Dorothy Piotrowski’s blog

We wanted to investigate downtown San Antonio today.  We started at the Historic Market Square which includes the Farmers Market, El Mercado and Produce Row.  The square is about Mexican culture with shop after shop selling pottery, baskets, paper flowers and lots of colourful stuff.  After walking through the many shops, we decided to have lunch at La Margarita Restaurant & Oyster Bar.  We sat outside and enjoyed our lunch in the 80 degree heat.  The Mexican food was delicious.  On our way back to the car, we had to stop at Mi Tierra Cafe & Bakery.  We walked through the doors and were stunned by the longest counter of pastries we have ever seen.  The ceiling is covered with gold pinata-type balloons, and strings of gold Mexican flags.  Very festive.  It took us a while to decide but eventually we chose the vanilla cream Pan Fino Empanada and Pecan Praline which we enjoyed while people watching.

We made the short drive to the Rivercenter Mall to park (thanks Jack!), and then it was a quick walk to the River Walk.

While walking along the River Walk, we found the Rio San Antonio Cruises.  The boat tour is a 30 minute ride where we learned lots about the history of the River Walk and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  The tour guide was very knowledgeable and quite amusing.  As you travel down the river you pass under many unique bridges, and past many historical buildings.  The river is lined with (fancy!) hotels, shops, restaurants, bars, and exquisite scenery.  A photographer’s paradise.  

Dinner tonight was compliments of The Cheesecake Factory from the North Star Mall.  We were so tired from all of our walking that we decided to get take-out and enjoy dinner at home.  Gotta love the Orange Chicken, followed by the Oreo Cheesecake, followed by lying on the couch!

San Antonio has four missions that we want to visit.  Karen found on the internet that on Sundays there is a noon Mariachi Mass at the Mission San José.  We got there about 10:30am and walked around and took lots of photos of the 286-year old mission.  The Mariachi Mass is very popular so we got into the line and waited, while the Mariachi band began to arrive.

As people were filing into the church, the priest walked around and asked where everyone was from.  Before the mass started, the priest read out the states and countries of the visitors.  We were happy to represent Canada!  When the priest called out where you were from, you stood and received a big Texas welcome.

The mass was unbelievable.  The service was in English but all of the singing was done in Spanish accompanied by the nine-member Mariachi band, and a large choir.  It made the mass very lively.  The music and singing was truly beautiful.  Before mass ended, the priest invited people with birthdays and anniversaries up to the altar.  The Mariachi band played “Happy Birthday” and “The Anniversary Song”, while the anniversary couple danced.

After mass, everyone filed out to the courtyward where the Mariachi band performed a few songs.  We met a very kind gentleman named Oscar whose niece was in the band.  He was kind enough to take us around the mission and explain the history, which was absolutely fascinating.

We ended up learning over lunch at Bill Miller Bar-B-Q that Oscar’s mom and dad started the Mariachi mass 39 years ago.

After a very late lunch, we went to the Flea Mart.  This place was huge.  They had everything you can imagine for sale.  After walking up and down a few rows in about 80 degree heat, we left and headed back to the hotel.

While driving home, I remembered that it was Sunday and you know what that means … homestyle chicken at Cracker Barrel.  There was a restaurant not too far away so we decided to get takeout and enjoy it back at the hotel.

Since it’s so warm here, we went down to the pool and hot tub, to enjoy the sunset while relaxing.

The day ended with a stop at Target to get supplies (pop, chips, snacks) and an evening of rest and relaxation.

It has been 6 longs months since we’ve been on vacation, and decided it was definitely time to go.   After much investigation we decided on San Antonio, Texas.  We booked our flight with Northwest from Detroit ($331.16 USD).  We left Kitchener around 7:15am and had a very long drive to Windsor.  Highway 401 between Kitchener and Windsor is the most boring stretch of road I’ve ever driven on.  We made a quick stop at the Columbia Sportswear outlet store to see if there were any deals.  Karen was looking for a spring jacket but I’m the one that ended up coming out with a huge bag of coats for my family.  We crossed the Ambassador Bridge and had to wait approximately 20 minutes to clear customs.  We left the car at US Park near the Detroit Metro Airport and had a quick shuttle ride to the terminal.

While waiting to board the plane, they announced that the flight was over-booked and that they were looking for volunteers to take a later flight + coupon for dinner + $300 travel voucher.  Karen quickly put us on the waiting list of volunteers.  I prayed and I prayed but unfortunately for us, they didn’t need our seats.

