Katherine and I visited the Alamo during our recent trip to San Antonio. I know the history of the place and have enjoyed reading about it since I was a teenager, but I've never seen it. I must say that I was underwhelmed, even disappointed. First, there are tourist traps across the street from the Alamo. One of them, I believe, was Ripley's Believe it or Not. Can you imagine anything more inappropriate? Second, there were the equivalent of carnival barkers in front of many shops. This is distasteful in the extreme. If I want to visit a shop, I'll visit it; I don't need some creep luring me in. Third, there were panhandlers. A man asked me for change as I was closing my car's trunk. I told him that I didn't have any change, to which he responded, "It looks like it." Katherine said he spat as he wheeled to walk away. Nice touch, eh? One moment he's beseeching me; the next he's insulting me. Fourth, the personnel inside the Alamo were aloof to the point of being disdainful. I said "Thank you" to a guard as we departed. Not only didn't he respond; he didn't so much as look at me. Fifth, the inside of the Alamo was dark, musty, and off-putting. There was hardly anything to see or do.
Has anyone else been to the Alamo? Did you have experiences like mine?
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 