 deg F.  from venue to venue - was  „The Saga“ - a spectacular historic projection of 25 minutes on the front of the cathedral (below).

The final Let’s Texas Party took place around and in The Alamo with a spectacular drone light show (photos far below) at the end. Food (below) ranged from quail to rabbit to whole fish, ceviche, tacos, and, of course beef brisket. There were regional sections, and, e.g. Fredericksburg or New Braunfeld served their beer and sausages, there was local wine from the Texas wine country or specialities from Austin. On several stages bands were playing, there were games and photo options and give-aways and much more.

 

 

Remember the Alamo!

IPW 2023 - the largest International tourism conference & show in the U.S. - about 5,000 participants from 60 countries, is this year taking place in San Antonio/Texas. We flew from MUC to Houston (11:15 hours) - Houston's downtown in the far background on the photo - and on to San Antonio (38 min) with United and even got an upgrade to the new Economy Premium Class, with more comfy seats, but the same lousy food. 

 

Arrived on time in San Antonio, around 8 pm in the evening, at sunset, and, over 90 deg. F still, pooped and tired. Took Lyft into downtown and got a nice room on the 16th floor, with River view in our conference delegation's hotel, the Hilton Palacio del Rio. Arrived just in time for sunset! 

Too tired to still leave the hotel, but this morning, we started early - after heavy thunderstorms and rain last night. It had cooled down a bit when we walked throught the South Town Arts District - with great murals (photos below) and many restaurants, cafés and bars - to Guenther House, a flour mill founded by a German immigrant in 1851. We were looking forward to get there early (because of the otherwise long lines) to enjoy their delicious breakfast of home-made biscuits, waffles and pancakes out on the patio. And, of course, bought the pecan-peach syrup, which we love!

  Biscuits & sausage gravy (below)

 Walked back along the river promenade - with beautiful, almost tropical vegetation and its river taxis (photos below) - into downtown to register at the Convention Center and to get our media badges. 

Met some people there we chatted with, and, in the afternoon went to explore more of San Antonio, where we haven't been for a couple of years. The Alamo - mission, fort and shrine - got a new museum, the Ralston Family Collection Center, and is always worth a visit! Interesting story about the Battle of The Alamo and about Texas' history in general! Visited the Buckhorn Saloon afterwards, with its pretty quirky exhibitions and trophy collections, and its interesting Texas Ranger Museum, and, strolled through downtown.

Canna lily (left), famous Riverwalk (below)

The Alamo with re-enactor

 

Buchhorn Saloon, and, old hat store in downtown San Antonio.

In the evening we walked to East Side S.A., to a brewery, over the railroad tracks. As always, best breweries are in industrial areas, a little out-of-the-way, hard to reach by foot, and, pretty hidden gems. Also, again: great murals here (far below).

Alamo Beer Company, with its beergarden, was packed with locals, a band was playing, families activities and games of all kinds - fun atmosphere! Beer was excellent, too, we had some food to go with, and, afterwards we were able to make our long way back to the hotel safe and sound. 

Markets of all kinds and farewell to DC

 

 

Packing, check-out, and out  we were again - despite light rain this morning - for one more adventure: We still wanted to explore the Union Market District. Located in the NoMa neighborhood, this gourmet food hall (photo above, left) offers a variety of different cuisines and delicacies. Union Market is a revived mid-century produce- and meat-selling bazaar that holds food stalls, restaurants and kitchen/restaurant equipment. 

 

The building was restored and reopened in 2012, as an industrial-cool space. Another building is occupied by La Cosecha (far above),  a contemporary Latin American marketplace. The whole market area is filled with little restaurants, cafés, but also with pretty „authentic“ meat markets and whole sale stores. Though it was still a little quiet in the morning, we got a good idea about how attractive this neighborhood, which name means „North of Massachusetts Avenue“. It is situated closeby Union Station and connects with Ivy City, where a flagship REI Store and the Red Bear Brewing Company are to be found.

 

After checking out „Politics and Prose“ bookstore (pic on right side), an independen,  fantastic/chaotic/adorable used-book store founded in 1984, we went for a stroll through the NoMa district with its beautiful little row houses - contrasting to the mushrooming modern highrises! Some of the trees in front already started to bloom.

 

 

When we reached H Street (where a streetcar is running), we smelled coffee and found Sidamo (left photo), an Ethiopian coffee roastery/shop (there are more Ethiopian places around!), where we enjoyed another cup of strong and excellent coffee while watching the  owner handroasting batch by batch. Again, many new buildings around, but also some of the old features along H Street.

 

 

 

 

Next stop: Union Station (left), the second-busiest Amtrak hub in the nation with a foodcourt, shops and restaurants, tour and bike rental offerings. Designed by Daniel Burnham and opened in 1907, it is Amtrak's headquarters, connecting DC with cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston on a frequent basis, but there are also long-distance AMTRAK services to Chicago and New Orleans. Finally (!!!) we also found a post office - which isn’t too easy anymore nowadays in big cities - and mailed a postcard to friends of us. The post office employee was stationed in Göppingen, as he proudly told us.

 Since we still had plenty of time and rain had stopped, we walked a good mile or so to get to another famous DC market, the Eastern Market (right), in the Capitol Hill neighborhood (below). The market was completed in 1873, designed by a German-born immigrant named Adolf Cluss. He also designed the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building at the Mall. 2007 the Market buildings burned down, but were rebuilt and reopened two years later. Eastern Market is one of the few historic public market buildings in Washington, DC and the only one that has retained its original public market function with butchers, fish mongers, bakeries, etc.. Though, we missed the weekend farmers and flea market there, we at least got us a delicious Pastrami Sandwich for To-go!

We took an Uber back to the hotel and got ready for our trip by foot to the metro station and from there by subway to the airport. Recently, the Silver Line was completed and now connects the city to Dulles International Airport DC - for merely $ 3,65 (regular) or 6,45 (peak time) - which is amazingly cheap considering the distance! In DC - other than in many other cities, trains and stations are clean, not overcrowded, trains frequent often and reliably. It took us about 50 min. to get to the airport (Uber would probably have taken 1/2 hour in weekday traffic). With the exception of long walking distances in the airport to get around, the usual procedures went quick and smooth. Plane (a B 777-200) departed about 30 min. late, but we each had a row of our own, it was only about 40 % full.