We got on the plane and spent the next 3-1/2 hours trying to listen to the gentleman behind us, who was from San Antonio.  He was giving the couple seated next to him, tons of tips about San Antonio.  Anytime that he said something interesting, Karen wrote it down.  Once we landed in San Antonio, we picked up our bags and headed over to Hertz ($204.99 USD) to get our car.  Our home for the next week is the Staybridge Suites ($109.99 USD).  We checked in and then I went next door to Texas Land & Cattle Steak House to get a yummy snack of nachos and cheese and steak, to hold us over until dinner.

Karen found on the internet that there is a rodeo on Saturday nights in Bulverde, Texas … the Tejas Rodeo.  It took us about ½ hour to get there and once we arrived, we knew we were in for a fun evening.  As we were walking in, 140 members of the Milwaukee Luthern High School Band were entertaining the crowd.  We noticed that many people had plates of BBQ that looked awesome. We made our way to the Cibolo Smokehouse and Saloon to get some dinner.  OH MY GOD … best brisket I’ve ever had.  For only $7.50 you could choose 1 meat (chicken, brisket or sausage), and 2 sides (cream corn, pinto beans, green beans, potato salad).  The meat was BBQ’d on a huge smoker outside and you could smell the BBQ everywhere.  After dinner we went to the grandstand to get some seats.  The rodeo included bull riding, tie-down calf and team roping, barrel racing, break-away roping and a calf scramble.  Calf scramble is for kids age 12 and under.  They played a game with the rodeo clown that involved rolling around in the dirt!  Followed by chasing four calves around the arena, that had orange ribbons tied to their tails.  The goal was to get the ribbon off the calves’ tails.  It was a hoot to watch, although I don’t know what the kids with the ribbons actually won.   The rodeo was followed by a dance in the courtyard area, with a live band playing.

After a tiring day, we headed back to our hotel.

We got up and headed over to our Toronto offices to put in a half day.  We needed to get lunch and we had a recommendation from a couple of locals (Peter and Robin from our Toronto offices) … Oriental Gourmet House.  They said it was a hole in the wall and it was but the food was outstanding.

We walked back to the hotel and had a swim in the indoor/outdoor pool.  After a quick cat nap, we met up with Deb and Rob.  I work with Deb and she was kind enough to take the extra pair of tickets that I had for tonight’s show.  We decided to have dinner at The Loose Moose and enjoyed a lovely meal.  We walked over to the Royal York hotel and used the PATH to get to the Air Canada Centre.

Once we got into the arena and settled into our seats (on the floor, 19 rows back), I saw the platform.  You’re asking yourself … what’s the big deal about a platform.  The big deal is that Jon comes out during the show and sings in the crowd.  I looked and we are about 15 feet from the platform.  Thank you God.

Bon Jovi is the only act to sell out 5 nights at the Air Canada Centre.  That’s one night more than The Spice Girls, The Police and U2.  And as a thank you to the fans, the band gave out a flat panel TV, Toronto Raptor tickets and one lucky fan won a trip to London to see the band.

We saw the entire Daughtry set and I was even able to walk up pretty close and get a couple of pictures of Chris Daughtry.

The moment that Bon Jovi hit the stage, we were on our feet.  The show was just unbelievable.  The band was on fire.  When Jon finally did hit the platform, I just started snapping pictures.  I wasn’t able to get really close to him but that’s ok.  The setlist was changed again for tonight’s show and had a few surprises like David Bryan (keyboards) singing “In These Arms”.  The crowd didn’t want to let Bon Jovi go but unfortunately the show came to an end with Jon running down the side of the arena and exiting out at the back.

I’m now having Bon Jovi withdrawal.  Maybe I should check out the tour schedule.

I’m so glad we had a day of rest before concert number 5.

We decided that we would stay in Toronto to save the wear and tear on our bodies driving back and forth.  I was lucky enough to find a deal through Travelzoo for the Hilton Toronto ($119 CAD).  What’s nice about this hotel is that it’s on the PATH (Toronto’s underground walkway) and it’s a couple of blocks from our Toronto offices for work.

We arrived at the hotel at 6:00pm, dropped our stuff off and started to make our way to the Air Canada Centre.  It seems that every restaurant was packed so we ended up at the Harvey’s in Union Station.  I vow that we will have a better dinner tomorrow night.

We got into the arena and caught the last half of Daughtry set.  Once again Bon Jovi took the stage at 8:45pm and it was another awesome 2+ hour concert.  Chris Daughtry came out and sang “Blaze of Glory” with the band.  For those of you who think that the concert is exactly the same each night, it’s not.

After the concert, we had a relatively quick walk back to the hotel and were able to crash for the night before midnight.  Yippee … an extra 1-1/2 hours of sleep.