Barbecue Trip & San Antonio

Today I still have to provide you with pictures of my second Christmas Day in Texas. Since it was rainy and gray, we were looking for an activity for this Christmas Day. And what is the favorite activity of Texans?

Christmas activity

That's right, eating and especially a lot of meat. And so the whole family started a road trip to Luling, to find the best BBQ spot ever. And that was absolutely an experience :D. In this BBQ place there was basically only meat and I mean masses of meat! The whole thing is simply served on a paper lining, everyone eats with their fingers as fast and as much meat as he or she can devour. It's unbelievable how crowded the place was and how much meat Americans (and also little German girls) can eat.

This experience may sound a bit macabre to some, but you just have to see and try it. The smoked BBQ meat in Texas is simply the best meat I have ever eaten. And there probably is no more Texan culture than that :D.

Driving through Texas is also super interesting and just as I imagined it. Endless landscapes, endless roads, many truck stops and fast food joints. People in Texas actually wear cowboy hats and boots, have their typical Southern accent, but are mostly very friendly at the same time.

Speaking of friendly: This word still understates the hospitality and care of my great host family. After our BBQ in Luling, we continued on to San Antonio to explore the city. The family was so incredibly kind to even treat me to a hotel room, allowing me to stay in a Hilton hotel for the first time in my life. Incredible, definitely the most beautiful hotel room of all my travels. I often find it hard to grasp how I deserve this hospitality: These people hardly know me and yet they enable me to enjoy such luxury, unbelievable! The city of San Antonio was absolutely worth it, it's such a pretty city.

Part of my enthusiasm certainly comes from the fact that it resembles European cities. There is a beautiful canal flowing through the city, along which we did the Riverwalk. This had a similar atmosphere to Venice with numerous restaurants, boats, and street music, simply very charming. The churches of San Antonio are also very beautiful, just like the shopping streets and bars.

We also visited the main attraction of the city, the Alamo. The Alamo was originally a church in Texas that became a mission station. The Alamo is so famous because the Texan War of Independence in 1835/36 took place here, in which the Texan defenders were defeated by the Mexicans.

Texas has a lot of history that I was not aware of before. For example, did you know that Texas was part of Mexico for a long time, just like California, New Mexico, and Arizona? Before Mexico freed itself from Spanish rule, these current American "states" were under Spanish rule. Although the Texans lost the Battle of the Alamo, they won other decisive battles against the Mexicans in 1836. Thus, Texas became an independent state in 1836 before joining the USA in 1845. However, even today, some Texans would still like to consider themselves an independent state ;)

Cities like San Antonio are super interesting because of this historical background. So there is a huge Mexican influence on the city, which has a positive effect on the cuisine and of course tequila ;).

But don't worry, I won't be spoiled too much here ;) After the BBQ trip, the strict boss of the house calls me back to work, and he knows neither fun nor mercy, as you can see from my suffering expression. ;)