A fittingly surreal accent to our tour: while waiting for room keys at the elegant Menger Hotel in San Antonio, I spied a Cardinal entering the lobby. No, not the bird. A real Cardinal in red cape and all, together with a small entourage. At first I thought he might be a reenactment cardinal (because there were reenacting colonial soldiers in Mexican and American Revolution uniforms preparing to present the colors for a banquet nearby)--but no, he and his extremely deferential companions were appearing at a dinner for the Order of St. Joachim in a different ballroom. After all this, I expected to glimpse a few naked Karankawas behind a pillar. But no. We got our key cards and retired upstairs.
Later that evening we had planned dinner at a restaurant on the Riverwalk. Unfortunately there is a lot of construction in the area, and all stairways to the place were closed. It was raining, we got lost and eventually found ourselves at a very nice sushi restaurant--not on the Riverwalk, but nearby. We ate well, took an Uber back to the hotel, and then gathered with wine and a DVD to watch "The Mission" (getting a perspective on Jesuits, Spaniards and Portuguese in 17th century South America). On Sunday we had a luxurious brunch at the hotel, then proceeded to the mission for Mass. Then the long drive home. Lots of laughter, new and old friends, and historical enlightenment.
The whole thing was brief and intense. Now we have a couple of days to prepare for more travel. One of these days I'll get back to making art--but not right away.