Yep, we are in Texas hill country, and amazingly it wouldn’t hurt to speak German here. Fredericksburg is very definitely a Texas town but one with a decided German accent. You can buy your Lucchese boots in many of the chic shops and boutiques here, after you have had your schnitzel and wurst at one of several German restaurants, washed down by an infinite variety of beers. Here are some hints of the origin of the founding fathers…
This town is well-discovered, and must be absolutely packed on a sunny weekend. You can spend money in any number of ways on things that you didn’t know you needed till you saw them – those kinds of stores. My personal favorite is the gallery with artists from “Texas and beyond.” Got to watch those guys from beyond…
It was fun to troll the Main Street, despite spotty showers. We poked our heads in lots of places, and managed to get away cheap, with only a new atlas to show for our walk. We seemed to have lost our old one somewhere in San Antonio, and that’s a problem when you’re travelling like this, despite the wonders of GPS.
Don tried to buy one at Walmart today, but there was a bit of a language problem, and German wouldn’t have helped. The staff there had never heard the word “atlas,” but the light finally dawned and they realized he was looking for a “road map book.” The next problem was that they only had a road map book of Texas, because “everyone buys the other one with the maps of all the states because that one is $10 and the book with Texas maps is $20, so they just buy that one – but we’re all out of them.”
Thank goodness there was an independent book store in town with a knowledgeable owner who was very willing to discuss the pros and cons of our approach to the rest of Texas. She ended up sighing ruefully and saying, “Well, you’ll just have to come back and see what you can’t fit into this trip.” I’m not sure life will be long enough to see all of Texas.
One major site in town that Don had all to himself was the National Museum of the Pacific War. Who knew there was such a thing, and that it was here. (Go know.)
The reason for its location is that Admiral Chester Nimitz, who led the Pacific fleet, was born here to one of the founding families of Fredericksburg, and the museum started as a tribute to him. It is massive and – according to Don – quite informative and dramatic. You will have to take his word for it.