The next stop on the Boyne tour was San Antonio, Texas. This city is very close to the border of the United States and Mexico. So close, in fact, that it was the location of one of the most famous battles of the Mexican/American war, the battle of the Alamo. The Alamo is still standing (and has been restored in places where it started to deteriorate with age) and is now a museum of the war. It is comprised of a compound of beige colored concrete buildings which are surrounded by green gardens. It's an interesting place to wander around and take in some history as well as just relax and enjoy the scenery. It was just a short walk from our hotel and was near the mall so almost everyone ended up visiting the Alamo at some point during our stay.

One of the favorite restaurants of the troupe was called Dick's Last Resort. It's well known for the surly staff who have no problem throwing your cutlery on the table, making you wear funny paper hats with silly sayings on them, and yelling back at you and calling you names if you dare to ask for anything. That might not sound like fun, but at Dick's it's expected and we would have been disappointed to be treated any nicer. Several nights the cast went there to get some food after the show and one night we walked in right in the middle of a paper fight. All the waiters had passed out huge sheets of white tablecloth paper and were throwing paper napkins all over the tables. The customers were tearing it all to bits and throwing it at each other. It was a bit hard to take in at first but after standing there staring for a few minutes and getting pelted with paper balls we got into the game and were soon immersed in the fight, running all over the restaurant trying to hit each other.

Here’s a photo of Padraic Moyles and Justin Ryan, winning partners of the golf tournament held in San Antonio. The company now boasts some keen players who make the most of the golf courses in many of the cities we visit.

The theater in San Antonio also showed evidence of a strong Mexican influence. The inside was designed to look like a Mexican courtyard with beige concrete walls, balconies overhanging the audience, a glowing blue ceiling with stars and colored party lights strung up all over the walls. They don't turn the party lights off during the performance so it was fun to be up on stage and see the audience sitting among the festive lights.

After San Antonio we moved on to Mobile, Alabama. Mobile is a fabulous old south city with a lot of history. The historical society does an amazing job of making all the old pictures of Mobile in the 1800's and early 1900's available for tourists to see. They had a very extensive display of them as well as explanation of the city's rich history at the visitor center which is also connected to a replication of an old military fort which used to be the main structure in Mobile. The pictures depicted a prosperous antebellum city, many included images from Mardi Gras (a holiday observed with a parade and big celebration yearly in Mobile). The elaborate costumes of the parade participants were fun to see, as well as the frilly dresses, hats and parasols of the women and the 3 piece suits and top hats of the men along the parade route.