San Antonio Grand March

Large crowds gathering outside the Alamo for no apparent reason.

The vibrant River Walk and the Christmas Grand March

Enjoying supper on the River Walk

On our last night in San Antonio the whole of the city seemed to converge on the River Walk for what seemed to be a Grand March. Even little tiny children paraded along at 10:30pm to see and be seen. It was quite a spectacle with the cascade of coloured lights falling in streams off the tall cypress lining the water. We wondered how many fall in the river. The river cruise boats speed along in quick succession. I felt for a few ducks that had to scurry out of their way.
Many of the buildings that line the walk are made of limestone. Even the rural houses and town buildings are made of the soft stone. It has a

More of the Grand March outside our restaurant

nice effect. The soft colour blends in with the earth and vegetation, seeming to be a part of it.
As we drove north to Blanco a few days ago into the hill country I was stunned to see a plethora of Fireworks buildings - shacks set up along the highway simply for the sale of firecrackers. Sometimes there were 4 in a 100 metre span. What on earth are they doing with all of those firecrackers? That and tiny horses. Field after field of tiny horses eating hay. Despite driving one of the most scenic drives in Texas - The Devils Back. I really can't say that the hill country is that remarkable. Just undulating waves of leafy trees in a sparse grass. The relief isn't that great so that from the car it is mostly trees.
Today we went to the zoo. Quite a pretty zoo. The Mocking birds that greet you at the entrance seemed to have memorized all of the exotic bird sounds from within so you immediately are transported to somewhere tropical.

A cute little Hippo Bum

The hippos were darling and didn't seem too bored. The very graceful Okapi even tried to sniff me with his vomer. The poor African dog seems to need some anxiety meds - endless pacing. Even the elephants were rocking back and forth. The whole thing gives you quite a despairing feeling. Animals in captivity definitely suffer but then the grim reminder that very few of them will exist in the wild. All in all Zoos are hard to visit for all of the terrible feelings they evoke.

Waiting in the Airport to be whisked back to the winter wonderland and a white Christmas.
Despite the wild shopping that I

Some weird bird who was obsessed with pecking my shoes

A curious Okapi

 witnessed and the plethora of decorations - the Christmas feeling doesn't seem that strong here to me and it is probably the lack of the white stuff. Even though I sometimes catch a sniff of pine - the trees are not that common here and without their leaves the cypress don't smell.

A very restless wild African dog.